The Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association (AERA) is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) bioregional organization established in 1983 in order to promote environmental education and ethnobotanical awareness. Our mission is to investigate, document, and promote the use of traditionally utilized plants of the Southwest and to aid in preserving this knowledge for future generations.

Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the interrelationship between plants and people. Throughout history, humans have used plants in many ways: for food, shelter, medicine, clothing, ritual and divination, currency, musical instruments, and in many other aspects of culture. We even rely on plants to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into oxygen so that we can do the most basic life function: breath. Surely, life as we know it could not exist with out plants.

The AERA recognizes this fact and honors the “plant people” for all they do for us.

Here are some ways the AERA has worked to help people understand our connectedness to plants and our environment:

• Documentation and research of potential beneficial plants in Arizona and throughout the Southwest
• Development of bilingual and multicultural curricula in schools
• Environmental awareness educational programs for the public
• Preservation of beneficial plants, encouragement of sustainable cultivation, and protection of natural habitats
• Cataloging of an ethnobotanical and medicinal plant herbarium collection

Our achievements and publications include:

• The Painted Desert: A Southwestern Ethnobotanical Perspective article in the peer-reviewed journal Herbalgram, issue no. 79
• Six educational symposia for the public, including the most recent, Voices that Beautify the Land, 2007
• An Annotated Catalog of the Native and Naturalized Flora of Arizona, 1994, revised 1999, 2005
• Little Colorado River Basin Field Institute Plant and Field Guide, 2005
• Wupatki Herbarium Report, 2000
• Yavapai Medicinal Plant Study, 1999
• Collaboration with Flagstaff Area Parks: Special Plant Status Study for the National Park Service at Wupatki, Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon National Monuments, 1999
• Collaboration with Resource Center for Environmental Education: Curriculum for Cave Hill Environmental Study Area, 1998; Plant Ecology and Ethnobotany workshop, 1999
• Photo documentation of plants and archaeological sites, 1993-97
• Publication of five AERA journals, 1988-89 and 2000
• Common Spring Plants of Leupp Boarding School, 1986-88
• Havasupai Ethnobotany studies, 1985-89
• Hualapai Ethnobotany, collaboration with Peach Springs School, 1983