Mesquite Bosque – Birding Trail, Catalina State Park. January 2016.
The Catalina Comet was featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day – the picture was taken by Fritz Helmut Hemmerich who has more beautiful shots of the comet on flickr. The information with the picture notes that “Comet Catalina is now outbound from the inner Solar System and will slowly fade in coming months.” The Catalina Comet was discovered by – and named for – the Catalina Sky Survey.
Recent Santa Catalina Bighorn Videos – there are five new short videos of Bighorns in the Santa Catalina Mountains on YouTube and currently linked on the Friends of Santa Catalina Bighorn Sheep Facebook Page – a nice contrast to the deaths in recent months!
Ewe #39553 – killed by a mountain lion northeast of Biosphere 2 – in some previous mountain lion deaths there has been an attempt to kill the responsible lion, but in this case the “predation event occurred outside of the project’s designated area for administrative mountain lion removals, so no attempt was made to locate the lion responsible for the kill.”
Ewe #39551 – cause unknown but predation was ruled out, it does not appear there will be further investigation of this death.
Ewe #39543 – killed by mountain lions – the lions were pursued but the “efforts were unsuccessful”.
As predicted in the last update the collars from sheep released in 2013 have begun to drop off and now only 2 sheep from 2013 remain collared – this reduces the number of collard sheep by 9 and contributes to the drop in collared sheep known to be alive – 57 in the last report, 45 in this report.
Also included in the report is a picture from Brett Blum of the first lamb observed in 2016!
Enjoying cloudy weather on the Nature Trail in Catalina State Park. January 2016.
Mount Lemmon being trashed by visitors, KVOA.com – The snow on the mountain always bring an impressive number of visitors to the mountain and that always results in more trash on the mountain. This article points out that Pima County does not collect trash in Summerhaven and that residents and business owners end up picking up quite a bit of trash left behind by visitors – be sure to properly dispose of all trash and help keep the mountain clean!
The edge of the storm – Pusch Ridge, Linda Vista Trails. January 2016.
Catalina Hwy closed, 2 feet of snow expected this week – Arizona Daily Star: The Catalina Highway was closed because of weather, there was rain in Tucson and by sunset a beautiful layer of clouds covered most of the Santa Catalina Mountains – there should be some great mountain weather over the next week!
Pregnant Ewe #39554 died during this period – a fall appears to be the reason for the death, disease testing has not been completed and the cause of the fall is unknown (although predation has been ruled out). Another bighorn found dead in Catalinas – Arizona Daily Star.
The collars on the Bighorn Sheep released in 2013 are running out of battery life and are expected to drop off in January of 2016 – it seems to me that the information from the collars will be missed, while there will still be quite a few sheep with collars the alerts from the collars have helped provide very interesting mortality information.
The yearly trail restrictions on off-trail travel in the Bighorn Sheep Management Area are now in place and will last until April 30 – this page has the details.
Arizona Zipline Adventures is getting closer to opening – located off of Mt. Lemmon Road past the American Flag Trailhead outside of Oracle Arizona Zipline adventures is planning on offering an eco-zipline tour, hiking trails, gold panning and team building activities with your corporate, family or school groups along with deli style food, camping gear/equipment and locally-sourced goods. New zipline in Oracle provides high and fast adventure over the desert floor – OroValleyVoice.com, Adventures opening soon – CopperArea.com
Kick off 2016 with an invigorating hike – Arizona Daily Star: I hope you have been able to get out and enjoy the great outdoors in 2016 – one option for getting out on the 1st was Arizona State Park’s “First Day Hikes” program that included a hike on the 50-Year Trail in Catalina State Park. Catalina State Park and Oracle State Park host a wide variety of events – well worth checking their calendars for interesting opportunities!
Rescues/Accidents/Incidents including information from the SARCI Newsletter:
Box Camp Trail – 11/29: Hikers on the Box Camp Trail decide to continue down rather than hike back up – they loose the trail and one hiker continued on for cell phone reception, he was eventually brought out by helicopter. A search was set in motion for the other hiker who had been found and helped by other hikers.
Finger Rock Trail – 12/4: Hiker ran out of water and becomes exhausted – called for help but was able to continue down.
Injured hiker rescued from Ventana Canyon – Arizona Daily Star: A rescue after a hiker fell 30′ in Ventana Canyon. The SARA report on this incident provided some additional details: “A hiker scrambling around on a rocky pinnacle near the Window pulled loose a handhold and fell about 30 feet. His companion was unable to reach him, but called for help” – the injured hiker was short-hauled out.
A snowy hillside – taken from the ridge south east of Bear Canyon. Tucson and Mount Wrightson in the background. December 2015.
In places the snow has melted – but there is still plenty of snow on the mountain to enjoy!
There were two Bighorn Deaths in the first part of December. Initial lab tests confirm that Ewe #37448 died of pneumonia. Ewe #37441 was killed by a mountain lion. The latest project updated noted that:
A subcontractor to the project used a drone to monitor his dogs during pursuit of the lion that preyed upon Ewe #37441. The Department routinely uses low-level fixed wing and helicopter flights in connection with wildlife management projects. The pursuit was terminated upon the Department learning of use of the drone as the Department has not completed ongoing evaluation of how to best use such technology consistent with all applicable rules and regulations.
Rescues/Accidents/Incidents including information from the SARCI Newsletter:
Romero Pools – 11/1: Hiker missed the first crossing, descended the canyon and was accompanied out after reaching the Canyon Loop.
Blacketts Ridge – 11/5: Hiker with chest pains lifted out
Windy Point – 11/11: Fall
Agua Caliente Canyon – 11/22: Ankle injury while coming down the canyon
Marshall Gulch – 11/27: 30′ Fall
Grand Canyon National Park Backcountry Management Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement – Open for Comment: This site is focused on the Santa Catalina Mountains, but Grand Canyon National Park is probably of interest to almost anyone in Arizona who loves the outdoors… The comment period is currently open on a new Backcountry Management Plan – if you care about the Grand Canyon it is worth reading. This plan is mentioned here in part because the current Preferred Alternative includes seasonal permits and fees for day hiking to the Colorado River on the major corridor trails and notes the potential for future daily use limits, year round permits and similar policies for other trails. This would be a huge change for hiking in the Grand Canyon – please consider commenting. From the plan:
Implemented on [Backcountry Management Plan] Adoption
Day use permits required seasonally for [the North Kaibab Trail below the Manzanita Resthouse, South Kaibab Trail below the Tip Off and the Bright Angel Trail below the junction with the Tonto Trail]
Expected cost of day use permit at least $5 per person per day
Outreach and user education
User monitoring and data gathering
Protocols for Special Use Permits
Potential Adaptive Management
For [the North Kaibab Trail below Manzanita Resthouse, South Kaibab Trail below the Tip Off and the Bright Angel Trail below the junction with the Tonto Trail]
Implement group size limits (e.g., 30); adjust limits as research determines
Daily use limits (e.g., 250); adjust limits as research determines
Designated days for group or individual events
Day use permits required year-round
Policy for other trails
Snow on the Bug Spring Trail above Bear Canyon. December 2015.
As previously reported during the recent November release one captured Bighorn was not released into the mountains – the Bighorn was unable to exit the transport trailer and was taken to the AZGF Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center where he was found to have a femoral fracture and was euthanized. Captured bighorn euthanized because of fractured leg – Arizona Daily Star.
The report also covers the death of Ram #34641 whose remains were found by a “hiker … near a mountain peak in the Catalinas”. The cause of death is currently unknown ” due to the age of the remains”.
With the death of Ram #34641 and the release of 29 new sheep (3 of which were not collared due to age/size) there are now 60 collared sheep believed to be alive in the Santa Catalina Mountains.
Climbing Costs: Should hikers pay the bill for stupidity? – Tucson News Now: An article about the cost of rescues that asks if hikers/climbers/etc. should be charged for rescues. While the article does include some information about rescues in the area there was very little information from rescuers and no background information about how rescue costs are handled in other areas – for me the most thought provoking part of the article was the quote from Jim Holmes of the Southern Arizona Rescue Association: “We don’t want to do anything that would discourage the public from calling for help, if they delay because they’re afraid there’s going to be an expense associated with the rescue, it makes our job harder.”
