SOME ARIZONA-RELATED LINKS THAT I LIKE.

ARIZONA (GENERAL)

Juliette Forneris (Geology grad student at ASU) has nice pictures of Pinacate, Grand Canyon, Sedona, etc.

BMGAFR (Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range)

This is a pretty and largely anonymous stretch of desert that has in part been accidentally preserved by the Air Force, and in part been strafed and littered with ordinance. The BLM has taken over stewardship of the land and vegetation, since the Air Force does not specialize in desert preservation. The area has become famous in recent years because of academic interest in its near-perfect Sonoran desert habitat, but not to worry - it is so large and has such a bewildering sequence of boney mountain ranges, broad, flat valleys, and bizarre Air Force and BLM shit everywhere that it is anything but boring. Add to that the shared border with Mexico, the screaming double-trailer trucks on Mexican route 2, patrols by confused Border Patrol agents, and skies filled with hypercharged modern bombers, and you have a recipe for the unexpected.

Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range home page. Good details from the people who know the place best.

http://phoenix.az.blm.gov/bmgr.html The special BMGAFR page of the BLM. Contains updates on what's happening on the range as regards the land itself. This is currently interesting because in the 2000-2001 period there are changes happening in some of the designations of land in this area. Some of it has even been left out of the military range, and the future status of those areas is undecided.

AREA A

I spent a scary night alone in mid-summer, camped in the big sandy wash south of Javelina Mountain. I was amazed at the delicate, crunchy moss and lichen crust that covered the ground everywhere. Ranches and abandoned cars from the 1930's sat frozen in time. The next day, as the sun came up and the temperature soared past 100 degrees in minutes, I fled back to the city.

This land has been removed from "withdrawal," meaning it is no longer needed as a "buffer zone" by the Air Force. It is back in the hands of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The link above (BLM/BMGAFR) will contain updates. I think the best thing that could happen is if everyone simply forgot about it, and never went there (I would be willing to do this if everyone else would).

AREA B

Home of Hat Mountain. Apparently visited even less than Area A. This area was not withdrawn, so is still part of the Air Force Range. It will be interesting to see which of the two areas fares better under the new designations.

Area B borders on a remote section of the Tohono O'odham reservation. On the reservation, a pipeline road from Casa Grande to the Ajo copper mine passes near Area B. Two years ago starving cows, mad with desperation, were reduced to chewing on saquaros in this district of the reservation. By the time I saw them they were a mere herd of carcasses.

Sauceda Mountains obsidian - Before the Air Force strafed the area, people collected obsidian from it. Read technical details of the obsidian occurrences in Area B.

PINACATE/ALTAR (not in Arizona, but what the hell?)

A National Park and Biosphere Reserve in Sonora, Mexico, featuring volcanoes and sand dunes. The few times I've made it down there, I always thought it was an especially beautiful place. It's very big and empty compared to similar places in Arizona.

From the book Geomorphology from Space:

NASA LANDSAT satellite image of the Gran Desierto del Altar. This includes a description of the dune types in the area, and a photograph of the little-known Sierra del Rosario.

NASA satellite photo of part of Arizona and Sonora southwest of Tucson. Also includes a description of the desert types in closed basins such as those in SW Arizona and N. Sonora.

In Spanish (practice for your trip!):

"Sonora online" description of Pinacate

SonoraTruismo blurb on Pinacate for Rocky Point visitors

 

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM)

The BLM is responsible for managing many of the public lands in Arizona and other Western states. They have an uphill battle trying to maintain the fragile desert environment for "multiple use and sustained yield," if that is indeed what they are really trying to do.

There is a large variety of different designations of land that are all managed by the BLM: wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, military ranges, and just plain ol' public land. The BLM areas are usually less heavily "managed" than national forests (US Department of Agriculture) and National Parks and Monuments (National Park Service), which gives the BLM lands a nice, old-timey quality. Many of the roads are unmarked, and there is little "interpretation" of what's there.

Because they manage the land, their web pages can contain the first hints about what may be happening to the desert in the future - at least, the first hints outside of corporate board rooms (I say this because most big private projects, such as powerlines, are initiated by Corporations, requests for the use of land such as power corridors are submitted to the BLM, and then the public finds out about it. See the new Phellps-Dodge Gila Bend-Ajo powerline for an example).

http://www.az.blm.gov/ (Main BLM office for the State of Arizona. Contains links to the various statewide field offices)

http://phoenix.az.blm.gov/front3.html (Phoenix field office main page)

 

TOHONO O'ODHAM INDIAN RESERVATION

This is a very large area, as large as Connecticut, and the desert here, though heavily grazed by cattle, is especially beautiful. Because it is tribal land, it lacks certain annoyances that are common off the reservation: there are no ominous "For Sale" signs in pristine desert, no wildcat developments, no Winnebago encampments. However, it is not a Nature preserve and it is not Public land. Here are two places where non-O'odham are permitted, and which I especially enjoy.

BABOQUIVARI PARK

Non-Indians may legally camp here amongst the cows and scattered stones. Permits are available from the Baboquivari District Office about 20 minutes south of Sells, AZ. A trail leads up Baboquivari Peak to a collapsed staircase that used to lead up to a fire tower on the summit. Technical gear is needed to climb the summit itself, unless you have mountain goat blood.

BASHA'S IN SELLS

The deli has really good fried chicken (better than AJ's Fine Foods in a blind taste test!) and great refried beans. This is where I buy my food when I am camping at Baboquivari Park.

Here are some good links dealing with Tohono O'odham issues:

http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln28/tohono.html#tohono (House building issues)

http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/users/jlcox/fall99/206/cnotes/cnotes08.html (U of A anthropology lecture on the Tohono and Hia C'ed O'odham.)

ARIZONA/MEXICO BORDER REGION

This is another cool area which I like because it seems to be on the "edge." Everything in the United States is so boring and well-planned. A network of roads and powerlines forms a web of stability over the entire land, even in the "Wild West." But within a few miles of the border in the Arizona desert, it all peters out. Illegales on foot trickle north, and Border Patrol agents in giant white SUV's mill around everywhere, both more highly visible than would seem reasonable.

In places in Arizona, the border almost appears to be non-existent. In Southwestern Arizona, there is not even a border fence. But the border is there. The few sand roads in that area are dotted with metal detectors, and the Border Patrol monitors the movements of vehicles. I know this because I was "monitored" myself snooping around the border on the Goldwater Range, legally, and was eventually pulled over when I got closer to Interstate 8.

http://www.browndailyherald.com/stories.cfm?ID=409 (Brown Daily Herald story about the Tohono O'Odham and the border)

http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/AMR510031998 (Amnesty International report on human rights abuses along the border).