The debate on whether or not Light Rail Systems have a net positive or negative on a surrounding areas property values has been a debate raging since the first implementation of the public transit systems themselves. This paper shall attempt to answer this question and do further research into which areas particularly in western culture, ranging from London to Portland and applying said findings to Phoenix, Arizona. Through this research it has shown that although small there does appear to be a positive correlation between the two separate entities. Building upon this a collection of data from Phoenix residents has been collected and shall be discussed as to gauge overall interest in the light rail system. This data may allow planners to understand the wants and needs for the community and in going forward with plans for the public transit systems may be able to systematically implement new expansion lines for the Phoenix Light Rail System.

This study analyzes 10 years (2001-2011) of land cover and wildfire data in the Sky Islands Region. The aim of this study is to produce visual models of land cover change in conjunction with human-caused wildfires. Research was conducted using data gathered from the National Land Cover Database, the USDA Forest Service and from wildfire.cr.usgs.gov. This information was spatially mapped using ArcMap. Land cover from 2001-2011 was evaluated as either a negative change, a positive change or a constant. Wildfire data was classified as either human-caused or naturally occurring. These two maps were used to compare and analyze the relationship between wildfires and land cover change.

Food deserts are an increasing issue in the United States. Low-income areas within cities have little economic incentives for grocery stores, leaving the residence with little to no access to healthy foods. Schools within these food deserts have the ability to provide members of the low-income communities with these healthy foods. These foods can be sustainably grown with rainwater harvesting design and implementation. Tucson Arizona and its food desert locations were the focus area of this study. After generating the data on how much rainwater each school was able to collect in a given year, the amount of potential food produced was calculated for each school. The data and report provide the foundation for schools to build their rainwater harvesting and community farming programs upon. The results suggest that every school has the potential to at least supplement their daily diets with healthy foods grown on campus and watered with a sustainable source.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) has a Tortoise Adoption Program to help rehome the surplus of desert tortoises to Sonora Desert locals. Also, it has been proven that there are many benefits to early childhood learning and adopting practices at a young age. There could be many benefits to integrating a younger population into the Tortoise Adoption Program (TAP) at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum