In Unlikely Alliances in Action: Balancing Alignment and Autonomy in Rural-Urban Water Conflicts, Sophia Borgias (Public Service, Boise State University), Kate Berry (Geography, University of Nevada-Reno), and Dalten Fox (Arts and Sciences, University of South Alabama) emphasize the positive impact of “unlikely alliances” arising from efforts to tackle critical environmental issues. The authors employ a “place-based and historically embedded” approach to explore the internal dynamics of alliances among groups that have traditionally been in opposition.

In Overcoming Episodic Political Uncertainties and Tensions: Borderland Conservation Communities of Practice and the Bridging and Linking of Social Capital, Kari Hibbeler and Matthew M. Mars (both Agricultural Education, Technology & Innovation, University of Arizona) consider how political uncertainty and tension affect the formation and function of wildlife conservation initiatives along the borderland between the US and Mexico. Drawing on feedback from semi-structured interviews with fifteen conservation professionals along the southeastern Arizona (AZ) and northcentral Sonora, Mexico (SO) borderland region, Hibbeler and Mars propose a borderland conservation communities of practice (BCCsP) model that encourages collaboration between the agencies and organizations.