Environment
More than two years ago, Tucson brought flowing water back to a dry portion of the Santa Cruz riverbed, and the ecosystem has made a fast recovery.
Feb. 14, 2022
The megadrought bedeviling the American West got even drier last year and is becoming the deepest dry spell in more than 1,200 years.
Feb. 14, 2022
A 2020 cargo train derailment on the bridge crossing Tempe Town Lake caused a portion of it to be demolished. The railroad company operating the line will now reimburse Tempe for damages.
Feb. 12, 2022
The United States filed the first environmental complaint under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, calling for a consultation with Mexico over protections for a critically endangered porpoise in the Upper Gulf of California.
Feb. 11, 2022
The federal infrastructure law funds mine reclamation projects in 22 states, but the Navajo Nation is the only tribe set to receive direct funding.
Feb. 10, 2022
The Tucson Audubon Society will remove salt cedar trees in the Santa Cruz River for wildfire prevention.
Feb. 9, 2022
Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland recently named four board members to lead the Foundation for America’s Public Lands, including ASU faculty member Stacy Leeds.
Feb. 9, 2022
The state brought the suit last April, arguing the Biden administration did not consider the environmental effects of various policies.
Feb. 8, 2022
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says after conducting a scientific review, it will not list the Sonoran desert tortoise under the Endangered Species Act.
Feb. 8, 2022
A proposed freeway from Nogales to Kingman is still in the planning stages, and was not included in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill. But conservationists worry that funding could help move the project forward.
Feb. 7, 2022
A non-native insect is threatening aspen trees in northern Arizona. The insect is called an oystershell scale, and it’s about the size of a grain of rice.
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Feb. 6, 2022
A group of Sonoran filmmakers and biologists are creating the first known documentary about the state’s caves, and the life inside them.
Feb. 4, 2022
The Navajo Nation lost tens of millions of dollars in revenue when Salt River Project closed the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page in 2019. The tribe is now looking for new income streams to make up for that loss.
Jan. 26, 2022
A conservation nonprofit in southern Arizona has posted cameras to track wildlife near the border. They also expected to see a high numbers of migrants, but the cameras showed a different kind of human traffic.
Jan. 24, 2022
Leaders in Hermosillo, the capital of neighboring Sonora, Mexico, are celebrating a $1 million grant that will go toward an innovative recycling program.
Jan. 19, 2022
Mexico is set to break ground on a massive solar energy plant in the state of Sonora next month. Officials say the first phase of the project will be up and running before the end of the year.
Jan. 19, 2022
The U.S. Forest Service has announced a new plan for wildfire management. The new strategy calls for the Forest Service to coordinate with Western states to thin millions of acres.
Jan. 18, 2022
The U.S. government is putting restrictions on Mexican fishing boats entering U.S. ports over allegations that the Mexican government has failed to prevent illegal fishing in U.S. waters.
Jan. 13, 2022
The Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon Society have sued the Bureau of Land Management over grazing in Agua Fria National Monument.
Jan. 12, 2022
More than 220 sets of remains were recovered in counties around the state last year, according to a count by the Arizona advocacy group Humane Borders.
Jan. 12, 2022