The landscape represented in this exhibit is magnificently diverse. The major part of it falls within what is known as the 70,000-square-mile Sky Islands region of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. Aldo Leopold in 1937, described it beautifully. "To my mind these live oak-dotted hills fat with side oats grama, these pine-clad mesas spangled with flowers, these lazy trout streams burbling along under great sycamores and cottonwoods, come near to being the cream of creation.” The term “sky islands” basically refers to what appear as mountain "islands," forested ranges that are separated by vast expanses of desert and grassland plains. Beyond any shadow of a doubt they are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world, displaying great topographic complexity as well as being the meeting point of several major desert and forest biological provinces. On one hand it is wild and enchanting, yet it is habitable in a comfortable kind of way.

Technically speaking, the Yaqui lands and the area around Ciudad Obregon, both included in this exhibit, are not part of the Sky Island area. They belong to the Sonoran Desert, but it is the Rio Yaqui that makes the connection. High in the mountains of the Sky Islands, different watersheds merge to become the largest river in northern Mexico, ultimately emptying into the Sea of Cortez.

The geographic continuity of the Sky Island-northern Sierra Madre landscape is a clear reminder that the present day border is little more than an abstract line drawn upon the earth. It’s readily apparent that human beings from the past traveled through the same landscape without any thought of the modern division.