News Roundup

Posted April 17, 2014 - Charles Miles

Fifth bighorn lamb spotted in the Catalinas – Tucson News Now – Nice news for the potential herd that a fifth lamb has been born! The Mountain Project (“a feature length documentary film that explores the victories and defeats of western mountain, public land hunts”) posted shopping links to two vinyl die cut decals where “all proceeds from the sale of this decal are being donated to the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society to support the Catalina Restoration Project.” Sabino Canyon Rescue – Pima County Sheriff’s Department Air Rescue – “On April 5th, at approximately 1450 hours, Search and Rescue Deputies from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to a reported stroke victim on Sabino Canyon Trail.” – more information in the description of the video. Rose Canyon Lake reopens – Arizona Daily Star – April 11 – Douglas Kreutz reports that Rose Canyon Lake is open and that in January improvements to the area including work on the trail around the lake were completed earlier in the year. Note that there is currently $10 per vehicle day-use fee and camping fees of $20 per night in Rose Canyon Lake.

More Bighorn Project Commentary

Posted April 8, 2014 - Charles Miles

Arizona Daily Star – Ricardo Small: Bighorn sheep reintroduction is poor wildlife management – An interesting opinion piece by Wildlife Biologist Ricardo Small. He mention habitat conditions, future isolation of the population, Desert Bighorn Sheep Society’s influence among the reasons for his predicted long term failure of this project.

Summerhaven Sidewalk

Posted April 1, 2014 - Charles Miles

I am not sure how often a sidewalk is news – but this sidewalk is truly a welcome addition to Summerhaven!

Bighorn Sheep Project Funding

Updated November 18, 2014 - Posted March 25, 2014 - Charles Miles

Arizona Daily Star – Bighorn reintroduction funded by hunting interests – This article breaks down the funding for the Bighorn Reintroduction and some of the connections between project managers and funding sources. Funding sources listed in the article:

Big-game hunting license tag funds (note that this funding source is, technically, not taxpayer money – but this point (frequently made by AZGF) is strange to me since this income seems to depend completely on taxpayer owned public land…)
Wild Sheep Foundation
Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society
Arizona Chapter of Safari Club International

The article presents opinions from people who see a conflict between the claim that hunting is not the primary reason for the reintroduction and the large portion of the funding coming from hunting advocacy groups and opinions from supporters of the groups/project who feel that there is not a conflict.

Mt Lemmon Gran Fondo postponed until 2015

Posted March 19, 2014 - Charles Miles

The Mt Lemmon Gran Fondo bike race has been postponed until 2015 – this would have been the race’s first year and will certainly be an awesome event with the highway temporarily closed to auto traffic! Tuscon Velo reports it “would have been the first time a sanctioned bicycle race has occurred on Mt. Lemmon in several decades“.