After conquering rocks, trails and mountains, weekend warriors head for the canopy
Morgan Heim
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Red Mountain miracle
In the late 1800s, some 3,000 people lived and worked in the Red Mountain Mining District near the top of Red Mountain Pass between Silverton and Ouray. Just about every acre was clear-cut, built upon or mined. Today, the miners are gone and aspen trees and tundra plants have reclaimed most of the area. The […]
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
Border restoration’s odd couple
Law enforcement and environmentalists are working together to save southwestern Arizona wetlands
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The great American cat fight
Phantom cat of forest and desert, the jaguar slinks through its surroundings, an optical illusion of tawny, sun-dappled fur. It manifests and evaporates with hardly a trace amid the darkness of South American rainforests and the shattered canyons of the arid Southwest. By the 1980s, however, a century of predator control, hunting and habitat loss […]
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Super rodents build super habitat
Faster than a speeding coyote, able to leap small cacti in a single bound — two “superhero” rodents, the kangaroo rat and the prairie dog, thrive amid the heat and dry sand of the desert Southwest. Each creature influences its environment to an extent that far outweighs its size – a real-life version of Mighty […]
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Love for the clay-loving buckwheat
By 8 a.m., the July day felt like a scorcher. Waves of heat rippled along the western Colorado adobe hills, shriveling plants and baking the soil to a fractured crust that crunched with every step. Two white tents peeking from between golden hills could have been a mirage, if it weren’t for the sizzle of […]
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Getting fresh with the West’s groundwater
That shot of hot air coming from the bottom of the refrigerator may soon serve a greater purpose than just warming your feet. A new saltwater distillation technique that uses solar energy and waste heat from appliances could provide remote Southwestern communities with clean drinking water. Researchers Nirmala Khandan and Veera Gude of New Mexico […]
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Making a killing to save Arizona’s desert bighorn sheep
Updated June 30, 2007 A mountain lion paid the ultimate price for his gluttony after helping himself to too many servings of lamb and venison near southwestern Arizona’s Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. Earlier this month wildlife officials killed the lion as it guarded the fresh carcasses of two desert bighorn sheep and a mule deer. […]
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A struggling sea
The Salton Sea, one of California’s largest lakes and a safe haven for thousands of migratory birds, is suffering a case of severe dehydration. Water loss and rising salinity and nutrient concentrations have endangered this saltwater lake in southeastern California. Left untreated, the sea’s ecosystem could collapse within the next few decades, according to the […]
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A gold mine in the Colorado wilderness?
A grandfathered mining claim passed down through generations has trumped the Wilderness Act. For the mine owners it’s a victory; for others the potential mine raises concerns over wilderness protection and mining regulations. For nearly 60 years, Robert and Marjorie Miller of Montrose, Colo., have tried to re-open the Robin Redbreast Gold Mine in southwestern […]
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The magnificent obsession of sheep herding
(Click on any photo below to see a larger version.) Border collies by nature are intelligent and moody -– one woman fondly describes hers as a habitual sulker — and as many an owner will attest, they’re notoriously high-maintenance. A collie’s obsessive-compulsive herding instinct means that it will round up not just sheep or cattle, […]
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Colorado mountain town raises millions to save meadow
Residents of Telluride, Colo., joined in a chorus of “This Land is Your Land” Wednesday afternoon May 9, just before Mayor John Pryor announced the mountain resort town had raised enough money to save more than 550 acres of natural area near its entrance. “We have fought the good fight. We have prevailed,” declared Pryor […]