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More Arizona Environment Stories

A male Elegant Trogon, as featured in Richard Cachor Taylor's 2022 book "Birds of Arizona".

The field guide "Birds of Arizona" was a labor of love for author Richard Cachor Taylor.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: How the Pima County Library's Synapse Team is helping mental health community-wide; visit the El Jefe Cat Lounge; and remembering broadcasting legend Larry Schnebly.
Water levels in Lake Powell, seen here in May 2021, are dipping dangerously low. The federal government has proposed an unprecedented plan to cut back on water supplies for Arizona, Nevada and California. The measure aims to keep water levels high enough to generate hydropower at the Glen Canyon Dam.

The Buzz: Looking back on 2022

Newsworthy interviews and topics that we addressed this year.
Residents of the Douglas and Willcox Basins say they're drilling deeper and more often for water as their wells dry up as big companies expand their operations and dig even deeper into the shared water supply.

Preserving parts of Cochise County's water future

In November, voters split on future management of two major basins.
Male jaguar photographed in the Dos Cabezas Mountains Nov, 16, 2016.

Environmentalists want jaguars reintroduced to US Southwest

An environmental group on Monday petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help reintroduce the jaguar to the Southwest.
The Verde River near the site of a dam that was removed in 2022.

The Buzz takes a trip down the Verde River

Meet a man who has made saving this unique waterway his life's work
A crew from Verde Earth Technologies chips arundo in Cornville, Ariz.

Crews remove invasive plants from Arizona waterways to conserve water, better ecosystem

Efforts along the Verde River and its tributaries to remove introduced plants can prevent monocultures while also getting water to a Phoenix-area reservoir.
This yard in Mesa was converted to desert landscaping under the city’s Grass-to-Xeriscape incentive program. September 2022.

As the drought grinds on, Maricopa County homeowners take advantage of xeriscape incentives

Megadrought and low runoff conditions accelerated by climate change have resulted in record low water levels in Lakes Powell and Mead
Cattle on Date Creek Ranch are grass-fed and sustainably raised on irrigated pastures.

How one Wickenburg cattle ranch puts sustainability at its core

Regenerative agriculture means leaving the land better than it was found.
A Mount Graham Red Squirrel.

Population increase for endangered red squirrels in Arizona

State Game and Fish Department officials said that the annual survey estimates that there currently are 156 of the rare squirrels, up from 109 last year.
Crews with the Arizona Dept. of Forestry load a tree for the Capitol building.

AZ Capitol Christmas tree keeps forest healthy

The state used a tree that was part of a thinning project.
Shipping containers are put in place along the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County.

Forest Service warns about dangers of shipping container wall

The state is placing the barriers in the Coronado National Forest.
John Farley, director of fire test operations at the Naval Research Laboratory, tests the effectiveness of aqueous film-forming foam by spraying it on a gasoline fire. The test took place at the laboratory in Chesapeake Beach, Md. Oct. 25, 2019.

UArizona Health Sciences receives grant to study PFAS mitigation in firefighters' blood

Arizona Board of Regents grant will further an Australian study that could minimize forever chemicals' impact on health.
A Mexican gray wolf at the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility in New Mexico in 2011.

Updated recovery plan for Mexican wolves aims to reduce human-caused deaths

The plan aims to further protect the endangered wolves through increased law enforcement, education and outreach to communities near where the wolves live.
Protests against the Resolution Copper mine near Oak Flat have been going for years, as shown in this 2015 file photo from a rally at the Capitol.

Tribe continues fight against proposed Arizona copper mine

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the state Department of Environmental Quality illegally issued a Clean Water Act permit for the proposed Resolution Copper Mine.
Two Sandhill cranes fly above their wintering grounds in Cochise County. Experts from the Arizona Game and Fish Department estimated more than 27,000 individuals were in the area in January 2020.

Sandhill cranes return to wintering grounds in southeastern Arizona

People can watch from home on AZ Game and Fish live stream.
Water levels are at record lows and still dropping in the nation's largest reservoirs. The federal government began the process of restricting water releases from Glen Canyon Dam, which holds back a shrinking Lake Powell.

Feds want the ability to cut back on Colorado River reservoir releases over the next two years

On Friday, the Interior Department began the process of revising existing guidelines for water management in the Colorado River basin.

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