Despite fits and starts, officials optimistic a water deal is close
WASHINGTON - After months of meetings, progress toward Arizona's portion of a multistate drought contingency plan has been a two-steps-forward, one-step-back affair, but those involved in the process think they're getting close to a deal they can present to the Legislature this spring.
Arizona’s two abandoned-mine inspectors face daunting task: ‘We’re all by ourselves’
WICKENBURG – Meet Jerry Tyra, one of only two abandoned-mine supervisors in Arizona. The pair face an uphill battle trying to identify the estimated 100,000 abandoned mines in the state and render them safe, or at least safer.
In a hole: Arizona officials lack funds to find, secure at least 100,000 abandoned mines
PHOENIX – Arizona has an estimated 100,000 abandoned mines, according to the Arizona State Mine Inspector’s Office. However, officials have only identified about 19,000 of them. As more people move to and visit Arizona – many eager to explore the state’s more remote lands – the chances of people coming across one of these hazardous mines only increase.
Population boom in West putting humans closer to devastating wildfires
DENVER – Nearly half the population of the West lives in an area with potential for wildfire danger. And both the risk of fire and the population in harm’s way are rising in this fast-growing part of the nation. Eighty-four percent of the risk area has not yet been developed.
Native Americans hope to protect ancestral sites threatened by multibillion-dollar copper mine
TONTO NATIONAL FOREST – In the wake of the Oak Flat protests, Resolution Copper funds a program in which Native Americans record culturally significant sites with an uncertain future.
A battle beneath the waves: Purple urchins thrive, starving out red urchins used in sushi
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Red sea urchins are harvested for their gonads, which are eaten as a sushi delicacy known as uni. Climate change has led to an increase in the purple sea urchin population, which is out-competing the red sea urchins for food.
Dewey-Humboldt Town Council condemns coyote-killing contests
FLAGSTAFF – The Dewey-Humboldt Town Council passed a resolution Nov. 20 condemning animal-killing contests. The resolution comes three weeks before a coyote contest in central Arizona.
Why llamas may be the key to help humans fight off the flu
LA JOLLA, Calif. – A recent study examines how llama antibodies may be the key to combating the influenza virus. Scientists at California’s Scripps Research Institute have found that mice, given fatal doses of flu strains, successfully fought them off.
Farmers, USDA celebrate demise of pink bollworm, a cotton-killing pest
PHOENIX – The pink bollworm has destroyed cotton crops in the United States for a century. But it’s been eradicated from cotton-producing areas in the lower 48.
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.
