Tropics to the Desert: GBI's Mexico Field Studies Arrives to Reno
It’s the last week of July and one-hundred meters from the U.S.-Mexico border, three of the Great Basin Institute’s staff has gathered in the sweltering early morning hours at a McDonalds in the dusty border town of Nogales, Arizona. They are not here for breakfast burritos or hash browns, nor a general pit-stop on the way to the next town. This fast food landmark is the destination of a two day road trip from the Institute’s headquarters, in Reno, with one purpose: to greet sixteen biology students from the Universidad de Guadalajara, of Mexico, and return them to the foothills…
Lending a Global Hand in Nevada's Backyard
The sun breaks over desert mountains to the east of town. In the University of Nevada, Reno’s north parking lot, a crowd gathers. Gradually, an oblong circle forms around a few men dressed in blue jeans and flip-flops. Moments pass and the crowd grows quiet. One of the men pulls a crumpled slip of paper from his pocket, then recites a line made famous by Edward Abbey: “There are no vacant lots in nature.” With these words, the circle becomes a stream moving toward trucks and vans bulging with backpacks, hand tools, and…
