ECOSTART I was an environmental education and exchange program that empowered Sonoran elementary school teachers to develop an environmental education curriculum that broadens their communities' and schools' knowledge of ecosystem principles. The program, which ended in 2003, enabled Sonoran and Arizonan elementary school teachers to share environmental information and student projects on the Upper San Pedro river and its riparian area.

ECOSTART I built on the Sister Cities program in which Cananea and Sierra Vista have participated for decades. The focus of student projects on the Upper San Pedro riparian watershed ecosystem is especially relevant because the two cities, as well as Naco, Sonora, have expressed a common concern about maintaining an adequate and safe supply of water from the Upper San Pedro watershed in Arizona and Sonora.

• GLOBE environmental science training
• On-site environmental curriculum development
  workshop
• Sonora-Arizona teacher planning meetings
• Consulting and curriculum materials from the Environmental Education Exchange
• Hands Across the Border / Manos a través de la Frontera border crossing facilitation
• Binational student environmental project exchange
• Environmental field trips to the Upper San Pedro River