CactusToCloud

08/28/2026

Join the more than 6,000 people who are helping document in their neighborhood 🔍

Observe wild animals pollinating the flowers in your yard, perched on the telephone poles running down your street, and along the path in your local parks.

Participating is easy and free! Scan the QR code or visit our 🔗 in bio for more information.

08/20/2026

08/11/2026

Class starts on September 26, and spots are filling up, but there is still time to join this year’s cohort!

Become a certified Desert Sands & Sky Islands Climate Steward and gain the skills to help build community resilience here in our desert. Join us next week for our final info session to learn more about how you can make a real-world impact!

🗓️Saturdays, September - December 2026
✍️Open to anyone 18 and older
🏫Earn college credits

Visit the link🔗below to register for the info session today!

https://climatestewards2026info2.eventbrite.com

07/30/2026

Thanks for helping highlight our public lands, Etienne!

"Last year, for Journal, I travelled to California to shoot this piece about Trump’s attacks on US national parks & public lands.
A year later, it’s only gotten worse. This month Trump signed proclamations shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by more than 90%, opening the land to mining and drilling. The laws meant to protect these places are being dismantled one by one. - Etienne Truchot"

05/30/2026

Chuckwalla National Monument is home to roughly 15-20 species of lizards 🦎 and Colin Barrows of CactusToCloud Institute is one of their biggest fans 😎 📸

Have you been to Chuckwalla National Monument yet?! Located near Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, it's a must-see for wildlife lovers and those who seek solace in the desert canyons 🌵

And be sure to check out The House of Chuckwalla soap opera live in Chuckwalla National Monument for yourself! (These Chuckwallas are not paid actors and act on their own free will 🎬🌹)

05/30/2026

From stargazing to camping, there is something for everyone in Chuckwalla National Monument. One of our favorite things about Chuckwalla is the amazing people who steward and work hard to protect it, like Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows of CactusToCloud Institute 🌵☁️

Have you visited Chuckwalla National Monument yet?! 🥾🚵⛺

04/25/2026

🎈Happy 44th Birthday City of La Quinta 🥳

We had such a great time this morning, thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat with us!

📽️ City of La Quinta
📍 Civic Center Park

04/17/2026

Equitable stewardship means recognizing that conservation, justice, and public health are inseparable and not parallel tracks. Brought to you by our coalition’s Wildlife Workgroup, the Equitably Stewarding Nature Discussion Series highlights what this looks like in practice.

The first session featured the incredible work of and the . For many years, these organizations have championed a community-first, collective impact model to advocate for change. Using the Chuckwalla National Monument in California’s Coachella Valley as a case study, they shared how they didn’t just center the narrative on the desert tortoise or the chuckwalla lizard but rather led with community belonging, bilingual engagement, and climate resilience.

The result? The Chuckwalla National Monument now protects 600,000+ acres of undisturbed desert soils, wildlife corridors, important cultural and WWII historical sites, and unique and rare desert plants that grow nowhere else on Earth, like the Orocopia sage grows. And protecting this land also means protecting the communities that breathe its air and helping them be more climate resilient.

Read the full insight on our blog and watch the session recording! https://linktr.ee/americathebeautifulforall

Image Credits:
📸Slide 1 & 5 (Chuckwalla Lizard): Colin Barrows, CactusToCloud Institute
📸Slide 3 (Community enjoying the outdoors): Latino Outdoors
📸Slide 5 (Chuckwalla National Monument landscape): Bob Wick

04/16/2026

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning surrounded by nature and our community🌞

🪲Insects, much like deserts, are often misunderstood yet offer numerous benefits, such as essential pollination services. For example, some of our favorite plants, like Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and Mecca asters (Xylorhiza cognata), rely on only one pollinator! They each have a symbiotic relationship with a specific moth: the moth pollinates the plant, and in return, the plant provides the moth with shelter and food.

While our main focus was on pollinating insects, this preserve is a perfect example of the habitat value our desert provides. In addition to a wide range of pollinating insects, including some sleepy native bees 🐝, the towering cottonwood trees and the creek gave us the chance to spot other wildlife, such as lizards, birds, and even a frog!

A big thank you to Elizabeth Paige for the warm welcome at Hunat Paač Pihaaka' Preserve, and to Scott Heacoks for sharing his knowledge of pollinating insects.

📸1 Colin Barrows
📸2-10 Sendy Barrows