Will Arizona’s saguaros survive climate change and drought?
TUCSON – Fueled by climate change and prolonged drought, the establishment of young saguaro cactuses in Saguaro National Park has nearly ceased for decades.
U.S. Forest Service under fire for cutting old-growth trees in eastern Arizona
FLAGSTAFF – The decision to cut more than 1,300 old-growth trees last summer in an Arizona forest has been criticized for breaking trust with the thinning project's backers. This at a time when forest management is receiving national attention for the role it plays in preventing catastrophic wildfires like the ones we're seeing in California.
Hikers discover oldest prehistoric footprints found at Grand Canyon
PHOENIX – Hikers at the Grand Canyon have found a set of 28 small footprints on a slab of rock that had fallen from the canyon wall. It turns out that the set of tracks is about 310 million years old – nearly 250 million years before the age of dinosaurs.
After Grijalva calls for him to resign, Zinke responds with blistering tweet
WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke blasted Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, on Twitter Friday after the congressman wrote an editorial calling on Zinke to resign "immediately" in the face of multiple, ongoing ethics investigations.
Arizona Gov. Ducey to ask for $30 million in budget proposal for drought plan
PHOENIX – The head of the state water department said Gov. Doug Ducey will ask for significant state dollars in his upcoming budget proposal to help make the Drought Contingency Plan a reality.
As deadline looms, lawmakers push to save popular public lands fund
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers gathered to push for renewal of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which directs millions from offshore oil leases toward public lands and recreation projects amid fears that Congress is running out of time to save the program.
Dry and getting drier: Water scarcity in Southwest is the new norm, study says
GREELEY, Colo. – The Fourth National Climate Assessment makes it clear – climate change is happening, it’s human-caused, and it could make life increasingly difficult.
Supreme Court limits ability to designate endangered species habitat
WASHINGTON - A Supreme Court ruling makes it harder for the government to designate critical habitat for endangered species, a decision hailed by business and property rights groups but one that environmentalists say will weaken endangered species protections.
Early snowfall delights skiers, but the drought is far from over
GREELEY, Colorado – Snow has returned to the Rockies this winter, raising hopes of a drought recovery, but experts say that optimism is likely premature.
Vaquita’s last stand: Saving the porpoise may depend on creating a legal market for totoaba
SAN FELIPE, Baja California – A plan to capture and breed the endangered vaquita marina in a giant ocean aquarium failed, but out of that came a new plan: use the aquarium to breed totoaba, the fish targeted by poachers. Conservationists hope by creating a legal market for totoaba, vaquita no longer will be killed by poachers’ gillnets.
Drought, heat and urbanization putting the squeeze on Arizona lemons
PHOENIX – Despite rising demand and prices for lemons, Arizona’s industry has no room for growth. Overallocated water rights, high temperatures and the loss of cropland are the reasons.
More endangered California condors soon will soar above Pinnacles National Park
SOLEDAD, Calif. – The number of California condors has steadily grown over the past 30 years, from 22 left in the wild to about 500 now. Through recovery programs and collaborations in California, Arizona and Idaho, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, endangered California condors are bred in captivity and released into the wild. In December, three birds will be freed at Pinnacles National Park.
