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Nature and Environment

Lake Mead outside Las Vegas, Nevada, serves as the Colorado River's largest reservoir and a key water source for Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico.

Colorado River water forecast lower than normal despite snowpack

Jan 9, 2020 The forecast is mostly due to hot and dry weather in the fall that left soils parched across the region.
The crew of the whaling vessel Pequod, portrayed by Ryan Parker Knox, Christopher Pankratz, Aaron Shand and Eduardo Rodriguez, in The Rogue Theatre's stage adaptation of "Moby Dick".

The great white whale, sighted in Tucson!

Jan 8, 2020 Also on Arizona Spotlight: A conversation with ecologist Brad Lancaster; and the series "Youth Crossing Gender Borders" begins.
The Kanab ambersnail was listed as an endagered species for more than 20 years, but federal officials have proposed taking it off the list after determining it is not a species distinct from other, more common ambersnails.

Feds say tiny snail in Utah, Arizona can no longer be listed as endangered

Jan 8, 2020 U.S. Fish and Wildlife says the Kanab ambersnail is not actually its own species.
Army Corps of Engineers contractors pour concrete in August for the base of a new section of border wall near Yuma. The Department of Homeland Security waived environmental and other regulations on 90 miles of Arizona's border last year to smooth the way for border wall construction projects.

Feds waived environment, other regs on 90 miles of state border in 2019

Jan 6, 2020 The waivers were aimed at streamlining wall construction on nearly one-quarter of Arizona's border with Mexico.
Larry Schnebly and daughter Lisa Schnebly Heidinger at the Canadian Port of Entry.

The 89-90 Trip: Canada at Last

Jan 3, 2020 The road trip draws to a close with the final destination just around the bend.
A mural of a vaquita mother and calf near the boardwalk in San Felipe, Baja California.

Conservationists: Mexican government failing to protect vaquita

Jan 3, 2020 They say Mexico has not been able to curb illegal fishing in the Sea of Cortez that threatens the nearly extinct porpoise.
Arizona Public Media.

3 mountain lions killed after feeding on human remains

Jan 2, 2020 Authorities said the lions were determined to be a danger because they should no fear of officers.
Dropping Trees off at Rillito.

Tucson offering drop-off recycling for your Christmas tree

Dec 26, 2019 Putting the Christmas tree on the curb won't get rid of it.
Looking upstream Sabino Creek on one of the bridges at the popular recreation site in Tucson in early winter.

Proposed Clean Water Act changes will mean uncertainty, loss of protections for Arizona waterways

Dec 18, 2019 The Trump administration is implementing a new rule defining which waterways are regulated under the act.
A video shot by wildlife biologist Rosemary Schiano of groundwater drilling near border wall construction close to Quitobaquito Springs on Dec. 16, 2019.

Video shows groundwater pumping for border wall near Quitobaquito Springs

Dec 17, 2019 Conservationists worry pumping will harm a rare and critical desert water source.
The midnight sun casts a golden glow on an iceberg and its reflection in Disko Bay, Greenland. Much of Greenland’s annual mass loss occurs through calving of icebergs such as this.

Greenland ice melt matches UN panel's worst predictions

Dec 17, 2019 New research suggests ice loss in Greenland has contributed just over a centimeter of mean sea level rise over 26 years.
Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas.

Interior secretary announces study impacting Colorado River water talks

Dec 16, 2019 States are set to begin negotiations next year over a new set of agreements about the river's future.
Vertical farmed plants are fed with liquid nutrients instead of soil.

Scientists consider vertical farming ahead of changing climate

Dec 13, 2019 A UA researcher says the technique could help solve future food concerns.
A view of the Rio Sonora valley from a hillside in Baviácora, Sonora, on July 30, 2019.

Report: Tailings dam poses threat to Rio Sonora valley 5 years after major spill

Dec 13, 2019 The report's author says Grupo México's new tailings pond threatens the health and livelihood of people already impacted by a 2014 spill.
More than 80 small fishing boats illegally cast nets into the Sea of Cortez in an area inhabited by the vaquita marina porpoise on Dec. 8, 2019.

Poachers swarm vaquita refuge ‘like never before’

Dec 12, 2019 A conservationist said the number of poachers in the endangered porpoise's habitat — casting nets for a fish called the totoaba — is unprecedented.
The Tortolita Preserve in Marana, Dec. 10, 2019.

Marana's Tortolita Preserve protected from development, for now

Dec 11, 2019 The town will continue making lease payments on the 2,400-acre wildlife preserve.

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