The Sky Islands are a series isolated of mountain ranges on the Arizona and Sonora border, separated by dessert and grass land.

This is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

With more than 7000 species of plants and animals.

Emily Burns and Bryon Lichtenhan work for a conservation group that protects these breath taking wilderness.

And lucky to for me Brian has brought snacks.

A master forager, he has jars full of acorns, berries, and cactus fruit.

- Snack time.

- Are you hungry?

I am always hungry, and I love jars of things, and I love jars of things that Ive never tried before.

So Im excited.

So this is?

These are Emery acorns, and these are the acorns from the oak trees that had been around us all day.

How do you eat them?

I often eat them with the shell.

They taste like chocolate, coffee, chestnutty.

I like the crunch on the outside.

So this is like what the chipmunks eat?

Well yeah, I mean chipmunks, deer.

- Birds.

- Birds.

Turkeys.

I mean anyone whos omnivorous or or an herbivore out hear.

And what do you have there?

So these are manzanita berries.

These are from the bushes that are growing around us.

Before you eat it, these have a lot of hard seeds in them.

So what I do is just put it in my mouth, and I softly chew it just enough to kinda break open the theres like a fleshy skin around it.

So Ill, kinda masticate it and then just suck on it.

And the flavors start to.

These taste like peaches.

Very sweet.

Very sweet.

very sweet, a little like slightly tart.

Super delicious.

These have been dry for like over a year.

So theyre, theyre a little tarter if theyre fresh.

What else, what else?

So the sumac.

Oh sumac, I love using.

And Ive always thought about sumac as a middle eastern ingredient, but its native from here to or?

These are the native berries right here.

- So tart.

- So tart.

Taste a little bit like tamarind.

Sweet, tart.

Almost a little citrus I think too.

Yeah.

So delicious, you can just snack on these.

I think they are like natures sour patch kids.

They got a really, that first thing that hits you is the sour.

Sweet sour.

And what do you have in there that looks so big?

The best for last.

So this is the dried Saguaro fruit.

Pollinated first by bats, and birds, bees, of the region in the Mexico and the U.S. And I know the Tohono nation uses it also for syrup.

And wine, yeah.

And wine.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

So these seeds are totally chewable, crunchable.

Right.

This is like a combination of dried fig, dried strawberry.

The seeds inside are irresistibly crunchy.

So sweet and tang... - What a treasure.

- I know.

Many animals depend on this food and We are lucky to share them too.

Thanks.

Thank you, Im taking this home.

- So good.

- Yeah.

Such a delicacy.

- I mean, what a feast!

- Truly.

Ive learned so much.

You really embody the region.

Well thank you, Im glad we could picnic together among the oaks here at the border.