Hands in the Mud, Eyes on the Future

Buffelgrass Becomes Community-Built Housing

What started as a University of Arizona class project has quickly grown into one of Southern Arizona’s most joyful and innovative community efforts: transforming invasive buffelgrass—the wildfire‑fueling menace—into strong adobe bricks that could one day help build affordable homes.

At the Barrio Buffelworks Adobe Brickyard near Mission Garden, students, neighbors, and volunteers spend their Saturdays harvesting buffelgrass, mixing mud, shaping bricks, and getting wonderfully muddy in the name of desert resilience.

With summer heat speeding up drying times, production is picking up—and so is the vision. Participants realize they aren’t just learning a craft; they’re discovering its power to support long‑term goals like building casitas and low‑income housing from natural materials through true community participation.

Organizers see a future where the project creates paid work, including opportunities for unhoused residents to help build—and eventually live in—the homes they create. Add food, music, youth involvement, and a shared dream for a more humane city, and the Brickyard is becoming a shining example of community‑powered change.

• Click here to read the March 18, 2026 UA School of Art article by Michael Chesnick.

• Click here to view the recent KOLD 13 story by Ariana Araiza.

The Living Desert Alliance salutes this effort. A creative and powerful way to Keep our Desert and Community Livable and Thriving.

Photo by Beihua Guo, UA

Project Coyote

Zoom Webinar

How Rodenticides Threaten Bobcats, Coyotes, & Urban Wildlife

Thursday, May 28, 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET

When a hawk grabs a poisoned mouse, a bobcat catches a lethargic rat, or a coyote scavenges a dying rodent, toxic rodenticides move up the food chain—quietly weakening the carnivores our ecosystems depend on. This hidden crisis is unfolding in backyards, farms, and wild spaces across the country.

Join Project Coyote, for a free webinar to learn what these poisons are doing to wildlife and the practical steps we can all take to reduce harm.

State Advocacy Manager Kiely Smith will moderate a conversation with two leaders in wildlife science and land stewardship:

• Dr. Laurel Serieys, conservation biologist with The Ohio State University’s Urban Coyote Research Project, will share research showing how anticoagulant rodenticides damage immune systems and increase disease risk in carnivores.



• Keli Hendricks, Project Coyote’s Ranching & Farming with Wildlife Project Coordinator, will offer real‑world, non‑lethal rodent management strategies that support healthy, thriving predators.

Whether you’re a homeowner, rancher, gardener, or wildlife advocate, you’ll leave with solutions that protect wildlife for generations.

Register Here

P.S. Know someone who cares about wildlife and healthy ecosystems? Forward this newsletter and invite them to join in!

Kids’ Corner Part 2

More Recycling Facts That

Will Blow Your Kids’ Minds!

Last week we shared five recycling facts guaranteed to blow your kid’s mind. Below are five additional sustainability tips (6 – 10) centered around water conservation.

Test your kids' knowledge by asking them these five facts during mealtime, in-between commercials while watching TV, or just before bedtime. See what they have to say, then give the correct answer. If they get it right, give them a high five and a pat on the back. They deserve it.

Water: The Ultimate Life Hack

Fact 6: The average American uses 80-100 gallons of water daily—that's like filling up a small swimming pool every week.

Fact 7: A leaky faucet that drips once per second wastes over 3,000 gallons per year.

Fact 8: It takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce a single pair of jeans.

Fact 9: Only 3% of Earth's water is fresh, and most of that is frozen in glaciers.

Fact 10: Taking a 5-minute shower uses 25 gallons of water—a bath uses 70 gallons.

Sharing these sustainability facts empowers kids to understand

and act on real-world environmental challenges. More next week!

Join Watershed Management Group’s Tanque Verde Creek Restoration!



Saturday, May 16th, 7:30 am to 10:30 am

Watershed Management Group welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to help revive our heritage of seasonal and year‑round flows.

The focus of this event is removing Arundo donax (giant reed)—an invasive plant that consumes 3–4 times more water than native species, crowds out habitat, and increases flood and wildfire risk. Clearing Arundo helps restore groundwater levels, surface flow, and the health of the creek’s riparian forest.

Since 2021, WMG volunteers have helped restore more than 60 acres by removing Arundo and planting native species. Your participation keeps this momentum growing and supports the long‑term recovery of Tanque Verde Creek.

Click here for more information and to register for this fun and educational event. Bring your friends and family too!