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More Arizona Illustrated Nature and Environment Stories

The Grand Canyon in northern Arizona.

Next Generation Rangers

National parks (and monuments) in United States are called the “country’s best ideas” and the National Park Service is celebrating its 100th Anniversary next year. 2016 will be a year of celebrations and Arizona will play a significant role.
A webcam at the University of Arizona captures a hummingbird family.

Hummingbirds

A hummingbird built her nest on the end of an internet cable over the summer in the new Environment and Natural Resources Building on the University of Arizona campus this summer.
Rainwater pours into a wash in Tucson, Arizona.

Harvesting Rain

The arid climate in Tucson limits rainfall to approximately 12 inches per year, more than half of which falls during the annual monsoon. Brad Lancaster is a community activist who is well known and respected in the rainwater harvesting community.
A close-up on a prickly pear cactus.

Prickly Pear

It’s abundant, nutritious and free and more people are incorporating it into their diets. Prickly pears are native to the deserts of the American continents and were already being used by their indigenous residents when Europeans arrived.
A desert tortoise snacks on a prickly pear fruit. somewhere the Sonoran Desert.

Monsoon Wildlife

The hot and humid monsoon sends a lot of people looking for cover and relief indoors, but it’s an ideal time for many critters to explore the outdoors.
This is just one of the many types of rattlesnakes in the desert wilderness of Arizona.

Living with Rattlesnakes

A couple of Tucson residents are hoping that more people will learn to appreciate and protect rattlesnakes and other snakes in our region and around the world.
A hummingbird in mid-flight.

"Love" in the Wild

Mating habits and relationships among some Southern Arizona birds and critters.
There is one idea which would spend billions of additional dollars for personnel, equipment and barriers along the border with Mexico, but this is raising red flags for environmentalists.

Walls and Wildlife

How does the Arizona / Mexico border wall affect wildlife?

Aravaipa Canyon

If you are a city dweller and looking to ‘get away from it all’ there is a place where water runs through thousand foot canyon walls year round, wildlife including desert bighorn sheep and over 200 species of birds live among shady cottonwoods.
A flower blooms on a cactus in Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the largest and oldest botanical garden in the state of Arizona.
A pond in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge

The natural environment in Arizona is so varied, you're not sure what you might discover. Visit a national wildlife refuge only 60 miles from Tucson that feels a world apart from the Sonoran Desert.

Urban Bees

Tucson resident Noel Patterson is passionate about local foods and one example is his preferred sweetener: honey.

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