Re-enacting the Civil War in the Southwest

Re-enacting the Civil War in the Southwest

Picacho Pass, Ariz. – On April 15, 1862, two small groups of Union and Confederate soldiers fought a battle in central Arizona. The engagement left several Union troops dead, including the detachment’s commanding officer, and wounded several men on each side. It...
A Kartchner Caverns tour with Gary Tenan

A Kartchner Caverns tour with Gary Tenan

Benson, Ariz. – About 40 miles southeast of Tucson, under the limestone rock of the Whetstone Mountains, lies a vast, living cave called Kartchner Caverns. It was discovered in 1974 by Gary Tenan and Randy Tufts, two amateur cavers from Tucson. A small cleft in...
Smuggling tunnels proliferate under Nogales

Smuggling tunnels proliferate under Nogales

In 2009, I interviewed a U.S. Border Patrol “Tunnel Rats” team for the British Broadcasting Corporation. I also accompanied them on patrol in several underground passageways. The story aired on the BBC World Service program Outlook. The original link on...
Author Byrd Baylor celebrates the desert

Author Byrd Baylor celebrates the desert

Arivaca, Ariz. – Byrd Baylor’s love of the desert serves as both setting and subject for her writing. She’s best known for her children’s books, primarily set in the Southwest and populated with Native Americans and desert creatures. After years in Tucson...
Scientists driving bark beetles crazy with their own sounds

Scientists driving bark beetles crazy with their own sounds

Flagstaff, Ariz. – Rich Hofstetter studies the bark beetle of North America’s most invasive species. The insect, slightly larger than a piece of rice, has killed millions of ponderosa and piñon pine trees from the Canadian Rockies to the Mexican Sierra Madre....

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