Join our select group of Hummingbird Circle members who have
stepped up their giving to support the vital work of the Sonoran
Institute. Conservation and Native Peoples Recognizing that
successful restoration and conservation in the Colorado River
Delta must respect the relationship between nature and culture,
the Institute works with the indigenous Kwapa people (the
Cocopah in the U.S. and the Cucapá in Mexico) to promote their
cultural recognition and access to natural resources. These
tribes lived in the Delta for hundreds of years before the
arrival of the Spanish in 1540, and their culture and survival
have been intertwined with the river and its delta. Purchase a
“Land of the Kwapa” Map Today In 2007, the Institute embarked on
an ethno-cartographic process with the three Kwapa communities
of Somerton, Arizona, El Mayor, Baja California, and Pozas de
Arvizu, Sonora, to produce cultural maps of the region seen
through the tribe’s eyes. The goal of these maps is to promote
conservation and understanding of