Current Issues

John Long Canyon

John Long Canyon

Last week, the Portal-Rodeo Hiking Group hiked to John Long Canyon, a very special place. The group saw mature Apache, Chihuahuan and some Ponderosa pine trees, as well as Douglas Fir, several oak species, Madrone and Sycamore trees and a golden eagle, ravens, a mountain lion, turkeys, and many deer. This is a very special…

Mexican Wolves

Mexican Wolves

Phil Hedrick’s guest blog on the Sky Island Alliance website is optimistic: the “[c]onservation of the Mexican wolf, a unique subspecies of gray wolf, has been a qualified success, with real progress made in the United States and a number of threats looming throughout the species’ range but especially in Mexico”. Phil chronicles the history…

Lawsuit Targets New Forest Service Roads in Jaguar, Mexican Spotted Owl Habitat in Arizona

Lawsuit Targets New Forest Service Roads in Jaguar, Mexican Spotted Owl Habitat in Arizona

Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Chiricahua Regional Council, Natural Allies, Wild Arizona, and Conservation CATalyst, filed a lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to build new roads and allow increased motorized access through three sensitive canyons in the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Roads in these remote canyons would put…

Petition Seeks New Federal Protections for Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains

Petition Seeks New Federal Protections for Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains

Today, conservation groups, including Center for Biological Diversity, Sky Island Alliance, and Chiricahua Regional Council, petitioned the U.S. Forest Service to designate a 5,500-acre swath of the western Chiricahua Mountains as the Izęę’ Bich’ilwozh (Medicine Canyon) Zoological-Botanical Area. The designation, which can be made at the discretion of Regional Forester Michiko Martin, would protect the…

Groundwater Policy Statement

Groundwater Policy Statement

As an environmental group pledged to protect intact habitats and natural resources, CRC acknowledges that groundwater pumping for industrial scale agriculture and mining poses very real threats to underground aquifers and the health of riparian habitats. Wildlife and human communities depend on reliable water resources. Aquifers are being over exploited in many parts of the…

Peloncillo Firescape Comments Due Fri., March 15

Peloncillo Firescape Comments Due Fri., March 15

The 30-day window to comment on the Forest Service’s draft environmental assessment for their proposed Peloncillo Firescape Project closes March 15. The Chiricahua Regional Council (CRC) recognizes the need for public land managers to address the threats posed by wildland fire. In our age of climate change, this has grown in importance. Although the CRC…

Peloncillo Firescape Draft Environmental Assessment

Peloncillo Firescape Draft Environmental Assessment

The Coronado NF just released the Draft Environmental Assessment for the Peloncillo Firescape project. This plan will determine how the Forest Service manages the vegetation and watersheds in the National Forest portion of the Peloncillo Mountains for the next 20+ years. The 30 day comment period will end on March 15. Here is a summary…

Musings of a Past President

Musings of a Past President

by Wynne Brown Waaaay back in 2008, I was living in Whitetail Canyon when I received a phone call from CRC’s then-President, Dick Zweifel. “We’d like to invite you to a Chiricahua Regional Council Board meeting,” he said.“Oh, OK, hold on—” I replied. “Let me go get Hedley for you.” After all, my now-ex-husband (or…