January 14, 2019

Climate Change Endangering Arizona's Natural Resources, Prof Says

Stuart Marsh wants policymakers to understand links between natural resources and the environment

Red Squirrel A wildfire last summer left even fewer numbers of the endangered red squirrel on Mount Graham.
Melissa Merrick/Koprowski Conservation Research Lab

Global climate change, the increasing global population and recent changes in environmental policy are putting Arizona's natural resources in extreme jeopardy.

That's according to Stuart Marsh, a professor and former director at the University of Arizona's School of Natural Resources and the Environment.

"Our natural resources now are very interrelated, and that interconnection means there's a cascading effect on our environment," he said. "The key is letting people see the connections and not just in their small domain, but across the West and and across these resources.

Marsh cites the 2017 wildfire on Mount Graham as an example of a climate-related event that threatened a large international telescope and impacted the population of the endangered Mount Graham red squirrel. He says he's encouraged by public interest in the natural world, such as citizen scientists who collect data to become more informed about plants, trees, and wildlife.


Learn more about wildfire's impact on red squirrels:

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona