Environmentalist Barb Skye Siegel takes in a desert morning at the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute west of Gates Pass

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When Barb Skye Siegel recently had her car hit by another driver, she had an unusual request. Instead of asking the driver to pay to have her car fixed, she asked if the driver would be willing to help her write grant proposals.

It is just this sort of resourcefulness that has enabled Siegel to gain support from over 150 sponsors for a plan to create a regional network of demonstration homes for desert-wise living and gardening.

"Supporters and sponsors such as Tucson Audubon Society, The Tucson Green Times, The Arizona Native Plant Society, Rammed Earth Development, The Gadsden Company, the Community Food Bank, Deputy Mayor Regina Romero, and many individuals have agreed to assist in a multitude of ways," Siegel said. The help ranges from intellectual support, building materials, educational supplies, financial assistance and fund raising to "good old-fashioned elbow grease."

She is at work now on finalizing a location for her first effort, a model desert home and garden to exhibit sustainable building materials and desert-adapted maintenance systems.

It would be the first of a series of Desert Dwellers' Centers (DDC), collaborative and accessible community education hubs that connect residents with a wealth of regional resources.

"Desert dwellers should have access to information on wise desert living practices as well as resources to help them implement sustainable designs in their homes and gardens," Siegel said.

Through the DDCs' educational programs, residents can gain "green collar" skills and learn how to retrofit their homes, gardens and neighborhoods. The centers will demonstrate things such as water harvesting techniques, ways to capture solar power and using landscaping to support wildlife — all wise practices for conserving our natural resources.

"Desert green" teams of educators will be available to advise residents how to implement the latest sustainable technologies for desert living.

"The ultimate goal," Siegel said, "is to share the abundance of local wisdom to improve Tucson residents' overall quality of home life."

Siegel, 45, has promoted desert conservation in Tucson for many years. She is a former curator of botany at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and a past state president for the Arizona Native Plant Society. Currently, Siegel is an agent with Tierra Antigua Realty, specializing in desert-adapted homes and gardens.

She is author of the community education pamphlet, "Fifty Facts Every Desert Dweller Should Know".

In 2000, Siegel initiated the "Sonoran Desert Weedwackers" to restore desert habitat. The group has removed over 120 tons of invasive African grasses from desert habitats with the help of thousands of volunteers.

It was through Weedwackers that she met Doug Siegel, who became her husband. Doug, a natural resource specialist for Pima County, and Marilyn Hanson, a retired biology teacher, took over as co-leaders for Desert Weedwackers in 2002 and, as Skye Siegel gratefully acknowledges, "are largely responsible for the overall success of the group."

The Sonoran Desert Weedwackers, with strong media support, brought awareness to the general public of invasive plant fire danger and other threats to the Sonoran Desert.

The Tucson Audubon Society looks forward to playing an active role in the future of the Desert Dwellers Center project.

"Education is one of the key tools we use to achieve our conservation goals. Since the center and Tucson Audubon share so many goals, it makes a great deal of sense strategically to join forces so that our ideas can have a greater influence in our community," said Paul Green, executive director at the Tucson Audubon Society.

The Desert Dweller Centers and the Tucson Audubon have some parallels — they both focus on education to help people understand the workings of our natural world, to promote natural resource conservation, and become an advocate for conservation.

Tucson Audubon is exploring ways the organization can help nurture the DDC project through its early years with institutional support. The success of the project will give the Tucson region another resource to educate and help people to live in balance with the beautiful desert that surrounds us.