Eurasian Collared Dove
Non-native Species
Buffelgrass has become well known as an invasive exotic species, but many other dangerous exotics threaten parts of the southwest and have garnered much less attention. One in particular comes to mind: Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii). This mustard has an affinity for sandy or bottomland soil in the lower and middle elevation Sonoran Desert. It has spread rapidly across large areas of southwestern Arizona and southeastern California. I've recently seen it in several disturbing places including the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve, in Bear Canyon in the Catalinas, and Saguaro National Park (east and west!). The Arizona/Sonora Desert Museum has a good webpage on this mustard it which you can see here.
Another species we all should be keeping our eye on is the Eurasian Collared Dove, which appears to be becoming more common in Arizona and Sonora. It may start displacing native doves such as the White-winged Dove and Mourning Dove, amoung others.
Sky's new gallery
Sky's New Photo Gallery
See my growing collection of photography in my new gallery. I am adding to it slowly, but surely as I go through my thousands of pictures one by one and choose those I think worthy of sharing. They are organized by subject matter... birds, herps, etc.
Also check out the new Wild Sonora website that I've been working hard on. It's starting to be a decent site. It has many new interactive features such as a forum and a Wiki where you can make your own pages, edit others, and add photos and other documents. http://wildsonora.com/
Migrants headed to the border
Dec. 2008 - Drugs, migrants, money, and the back-country border
Watching a stake-bed cattle truck squeeze by on a dusty back-country road in Sonora is pretty run of the mill experience working in Sonora. This one just happened to be loaded to the brim with about 2 tons of marijuana, carefully packed in sealed bales, but not hidden by tarp or even tied down. My friend had to squeeze himself up to the edge of our truck to let it by. We said buenos tardes and acted like we didn't notice what they were hauling... I suppose trying to play the dumb gringos. Although no dumb gringo would be just south of the border on a tiny dirt road dozens of miles from any pavement or towns. Or, depending on your point of view, that's exactly where the dumbest gringos would be. read the rest >>
September 2007 - Recreation fees and public land
Pay U.S. for your own land
Recreation fees are a barrier to many U.S. citizens experiencing their amazing and invaluable public lands... lands that they own equally with all U.S. citizens. The fixed-income family as well as those unwilling to pay fees are denied access to land that is theirs by birthright. No class of citizens should be denied the harmless, non-consumptive use of land they pay taxes to manage. Being denied access from Nature and all of our national heritage is unfair and unjust.
The amount of a given fee should not be debated and is only a debate trap to make smaller fees seem reasonable. Any fee will deny access to someone. Small fees are a foot in the door for those pushing recreation fees. The only way to keep access equal is to keep public access to public land free -- as it always has been. For those that say $5 is "a good deal" to enjoy public lands -- a good deal is for a car dealership or Walmart, not your public land!
Colorado (among many states and other governmental bodies) passed a resolution against recreation fees that reads, "The fees imposed by the FLREA are a regressive tax that places an undue burden on the people living in rural areas adjacent to or surrounded by large areas of federal land, as well as discriminating against lower-income and working Americans by placing financial obstacles in the way of their enjoyment of publicly owned land." read the rest >>
Apache Pine - Sierra El Pinito
July 2007 - Fire on the Mountain
In June I trekked with a friend to the top of the Sierra Pinito, a good-sized range just Southeast of Nogales. The Sierra Pinito nudge their way into the pine forest community at 2230 meters, high enough to compete for serious Sky Island status in Sonora. They are just South of the border from the Santa Ritas and Patagonias on the US side, but because of the the political boundary they are a world away when it comes to fire suppression and natural fire regimes.
To drive the point home the Sierra Azul, just to the south, was actively burning. The fire had burned a significant percentage of the range by the time we laid eyes on it. By the time we left the area it had burned itself out naturally. Little is done to combat wildfires and indeed, in contrast to U.S. fire policy, people don't treat every wildfire as an utterly dire situation. read the rest >>