In April, Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) partnered up with Sky Island Alliance for their Border Wildlife Study—a camera-based project that will help organizations and the public better understand the depths of biodiversity seen near the U.S.-Mexico border wall. For this study, Sky Island Alliance deployed a camera array of sixty devices that span thirty-four miles of the border between the Huachuca and Patagonia mountains.
Sixteen of Sky Island Alliance’s cameras have been established in the Patagonia Mountains. Including six of PARA’s cameras, which have been collecting data in the Patagonias since 2012, this totals a power of twenty-two remote camera traps throughout the mountains.
Sky Island Alliance celebrated their first 90 days of Border Wildlife Study in July by releasing their full species list. They’ve detected seventy-one species (and counting!) across the thirty-four miles of border; and with the combined efforts of Sky Island Alliance and PARA, over forty-eight (48) species have been sighted in the Patagonia Mountains alone!
The Patagonia Mountains
If you’ve never driven through the Patagonia Mountains, searched for its rare birds, or hiked its canyons, you’re missing out. Located about sixty miles southeast of Tucson, the Patagonias make up one of Arizona’s unique Sky Island ranges. This range is also part of the Madrean Pine Oak Woodlands and extends across the U.S.-Mexico border where, in Mexico, it becomes the San Antonio Mountains.
The Patagonia Mountains lie at the very heart of six intersecting provinces: the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Madre, the Sonoran Desert, the Chihuahuan Desert, the Great Plains, and the Neo Tropics. Because of this, the Patagonias are home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, including 300 species of birds, 600 species of native bees, 300 types of butterflies and moths, and 112 Federally threatened, endangered, and sensitive species—possibly including jaguars and ocelots that use the mountains to migrate between Mexico and the United States. Scientists have named this region one of the top areas in the world most in need of protection for species survival due to its ranging altitudes, the 128,000-acre Sonoita Creek watershed, and the Patagonia Mountains’ many canyons and woodlands.
While the Patagonia Mountains are wealthy in species diversity, they are also threatened by various operations, including border wall construction and industrialized mining. As the quality of air, water, and habitat are threatened, organizations like PARA and Sky Island Alliance are worried these operations will negatively impact these species at risk and ultimately limit—or remove all together—their ability to migrate freely across borders.
Check out this presentation PARA did with Sky Island Alliance in August on conservation in the Patagonia Mountains:
48 Species Detected in the Patagonias
Sky Island Alliance and PARA deploy their 24/7 camera traps differently—which results in some different sightings.
At Sky Island Alliance, the Border Wildlife Study team uses a scientific 1 km x 1 km grid. All cameras are placed within 3 kilometers from the border to get the best data on which species might attempt cross-border migration. This systematic grid placement ensures the cameras capture a variety of landscape features and, the Border Wildlife Study page says, “increases the likelihood of documenting the true breadth of the wildlife community.”
PARA’s camera team, on the other hand, places devices where wildlife sightings are most common: usually around water sources or where two different wildlife trails meet. While the approach is not unbiased or scientific in nature, it instead focuses on the locations where big mammals, like bears and large cats, are most likely to appear as they cross through the Patagonia Mountains on their way to and from Mexico.
Now for the species list! Here are the forty-eight* species PARA and Sky Island Alliance have detected over the last several months.
*If you’re curious what the forty-eighth species is, it’s a single insect: the moth!
This week, Sky Island Alliance announced the list of species they’ve found during the first 90 days of running their remote camera project.
Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, a partner on this exciting Border Wildlife Study, believes this documentation of species is incredibly important for understanding the depths of biodiversity in the Sky Islands. Many issues—climate change, resource extraction (industrialized mining), Trump’s border wall, and more—threaten the unique mesh of species we see in southern Arizona. It is inspiring to see 71 species captured on camera within a span of only three months. This data will support efforts of conservation, restoration, and environmental awareness in the Sky Islands for years to come.
You can learn more about the Border Wildlife Study, and see photos of all 71 species, on the Sky Island Alliance website.
TUCSON, Arizona—Sky Island Alliance is announcing initial findings of its Border Wildlife Study documenting critical habitat threatened by imminent construction of President Trump’s border wall.
In the first 90 days of the study, Sky Island Alliance has documented 71 species living in areas threatened by construction of the border wall. A barrier in this region of southern Arizona would seal off wildlife corridors used by dozens of species of mammals, birds, and reptiles.
“We have clear photo evidence of how vital this land is for a multitude of species that depend on connected habitat between the U.S. and Mexico. We must do everything we can to protect wildlife pathways across the border,” said Emily Burns, Ph.D., who leads the study.
Sky Island Alliance’s Border Wildlife Study has collected thousands of wildlife photographs from dozens of trail cameras installed across 34 miles along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. In the first months of this project, Sky Island Alliance, and its partners Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and Naturalia, have identified black bear, mountain lion, pronghorn, gray fox, coatimundi, elf owls, Montezuma quail and many other species within this threatened area. The extraordinary diversity of animals documented in the study areas in this short time shows an array of mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates rely on this threatened habitat as their home range, as well as for migration.
Today, we’re excited to feature the hooded skunk (Mephitis macroura). This little creature has been captured on Sky Island Alliance cameras as part of the Border Wildlife Study and captured on Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) cameras on the west side of the Patagonia Mountains. Through this collaboration, we’re excited to observe how hooded skunks migrate between the U.S. and Mexico, seeking habitats that include lowlands, wooded mountains, and areas with streams and springs.
Here are some facts about hooded skunks to get you acquainted with their habits and habitats—all without having to get up close and personal!
1. The hooded skunk species is found throughout the American Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), Mexico, and Central America.
Hooded Skunk Range. Source: The Animal Files
2. Within the Mephitis macroura species, there are four subspecies. Only one, the Mephitis macroura milleri, is found in the American Southwest and in northern Mexico.
3. When compared to the size of other skunk species, the hooded skunk falls right in the middle. It is smaller than striped skunks and larger than spotted skunks. (All three of these species have been caught on PARA and Sky Island Alliance cameras.)
4. Hooded skunks are easily identified by the long white hair that covers their bodies and necks. Their heads and sides are often black, however, giving them the appearance of wearing a hood. Their tails tend to be bushier than other skunk species with a feather-like appearance.
5. Hooded skunks build dens in habitats with rocks and plentiful vegetation. They like to live near a water source, such as a river, spring, or stream, and tend to prefer areas with lowlands, forests, or the high desert.
6. Mating season for hooded skunks typically falls between February and March. Females will carry their young, called kits, for two months before giving birth to a litter. Each litter contains three to eight offspring.
7. Hooded skunks live an average of three years, though they tend to live shorter in the wild due to predators.
8. Hooded skunks are nocturnal. They leave their dens near dusk and spend the night searching for food.
9. Like raccoons, hooded skunks have been known to seek out and eat human garbage. Mostly, though, their diet consists of insects, vertebrates, and a little bit of plant material (such as fruit).
10. Hooded skunks are threatened by humans (hunting, roadkill) more than any other predator. To protect themselves from predators, they will hide in the burrows or dens of other animals or take cover in cholla cacti. They can also spray in defense like other skunk species.
The hooded skunk species’ conservation status is listed as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, and it’s believed their population is steadily increasing across the U.S., Mexico, and Central America.
We at Patagonia Area Resource Alliance are excited to share details on a new partnership with Tucson-based nonprofit Sky Island Alliance. The work being done in Sky Island Alliance’s “Wildlife at the Wall” study will capture real-time data of the species found in the Patagonia Mountains, the Huachuca Mountains, and the San Rafael Valley—data that is vitally important in helping oppose Trump’s border wall.
Over 50 cameras have been deployed for this project with more planned for the future. Three weeks in, over 30 species have been documented—including, Sky Island Alliance reports, “mountain lion, white-nosed coati, ringtail, bobcat, gray fox, javelina, kangaroo rat, whitetailed and mule deer, Montezuma quail, American kestrel, Northern harrier, Mexican jay, and red-tailed hawk.”
OR, just keep reading for more details on this critical project!
SKY ISLAND ALLIANCE PRESS RELEASE — APRIL 2, 2020
Conservation scientists launch binational effort to document wildlife in the path of Trump’s border wall.
New study fills gap left by waiver of environmental laws at the U.S.-Mexico border Tucson, AZ—Sky Island Alliance announced the launch today of an unprecedented study to document the diversity of wildlife threatened by the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The Trump Administration has waived dozens of laws to fast-track border wall construction, and is set to build 30-foot tall steel walls in sensitive wildlife areas without any meaningful environmental review or mitigation.
“With border wall already under construction in Southern Arizona, it’s a race against time to document wildlife living in unwalled stretches of the international border,” said Emily Burns, Ph.D., lead scientist on the project and Program Director at Sky Island Alliance. “We don’t even have a complete list of species that live in these beautiful grasslands and forests, so we can’t even begin to estimate the toll of border wall construction on the remarkable animals of this region.”
Sky Island Alliance is partnering with Mexican nonprofit Naturalia and U.S. nonprofit Patagonia Area Resource Alliance to contribute vital science to fill the monumental information gap created by the Trump administration’s refusal to follow environmental laws. The study detects data using wildlife camera array along 34 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora, Mexico.
Sky Island Alliance has already installed over 50 wildlife cameras across the Patagonia Mountains, San Rafael Valley, and Huachuca Mountains over the past few weeks, with more on the way. Capturing photos and video 24/7, the project will generate thousands of images weekly. Sky Island Alliance and partners plan to use this information to both document the incredible diversity of wildlife in this rugged and remote area—and advocate for the urgent protection of vital wildlife corridors in the face of border wall construction.
“The remarkable wildlife of the border region deserve a voice in the decisions being made in Washington D.C. that will damage their habitat and sever their migration corridors,” says Louise Misztal, Sky Island Alliance Executive Director. “We want to ensure the American public understands the enormous harm to wildlife and local communities from the border wall. We hope this study will catalyze efforts to protect our region.”
“For more than 15 years, our organization and Mexican environmental federal agencies have made extraordinary efforts to maintain the great biological corridors of the borderlands and to conserve priority species present on both sides of the border,” says Gerardo Carreón, Conservation Director of Naturalia, AC. “In Sonora and particularly in the Los Fresnos conservation area on the border, there are extensive areas of passage for wildlife through permeable fences that must remain so. In this region there are Mexican records of black bear, jaguar, cougar, bobcat, beaver, pronghorn, mule deer, white-tailed deer, javelina, and an enormous diversity of migratory birds such as the bald eagle, ducks, and grassland birds. We are happy to participate in this important border wildlife study.”
The study is already detecting a remarkable diversity of wildlife species – more than 27 species within just days of camera installation. Wildlife detected include: mountain lion, white-nosed coati, ringtail, bobcat, gray fox, javelina, kangaroo rat, whitetailed and mule deer, Montezuma quail, American kestrel, Northern harrier, Mexican jay, and red-tailed hawk.
“We’ve studied wildlife movement in the Sky Island region for decades and know that it can take two years to document a complete list of species in a given area,” Burns said. “To have detected so many species this quickly highlights the incredible diversity here and the critical need to protect the connected border landscapes that these iconic animals depend on.”
The U.S.-Mexico border region is a diverse mosaic of ecosystems from deserts to grasslands and oak forests—and home to more plant and animal species than anywhere else in inland North America. Border wall construction will stop many wildlife species in their tracks, preventing the recovery of iconic species such as jaguar, wolves, and ocelots in the U.S., and putting numerous species like pronghorn, black bears, pygmy owls, box turtles, and white-nosed coati at risk.
Despite calls to halt border wall construction to ensure community safety during the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration is continuing to advance more than 150 miles of new border walls in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, using more than $3.8 billion taken from Department of Defense projects. If completed, 30-foot tall border walls would block nearly the entire Southern Arizona border with Mexico and cut the Sky Island bioregion in two. Numerous parks, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, national monuments, sacred Native American sites, and beloved cultural sites across the southern border region will also be harmed.
Kevin Pakulis Band to play benefit concert for Friends of the Mountain Empire, with special guest appearance from Congressman Raúl Grijalva
TUCSON, ARIZ. — The Kevin Pakulis Band will play a benefit concert to raise funds and awareness for the Friends of the Mountain Empire on Saturday, May 9th at the Hotel Congress in Tucson. Tickets for the magical evening of music can be purchased now to support the organizations – Patagonia Area Resource Alliance,Sky Island Alliance,Defenders of Wildlife,Tucson Audubon Society,Center for Biological Diversity and Save the Scenic Santa Ritas – that are working to protect and preserve the habitat, water, and wildlife of the Mountain Empire from new mining in the Patagonia Mountains, Santa Rita Mountains, Canelo Hills, and the San Rafael Valley of southern Arizona.
The event will provide a unique and exciting opportunity to hear the soulful music of Tucson-based, award-winning Americana singer-songwriter Kevin Pakulis, while supporting the incredible ecological and cultural biodiversity of the region.
“Our goal is to draw attention to the local organizations that play a vital role in protecting and restoring wild places in southern Arizona. More specifically, to draw attention to the message they bring – a message that deserves careful consideration, if not enthusiastic action,” said Pakulis.
Ocelot, photo US FWS
Arizona’s southwestern Mountain Empire is a hidden gem of the country, recognized for its beauty, uniqueness and ecological importance. The region is rich in wildlife and plant diversity and supports some of the world’s most imperiled wildlife including the jaguar, ocelot, lesser long-nosed bat, Mexican spotted owl and yellow-billed cuckoo. Sadly, destructive mining projects that continue to be proposed and approved threaten not only endangered wildlife, but the water, health and safety of local communities.
The benefit will include a special guest appearance from Congressman Raúl Grijalva, who will speak to the importance of conserving the natural and local communities of the Mountain Empire in the face of such threats.
About the Event
When: Saturday, May 9th, 7:00pm – 11:00pm Where: Copper Hall in Hotel Congress, 311 E Congress St, Tucson, AZ 85701 Who: Kevin Pakulis Band, Friends of the Mountain Empire, Congressman Raúl Grijalva Tickets: $20 Advance/$25 At the door
A celebration of our biological diversity, cultural heritage, and local resiliency in Patagonia, Arizona.
The 6th Annual Patagonia EARTHfest is being held on Saturday, April 18 in Patagonia, Arizona. Two additional feature presentations on Thursday, April 16 and Friday, April 17.
This year’s event theme is TREES.
The Patagonia Area Resource Alliance will be hosting a booth at Cady Hall for all the latest information on area mining (in)activity.
Follow link for full schedule of EARTHfest Guided Walks • Workshops • Youth Activities • Family Fun
Kevin Pakulis Benefit Concert for Friends of the Mountain Empire
Join us for a very special evening of music with the Kevin Pakulis Band on Saturday, May 9at 7pm in Copper Hall at Hotel Congress, Tucson.
Special guest appearance by Congressman Raúl Grijalva.
Support the organizations working to protect and preserve the habitat, water, and wildlife of the Mountain Empire from new mining in the Patagonia Mountains, Santa Rita Mountains, Canelo Hills and the San Rafael Valley of southern Arizona.
Click the Buy Ticket Now button to make a secure, on-line ticket purchase with your credit card through PayPal – no PayPal account required. Thank you!
Unable to attend Benefit Concert but would like to
The next step will be the likely release by the Forest Service of the Final Environmental Assessment and the Draft Decision. The Forest Service estimates the Draft Decision release to occur in June 2014. That will open a 45 day Objection Period. If you commented on the Hermosa exploratory mineral drilling project during a public comment period, you will be eligible to participate in the objection process.
5th Annual EARTHfest Patagonia – Trails Day * Earth Day * Arbor Day
Bring family and friends for a day of hiking, biking, walking, birding, learning, adventuring, skill sharing, face painting, food tasting, history relating and lots more natural outdoor and indoor activities and fun for everyone.
Rosemont Ours Screening and Fundraiser
Saturday, May 17, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Join PARA in a celebration of plants and animals in our sky island region. The evening will begin at 6:30 pm with drinks and desserts at Molly’s Studio Patio followed by a 7:30 pm screening of “Rosemont Ours,” a film of modern dance celebrating the plants and animals of the Santa Rita Mountains.
Rosemont Ours was born in response to the proposed construction of the Rosemont Copper Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains. By “replacing” plants and animals with human beings in reverential and playful ways, the film invites us to consider our role as both stewards and consumers of nature.
PARA will be collecting donations to continue our efforts to stop the multiple mining threats in the Patagonia Mountains. We recognize that the health and economic prosperity of our community is tied deeply to the well-being of the Patagonia Mountains and the Harshaw/Sonoita Creek watershed. They are the source of our drinking water, clean air and the essential features that drive our local economy.
Western Mining Action Network Conference
Through a generous scholarship program, PARA Coordinator Wendy Russell will be attending the Western Mining Action Network (WMAN) conference on May 9-10, 2014 in Anchorage, Alaska. For over a decade WMAN has provided a critical forum for communities facing mining in the United States and Canada.
WMAN is holding its ninth biennial gathering of people from across Canada and the U.S. who share critical perspectives and experiences about mining’s impacts on communities and the environment.
WMAN gatherings provide an excellent venue for information sharing, networking, learning, and strategizing among organizations and individuals working to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of mining.
Conference participants will have the opportunity to meet a wide array of people working on mining issues from across the continent, increase knowledge and skills, participate in training workshops, engage in large and small group discussions and share stories.
PARA, Jenny Neeley and Sergio Avila from Sky Island Alliance teamed up again to host a NEPA comment workshop at Cady Hall in Patagonia on March 26, 2014. Discussed were the potential issues of the Forest Service’s Draft Environmental Assessment of the AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver / Arizona Minerals Hermosa mining exploration proposal and how to comment effectively on it.
Jenny Neeley reprised her role as our National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) expert for tips on filing public comments on the Hermosa draft Environmental Assessment (EA) released by the Coronado National Forest. The purpose of an Environmental Assessment is to determine whether the impacts of a project will be significant. The goal for our comments on the draft EA is to demonstrate that the Hermosa project impacts will be significant so that the Forest Service conducts a more detailed and comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement. Read more tips for writing comments here.
PARA board member Cliff Hirsch gave a summary of the expected activities proposed by the AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver / Arizona Minerals Hermosa exploratory drilling project located 6 miles southeast of the Town of Patagonia. The project activities encompasses 7350 acres of both Coronado National Forest and private land. It is also expected to use 3,525,800 gallons of groundwater pumped from within the Town of Patagonia Municipal Supply Watershed. Click here for talking points and Hermosa project summary.
Thank you everyone for your participation. The Forest Service received 200 public scoping comments on the Hermosa Plan of Operation. Let’s send them 200 more on the draft EA! Deadline to submit comments is Friday, April 11, 2014.
Assist PARA in protecting our precious and imperiled natural resources such as clean water and wildlife, and actively advocate for the preservation of those resources by opposing AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s draft EA drilling exploration plan.
Plan to attend and ask questions at the public meeting hosted by the Coronado National Forest about AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s draft Environmental Assessment at the Patagonia Union High School. Monday, March 24 from 6-8pm.
Submit comments to the Forest Service about AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s draft EA drilling plan. Want to know how? Attend PARA’s comment-writing workshop with Jenny Neeley and Sergio Avila on Wednesday, March 26, 4pm – 7pm Open House at Cady Hall.
Sign a petition telling the Coronado National Forest that an EA is insufficient and a full Environmental Impact Statement is necessary when considering the Hermosa mineral drilling proposal. Sign Petition here.
Advocate for the protection of our community’s drinking water, natural resources, and distinct, serene rural way-of-life bymaking a donation. Every single donation assists PARA in our watchdog efforts for the Patagonia area.
Include your name, postal address, title of the project (Hermosa Drilling Project) and signature (or verification of identity upon request.)
Comments may be submitted as follows: Email: Electronic comments including attachments may be submitted by email in word (.doc), rich text format (.rtf), text (.txt), portable document format (.pdf), and hypertext markup language (.html) to: comments-southwestern-coronado@fs.fed.us with subject: Hermosa Drilling Project.
Facsimile: 520-388-8305, ATTN: Margie DeRose
U.S. Mail: Coronado National Forest, ATTN: Margie DeRose, 300 W. Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85701
Hand-delivery: 6th floor, 300 W. Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85701. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding Federal holidays.
Only individuals who submit comments about this proposed project during this public comment period will be eligible to file an objection.
Exposing New Threats
While AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s draft EA drilling exploration is up for public review and comment, the plans that AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver is sharing with investors are for an open pit silver mine in the Patagonia Mountains with the details revealed in a document found on their website: “Form 43-101F1 Technical Report Pre-Feasibility Study.”
AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s Pre-Feasibility Study contains a wide range of information about the open pit mine they want to dig in the Patagonia Mountains. PARA and Earthworks are coordinating to analyze AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s pre-feasibility study so that the community can fully understand the impacts of the proposed open pit mine.
Earthworks is a national non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. that is “dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the impacts of irresponsible mineral and energy development while seeking sustainable solutions. Earthworks stands for clean water, healthy communities and corporate accountability.”
PARA has teamed with Earthworks to develop an independent, peer-reviewed report of the potential consequences of AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s open pit mine on our groundwater, the potential for acid drainage contamination, heavy metals pollution, as well as the range of issues associated with air pollution, light and noise pollution.
By teaming with Earthworks and commissioning this report, the dangers of mining in the Patagonia Mountains can no longer be dismissed as opinion, but will present a meaningful and credible analysis highlighting specific and anticipated impacts from the proposed AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver open pit mine.
We are fortunate to have a group of amazing and committed community members and generous donors supporting our work that make everything we do for the Patagonia area possible.
Please consider a gift today to ensure that we have the scientific analyses necessary to actively challenge the Hermosa proposal and AZ Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s web of obfuscation. You may contribute securely online at: www.patagoniaalliance.org/donations. Also, please consider a recurring monthly contribution through PayPal.
Every single contribution makes a sizable difference in our organization and ultimately for the community of Patagonia. It is only because of the generous support from people like you that we can undertake this critical work. Thank you!
One site of Hermosa Mineral Drilling Proposal: Corral Canyon in the Patagonia Mountains.
By Jenny Neeley, Conservation Policy Director& Legal Counsel of Sky Island Alliance
Introduction: National Environmental Policy Act & Scoping Process
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires all federal agencies to prepare a “detailed statement” on the impacts of any proposed action that may “significantly affect the quality of the human environment.”¹ This “detailed statement” can take one of two forms:
Environmental Assessment (EA), a brief analysis used to determine the significance of impacts resulting from a federal action, or
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a detailed and thorough analysis used for those actions that are expected to result in significant impacts.
Federal agencies are required to go through a public “scoping process” in order to determine the scope of issues that should be addressed in an EA or EIS. Scoping also helps the agency determine the likely significance of an action’s impacts, and whether an EA or an EIS will be required.
What to Include in NEPA Scoping Comments
The scoping period is the best time to identify all the issues and resources that the agency must consider when preparing an EA or EIS, as well as the potential impacts the proposed action may have on those resources.
Identify resources likely to be impacted.
This includes all the resources and values that are likely to be impacted by the proposed action, including:
Air quality
Water quality and quantity
Wildlife and vegetation, including endangered, threatened, and other special status species
Wildlife movement corridors
Soils
Watersheds Floodplains, wetlands, and riparian areas
Cultural and Archeological resources
Visual resources and scenic values
Dark skies
Recreation
Transportation and traffic
Public safety
Socioeconomic Impacts
Identify potential impacts resulting from proposed action.
The scoping period is also the best time to identify all the potential impacts that are likely to result from the proposed action. The potential impacts will vary depending on the specific activity being proposed, and can include ecological, aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, and health related impacts. When assessing potential impacts, the agency must look at:
Direct impacts: “are caused by the action and occur at the same time and place;”
Indirect impacts: “are caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable (e.g., induced changes in land use patterns, population density, and related effects on natural resources and ecosystems);” and
Cumulative impacts: “the impact on the environment which results from the incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions, regardless of what agency or person undertakes such actions. Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time.” ²
REMEMBER: You don’t have to do the analysis for the agency. At the scoping stage, you just need to identify the issues and potential impacts that must be analyzed. You should also submit any research or supporting documentation that is relevant to assessing the significance of the project’s potential impacts. The agency is obligated to consider this material when drafting the EA or EIS.
The Patagonia Mountains are full of biological diversity. The mountains cross the border into Mexico, creating a virtual bridge for plant and animal species to the south. Consequently, we have many species from Mexico that are only found in the United States in Patagonia. Birders already know that the Sinaloa Wren can be seen in the States in Patagonia, Arizona. The Patagonia Mountains also provide important wildlife corridors and habitat for large mammals such as jaguars, ocelots, bears and mountain lions. To catalog and substantiate this biodiversity, we hosted Patagonia BioBlitz Days.
What’s a BioBlitz? It’s an intense biological survey conducted in a short amount of time with the goal to record as many specimens as possible. We hosted a BioBlitz for the Patagonia Mountains with Sky Island Alliance and scientists from all over the Southwest on April 26-28, 2013. A crew from Arizona Public Media was on hand on Friday to record some of the action. See “Nature by the Numbers” by Tony Paniagua on Arizona Illustrated Nature.
The data collected from the BioBlitz is being posted onto the Sky Island Alliance database called the Madrean Archipelago Biodiversity Assessment (MABA) Project. The project is managed by Dr. Tom Van Devender who brings a wealth of knowledge about the sky islands from a lifetime of research on both sides of the border. Preliminary plant results from the Patagonia BioBlitz can be found here. We’ll make further announcements as more data is interpreted and posted to the MABA website.
Partial funding for the Patagonia BioBlitz was received by a grant from Patagonia®. We plan to use the Patagonia BioBlitz findings to block new mining activity in the Patagonia Mountains.
With Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, Sky Island Alliance and Defenders of Wildlife, Early March
“A veteran fence-cutter myself (always legally, of course, removing old barbed wire from various wild way lands where I work back East), I could almost feel the sense of liberation as Sergio described taking the fence out of a wildlife corridor…”
Lobo stood with us symbolically atop American Peak as we gazed worriedly down on the proposed site of the Wildcat Silver Mine (below right). Lobo is a promise, an artistic expression of hope crafted by a Zuni sculptor. This small figurine and others (including jaguar and ocelot, which are also both native to southern Arizona but jeopardized by roads and the border wall) we bear with us on this wild walk-about. The proposed Wildcat Silver Mine is a curse visited upon the good wildlife and people of the Patagonia Mountains and surrounds. If the Wildcat Silver Mine plans are approved, the Southwest will lose a critical wildlife corridor, vibrant waters, and scenery to live for.
Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) and kindred groups aim to prevent this theft. Together with Defenders of Wildlife, Sky Island Alliance, and others, PARA is organizing local and state residents to oppose this mine. Please help them.
Our day was not all about threats and alarms, though. PARA leaders showed me Madrean oak/pine woodlands primordial in their beauty, and talked with me also about their work on sustainability. This work includes pollinator advocacy led by naturalist and writer Gary Paul Nabhan, with whom I serve on the Board of Directors of Wild Farm Alliance http://wildfarmalliance.org. As Gary’s research has shown, southern Arizona is a continental leader in diversity of bees, ants, bats, hummingbirds, and other animal groups that include pollinators critical to both native and cultivated plants. The great diversity of pollinators in the Sky Islands owes to its topographic, geologic, and vegetative diversity.
So does the Madrean Archipelago’s exceptional diversity in mammals, about which Sergio Avila of Sky Island Alliance told us as we strode the Patagonias. From atop American Peak, Sergio pointed out how these mountains, modest in stature but immense in diversity, reach south into Mexico and how parallel ranges also provide key corridors for animals like jaguars and ocelots. Sergio noted that the Sky Islands is one of the few areas north of the tropics where one can find four native cats: bobcat, cougar, ocelot, and jaguar, all of which are wide-ranging and need big wild interconnected habitats.
Sergio also pointed to the border wall, cutting across the San Rafael Valley and into the mountains, threatening to sever the connections that keep these mountains so rich. Some of the rugged areas along the border thus far have been spared the building of impassable fencing; and it should be an international conservation priority to keep these wildlife corridors wall-free. Sergio had a bit of heartening news for all of us: He and other Sky Island Alliance folks had recently spent some time, at the request of the Bureau of Land Management, removing the barbed wire along the US/Mexico border where agencies deemed a simple vehicle barrier to be enough of a deterrent to drug traffickers. A veteran fence-cutter myself (always legally, of course, removing old barbed wire from various wildway lands where I work back East), I could almost feel the sense of liberation as Sergio described taking the fence out of a wildlife corridor.
TrekWest Action: Please don’t forget, to help fight these threats, you can go to trekwest.org and sign the petition to Say YES to protecting our Fast-Disappearing Wildlife Habitat Corridors, which we will deliver to decision-makers who can speed up this important conservation need. Also support the worthy organizations featured in this blog!
For the Wild,
John
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The Patagonia Area Resource Alliance is working to stop industrial mining in the Patagonia Mountains. We are very concerned about protecting and preserving the town’s water supply. Part of our mission also includes promoting the local tourism-based economy to our surrounding public lands and parks. The interesting thing that I’ve discovered while working for PARA is that our mission overlaps or complements the mission of many other organizations both local and national. Given that we’re on the Mexican border, I can say international organizations too! One of those organizations that complements our work is Wildlands Network.
John Davis with Wildlands Network is hiking the Western Wildway of the continent from Mexico to Alaska to promote awareness of the need for wildlife corridors. The Western Wildway is a 6,000-mile-long wildlife corridor that includes Mexico, the United States and Canada. According to their website, “protecting the Western Wildway represents North America’s best chance to ensure the survival of many threatened keystone species that require long-distance movement pathways, including grizzly bear, lynx, mountain lion, wolves, jaguars, and ocelots — all faced with growing pressure from development-based habitat fragmentation and climate disruption.” Learn more at www.trekwest.org
John Davis recently traveled through Patagonia, Arizona. PARA got the opportunity to show him the area in the Patagonia Mountains that is being threatened by Wildcat Silver’s proposed open pit mine. Accompanied by Matt Clark from the Southwest office of Defenders of Wildlife and Sergio Avila from Sky Island Alliance, we climbed American Peak in the Patagonia Mountains. We discussed how the wildlife corridor for jaguars, ocelots, bears and mountain lions through the Patagonia Mountains would essentially be blocked by the proposed Wildcat Silver mine. At the top of the peak, we could see into Mexico. The Patagonia Mountains are only one of two sky island mountain ranges that cross the border into Mexico. Sergio Avila quoted a study that showed that our bear population in the Patagonias is more closely related to bears in Mexico than they are in the nearby Santa Rita Mountains. The bird’s-eye view from the top further demonstrated the importance of the Patagonia Mountains as a wildlife corridor and the vast area of the mountains that would be impacted by Wildcat Silver’s proposed open pit mine, tailings piles, waste rock, tailings ponds and processing plants. Open pit mining operations and wildlife corridors cannot coexist.
We were thankful for the opportunity to bring our mission to stop mining in the Patagonia Mountains to the attention of an international organization with a complementary mission to keep North American wildlife corridors open. There are so many good reasons to keep open pit mining out of the Patagonia Mountains. Keeping vital wildlife corridors open is another one.
The Super Citizen Advocacy Workshop hosted by the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and Sky Island Alliance was a great success! We had over 30 folks come spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon with us in Cady Hall
The afternoon started out with Wendy Russell discussing the 5 mining projects with applications for mining exploration in the Patagonia Mountains. Three of the projects are situated at the head of the watershed for the town of Patagonia. Read more here: http://www.patagoniaalliance.org/patagonia-mining-proposals/
Melanie Emerson, Executive Director of Sky Island Alliance
Next up was Melanie Emerson, Executive Director with Sky Island Alliance with an exercise for the attendees of “Why are YOU here.” Answers ranged from protecting the mountains, saving the watershed, preserving dark skies, preserving peace and quiet to finding out how to help PARA stop the mines.
PARA Board Members Michael Stabile and Carolyn Shafer
Michael Stabile and Carolyn Shafer gave a presentation on current Patagonia directives that may be related to mining. Michael cited the new Vehicle Weight Ordinance and Watershed Policy which both help to protect the town from the extreme traffic and water usage that comes with mining. Carolyn Shafer discussed the Town Plan. The plan is very explicit when it comes to mining activity. It states as one of its goals, “Discourage mining and other activities that damage or detract from Patagonia’s environmental and scenic quality.” Read the Town Plan here.
Jenny Neeley with SIA
Jenny Neeley Conservation Policy Director and Legal Counsel for Sky Island Alliance gave an overview of State and Federal Laws that affect mining on public lands. Some more familiar federal laws are the 1872 Mining Law, Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
For an overview of the National Environmental Policy Act, we were very fortunate to have an expert, Dinah Bear. She had the unenviable task of condensing her 5 day course into a 30 minute discussion on NEPA. We’re all grateful for the copies of The Citizen’s Guide to NEPA that she brought. She also reminded us that you don’t have to be an expert to comment on these mining proposals.
Wendy Russell & Kathi Noaker with PARA
Kathi Noaker and Wendy Russell helped to wrap up the afternoon with all of the different ways participants can spread the message about the threats to the town of Patagonia’s water, natural resources and community. We ended with many of the participants coming forward to sign on to help the PARA mission of education and outreach regarding the potential threats from mining in the Patagonia Mountains. Our super citizens of the town of Patagonia were amazing!
NEPA expert Dinah Bear
Thank you everyone! Special thanks to Dinah Bear, Jenny Neeley, Melanie Emerson and Patagonia® for helping to make it all possible!
The Patagonia community, PARA and SIA are gearing up to make a difference!
Visit the small town of Patagonia near Arizona’s southern border and the first thing you’ll notice is Red Mountain, the most prominent peak of the Patagonia Mountain range. Red Mountain and the rest of the mountain range contain an amazing array of native plant and wildlife species and even more extraordinary landscapes. There’s more biodiversity here than in Yellowstone National Park! The town of Patagonia, nestled at the base of the mountains, is the perfect launching off point for a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities including hiking the Arizona Trail, mountain biking, and world-class bird-watching. The community relies on this eco-tourism as well as the tourists that come to town just to enjoy our locally-owned restaurants, galleries and shops.
Unfortunately, our community and our mountains are immediately threatened by several hard rock mining proposals that would have severe and permanent impacts to this important Sky Island mountain range and the town of Patagonia. The mining claims encompass most of the Patagonia Mountains, including Red Mountain and the Arizona Trail. They even go right up to the southern edge of town. These mining proposals would destroy valuable wildlife habitat and would cut critical wildlife migration corridors. The mining activities would use vast quantities of water. We fear that they would lower the water table, reduce the water available to the town and even dry up private wells resulting in dire impacts to the vegetation, wildlife and townspeople.
In response to these threats, the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and the community of Patagonia is working with Sky Island Alliance to advocate for the watersheds and natural and cultural resources of the Patagonia Mountains. Through a grant awarded from the Patagonia® Clothing Company, PARA and SIA are organizing training workshops to encourage Patagonia area residents to identify and collect information that highlights the extraordinary biological richness of our mountains. We will use that information to effectively advocate for the protection of this cherished mountain range.
SIA is lending us its expertise in many ways, including training Patagonia-area volunteers to play a key role in inventorying and documenting mammals, birds, bats, plants and more. SIA and PARA will also team with regional experts and other partners to conduct springs assessments, unobtrusive wildlife monitoring, and road inventories for a better understanding of our area’s resources. To utilize this information as effectively as possible, PARA will work closely with SIA throughout this project to launch a community-engaged and science-based advocacy campaign. This campaign will empower and build capacity within our community to promote the protection of the Patagonia area and halt current mining proposals.
These efforts will enable the community to effectively respond to the numerous exploratory drilling and mining proposals slated for this fragile area. It will also ensure that we are well-positioned to repel any future proposals by promoting the protection of this special place and the plants, animals and people who call Patagonia home.
The Patagonia community, PARA and SIA are gearing up to make a difference! With support from Patagonia® Inc, we will protect and preserve our exceptional Patagonia Mountains, the home to diverse wildlife and plant species, extraordinary landscapes and our community of amazing people.
Tombstone Arizona has made national headlines regarding its battle with the Forest Service over water rights. For 130 years pipelines have transported water from the Huachuaca Mountains 26 miles to Tombstone. The Monument Fire and subsequent mud slides last year destroyed this pipeline system. Tombstone has been trying to get emergency permission from the Sierra Vista District of the Coronado National Forest to bring in heavy equipment to repair the water system without success. The case has also gone to court, twice. Tombstone has lost both times.
Reasons given by the courts include the question of actual need and urgency of the repairs. Also in question is Tombstone’s entitlement to the water in the national forest. Tombstone claims rights to 25 springs while the Forest Service says they have permits for only 5. The federal government said none of that gives the city unfettered right of access. The Forest Service has also cited the Wilderness Protection Act as a reason for their reluctance to allow the requested repair of the pipeline. Machinery of any kind is banned in a Wilderness Area where the pipeline is located.
Another reason given was the presence of Mexican spotted owls. The owls are a threatened species. Supposedly, their presence is the big reason that the Forest Service wouldn’t grant Tombstone a permit to use heavy equipment to fix the pipeline. I have a hard time believing that one.
Here in the Patagonia Mountains we are lucky to still have Mexican spotted owls. Last year, the Sierra Vista District of the Coronado National Forest granted permission to Arizona Minerals aka Wildcat Silver to start exploratory drilling operations within Mexican spotted owl habitat. This drilling project would have operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 300 consecutive days. Along with noise and light disturbance there was the extremely high likelihood of destruction of owl habitat. Even the presence of a nearby federally-designated Mexican spotted owl Protected Activity Center didn’t block the approval of the drilling project. We, along with the Defenders of Wildlife and Sky Island Alliance had to sue the Forest Service to stop the drilling project.
It’s not just about the owls. The bigger question is how does the exact same Forest Service office come up with completely opposite policy actions?
Hardshell exploratory drilling threatens endangered wildlife on Coronado National Forest
Conservation groups challenge project
TUCSON, Ariz.—A coalition of conservation groups has gone to court seeking a timeout on construction of the Hardshell Project on the Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona today. The groups are challenging the U.S. Forest Service for approving exploratory mineral drilling for a planned 3,000-acre mine without required studies of how it will impact endangered wildlife and the environment.
“The Forest Service appears to have pulled a fast one on this project by approving it without first assessing its environmental impact. There’s no way to expand industrial mining activities here without causing irreversible damage to wildlife,” said Craig Miller, Defenders of Wildlife’s Southwest representative. “When you take a broad view of all the industrial mining projects the Forest Service is allowing in this area, it’s alarming that it’s being done without considering impacts on our wildlife and wild places. It’s especially serious for endangered animals like the jaguar, whose survival depends on land managers ensuring that a few wild places like the Patagonia Mountains remain intact.”
The Hardshell Project site threatens habitat for endangered Mexican spotted owls, lesser long-nosed bats, and could cut off key migration corridors for ocelots and jaguars. Yet, the ForestService approved the project after waiving the need for analyzing its environmental impact based upon groundless assumption that the drilling would have no significant environmental effects.
“The Coronado National Forest is located within the heart of the Sky Island region, one of the most ecologically diverse spots in the world,” said Jenny Neeley, conservation policy director for Sky Island Alliance. “This project will likely degrade important wildlife habitat and disrupt a critical movement corridor for the jaguar and ocelot, which are known to roam this area. The ForestService is responsible for sustaining the unique biodiversity of this region, and as part of this responsibility it is required to take a hard look at the long-term impacts of this project before allowing it to move forward.”
The groups are asking the courts to put the project on hold until the Forest Service undertakes a thorough environmental review of its impacts.
“We want the Forest Service to give this proposed drilling project the serious consideration it is due,” said Wendy Russell with the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance. “A large part of our economy depends on tourism to these wild places. More important, the project is sited along Harshaw Creek, a major source of water for the town of Patagonia. We hope the court recognizes the importance of putting this project on hold until theForest Service does the proper analysis.”
Contacts:
James Navarro, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-0247; jnavarro@defenders.org
Jenny Neeley, Sky Island Alliance, (520) 624-7080 x13; Jenny@skyislandalliance.org
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org.
Sky Island Alliance is a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the rich natural heritage of native species and habitats in the Sky Island region of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. For 20 years, SIA has worked with volunteers, scientists, landowners, public officials, and government agencies to establish protected areas, restore healthy landscapes, and promote public appreciation of the region’s unique biological diversity.
The Patagonia Area Resource Alliance is an unincorporated association of volunteer community members dedicated to protecting and preserving the Patagonia, Arizona area. PARA is a watchdog organization that monitors the activities of industrial developers such as mining corporations, as well as government agencies, to make sure their actions have long- term, sustainable benefits to our public lands, our watershed, and our town. PARA is also committed to outreach and education within our community on the potential negative impacts hard rock mining could have on our surrounding ecosystems and to our growing eco-tourism based economy.
Jenny Neeley reprised her role as our National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) expert for tips on filing public comments on the Hermosa draft Environmental Assessment (EA) released by the Coronado National Forest. The purpose of an Environmental Assessment is to determine whether the impacts of a project will be significant. The goal for our comments on the draft EA is to demonstrate that the Hermosa project impacts will be significant so that the Forest Service conducts a more detailed and comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement. 
