CEDO Intercultural Field Station Improvements: Integration of Science and Community Participation in Northern Gulf of California Marine Protected Areas

Intercultural Center For The Study Of Deserts And Oceans, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides support for a series of improvements in the infrastructure of the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO), a biological field station and visitor center at Puerto Penasco, Northern Gulf of California. Activities at the station include marine and desert field research; K-16 educational programs; residency for individual researchers and classes; public education through talks, field trips, and exhibits; and public meetings and conferences to support regional conservation planning and resource management. The station's parent organization, CEDO Intercultural, has developed a model process for international collaboration in the fulfillment of its mission to advance and share knowledge about the Northern Gulf of California and surrounding Sonoran Desert, and for advancing related goals of promoting conservation and sustainable use of the region's natural and cultural resources. Visitor data show growing use of the facility from 1998 to 2002, the majority of users being undergraduate students from 24 institutions in the US and Mexico. Through an online user survey, the station has identified priority needs for improvements in dormitory and lab space, and improvements in field and lab research equipment, transportation, library and office equipment, and workspaces with computers and internet access. These improvements will strengthen international collaboration in research, education and conservation of ecosystems and resources shared by diverse U.S. and Mexican researchers and educators along the Sonoran Desert borderlands.