wildlife Archives - Chiricahua Regional Council

John Long Canyon

Elly Van Gelderen — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:46:49 +0000

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 place and the Center for Biological Diversity is taking the lead on a lawsuit to prevent an access road into John Long. The CRC is a co-plaintiff in this lawsuit together with some other organizations. Another aspect to John Long is the petition to the regional forester in Albuquerque to create a Zoological Botanical Area in the John Long Canyon drainage and to call it Izęę’ Bich’ilwozh `Medicine Canyon’. See more here: https://biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/pdfs/ZBA-Petition-Final-PDF.pdf

Let’s hope for the best on both initiatives!

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Mexican Wolves

Elly Van Gelderen — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 15:59:10 +0000

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 of the Mexican wolf in the Sky Islands with maps and pictures. Read the entire articles at the Sky Island Alliance site.

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20 – Globally Important Bird Area (2008)

Karen Fasimpaur — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 16:36:01 +0000

(This is a part of a series of gleanings from the history of CRC’s 30 years of work; additional posts available here.)

In 2008, the Chiricahua Mountains were formally recognized as a Globally Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society, in large measure thanks to the efforts of CRC Board Member Helen Snyder.

The Chiricahua Mountains are rightly famous as a home to Mexican Chickadees.
(Photo by Narca Moore)

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13 – Wildlands Network concept (2001)

Karen Fasimpaur — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 22:18:34 +0000

(This is a part of a series of gleanings from the history of CRC’s 30 years of work; additional posts available here.)

On August 22, 2001, CRC sponsored an illustrated lecture at the Portal Fire and Rescue classroom by David Hodges and Kim Vacariu on the Wildlands Network concept, involving Core Reserves (mainly wilderness areas), Compatible-Use Areas (buffers) and Linkages (corridors between native habitats).

CRC Directors believe this model for preserving and linking pristine habitats is crucial to conservation worldwide and is especially pertinent to the Chiricahua Mountains, one of the premier Sky Islands of the Southwest. The speakers stressed that cooperation between government agencies and private landholders is essential to attain conservation goals.

(David, who then worked for Sky Island Alliance, is now a CRC Board Member. Kim retired from working for The Wildlands Project and continues to promote conservation through Heritage Days and as a Board Member for the Friends of Cave Creek Canyon.)

Mountain Lions and other animals that roam widely must have corridors between patches of suitable habitat in order to survive longterm.
(Photo courtesy of Narca Moore)

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