Tucson Festival of Books March 9-10, 2024

The Pima County Master Naturalists (PCMN) have been watching folks take delight in a beautiful mesquite box full of scat for years. No matter where we are, people make a point of trying to figure out which animals call the places they are visiting in the Sonoran Desert home, based on what they leave behind. So when the opportunity to participate in the Tucson Festival of Books on March 9-10, with over 180 local and national exhibitors, we were thrilled!

Everyone who chats with the master naturalists at an event has a story to tell and it most always delights. They reveal the name of their favorite 4th grade teacher who introduced them to owl pellets, the ‘gift of scat’ the bobcats leave on their patios and the enchanting call of the coyotes they hear but never see. This year at Science City, a part of the Festival of Books, all of us who volunteered, had a story of our own to tell about how folks are charmed by our wild spaces!  By partnering with Pima County Parks and Natural Resources, we were able to include track activities, including a kinetic sandbox with track molds, and a pocket-sized take-home field guide using stamps of the tracks of some of our most familiar desert critters.  

We distributed over 400+ field guides in two days to both Tucson residents and out of town visitors. Every individual left with a better appreciation of who else shares our trails, arroyos and wild spaces and the newfound knowledge of how they might identify even those critters they will not see.

As a multi-day event, the Tucson Festival of Books required a team of volunteers. Many thanks to the following folks: Jenna Marvin C3 (who wasn’t able to attend in person, but folded over 500 field guides) and Melissa Mundt, C5 and Course Coordinator, who helped with logistics, copying and gathering materials. Saturday’s team of volunteers (captained by Peggy Ollerhead C3) included  Andrea Hoerr C3, Chris Robie C6, Linda Dugan C5, Penny Miller C2, Linda Doughty C6,  Dana Hook C6, and Jan Schwartz C4. Sunday’s crew was captained by Izetta Feeney C6 and included Sue Robertson C8, Rita Hartman C8, Francesca Ziemba C6, and Summer Marshall C6.

Post and Photos Peggy Ollerhead, Cohort 3; photo of F. Ziemba from Dana Hook ,Cohort 6