Tucson Festival of Books & the Desert Legume Program TEXT AND PHOTOS BY DR. JACQUELINE A. SOULE
T
ucson Festival of Book s ( TFOB) is wor th the visit – ever y year! It is now the nation’s third largest book festival, and t wo days are simply not enough time to see ever y thing. There are so many authors, books, and people presenting their book related “stuf f ” - not to mention Science Cit y! Science Cit y is where all the cool kids hang out – showing of f all manner of science related projec ts and book s, and we are there – both the Deser t Legume Program (DELEP) and folk s representing the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.
Why should a seed bank go to a book fes tival? The DELEP Mission Statement is four-fold – f irst to acquire and preser ve seed of legumes native to the arid and semiarid lands of the world; second, to learn more about the nature and utilit y of these unique species; third, to share legume germplasm; and perhaps most impor tant - to aid in the preser vation and conser vation of deser t legume biodiversit y. This last objective, preser ving and conser v ing legume biodiver sit y, can only be achieved by educating the public about why legumes are impor tant and why biodiversit y is critical for human sur vival on this planet. DELEP star ted being par t of the Tucson Festival of Book s in 2012. Armed with a dissec ting scope, some seeds, and lot s of literature, we invited people to learn more about legumes, and about a “best kept secret ” Arizona State Park – the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. We kept track , and when the dus t set tled, we had personally interac ted with over 120 0 visitors in t wo days. Many more did not t alk to us but picked up the handout s. Mind you, the organizers es timated that over 120,0 0 0 people v isited TFOB that year, so we f igure we did good. Since DELEP was par t of Science Cit y, we have stressed the scientif ic aspec t of the work at DELEP, and had hands- on ac tivities for visitors to our area ever y year. One year, folk s were invited to
24 | Boyce Thompson Arboretum | Summer 2018
