The idea for this project stemmed from a National Science Foundation-funded planning workshop hosted at the Kino Bay Center in January 1999. The project on Alcatraz raises awareness of island issues and promotes community stewardship and island conservation in the entire Eastern Midriff Island Region of the Gulf of California. Isla Alcatraz is a small volcanic island located in the Midriff Islands, less than one mile from the town of Bah a de Kino, Sonora, Mexico. Alcatraz is representative of the islands within the Island Reserve in its ecological importance as well as its risk from human impact. Adjacent to the Midriff Islands largest fishing community, Isla Alcatraz has a long history of human use and significance for the surrounding communities.
Human use impacts the island ecosystem.
The most significant threats to the island's flora and fauna are human disturbance of breeding birds and the spread or further introduction of exotic species. Isla Alcatraz s proximity to human settlements makes it highly susceptible to disturbance, yet that proximity also increases the potential for community involvement in research, education and conservation. As a result of recommendations made at the planning workshop, the Isla Alcatraz Program has become the focus of Prescott College s conservation and research activities in the Kino Bay region. In 1998 the center established a Conservation Fellowship Program to enable Prescott College to make tangible contributions to conservation of the region s marine and coastal biodiversity, and to establish continuity in the conservation and community outreach projects initiated by the center. The Isla Alcatraz Program is the focus of the fellowship until the program s completion in 2004.