Wild Sonora

Buffelgrass Fire (Pennisetum ciliare)It's becoming common knowledge that buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) is a huge problem for native vegetation in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona. In Sonora the problem is worse. Vast areas of Sonora are over-run with buffelgrass. Ranchers in Sonora continue to blade and till desert and thornscrub to plant this grass, which helps as cattle forage primarily only in the short-term. Once well established the grass becomes fairly woody and cows tend not to eat it unless there is little else.

Unfortunately continued drought and poor range conditions in Sonora make blading one's ranch for buffelgrass seem like an atractive option to push for high productivity.

Buffelgrass outcompetes natives especially on Sonoran Desert slopes, sometimes becoming almost 100% of vegetative cover. This is esp. problematic for saguaros and other cacti, which often prefer the same habitat. Buffelgrass is very fire-adapted and spreads fire readily, burning out native plants and hitting saguaros and other cacti the hardest.

The Plains of Sonora subdivision of the Sonoran Desert has been especially hard hit by buffelgrass. See more about buffelgrass here.

Natalgrass (Melinis repens) is becoming a major invasive in some areas of warmer, wetter Sonora. Some slopes can be completely dominanted by this species. Less known than buffelgrass, an eye should be kept on this species. It has spread to some of the most remote places I've been in Sonora. It's hard to hate this grass since it is very pretty.

Tom Van Devender has wrote more about Melinis repens at the Sonoran Desert Museum website.

Macho B during capture (AZ Game and Fish)Macho B After TranquilizationHalf of this story is now being told - the intentional capture of Macho B by AZ Game and Fish. The other half of the story, which may be impossible to prove now (ironically due to Fish and Wildlife ordering the wrong kind of necropsy), is that the capture and associated stress, drugs, foot, and canine tooth damage led to the death of Macho B. The decision to euthanize Macho B may have been warranted by the time of re-capture.

Macho B had been in a foot snare for an unknown amount of time after initial capture, potentially many hours and obviously had foot damage. The tree to which he was chained was apparently severely scratched. Capture Myopathy, a condition which is caused by stress and sometimes over-exertion, often kills its victims in ways which fit Macho B's symptoms very well. All evidence and photos point to a very healthy Jaguar (esp. for his age of 16-20 years), which started a quick decline in health almost immediately after capture. See videos of Macho B after capture here.

Hopefully we all learn a lesson from this debacle for next time a jaguar decide to take up residence in our state.

See Full Fish and Wildlife Investigative Report Here

Snaring deliberate, and state lacked permits, US reports. Jaguar's capture broke law, feds say (AZ Daily Star)

View over the Rio Aros country. The far ridges in this image are in Chihuahua. This was taken on the Northern Jaguar Preserve north of Sahuaripa. Click for large panorama.

Panorama View of the Rio Aros Country

The Sierra La Laguna is an amazing sierra near the southern tip of Baja. These sierra had been an island many eons ago and continue to be a "Sky Island" with many endemic species and subspecies including the Cape Pygmy-owl.

"Baja California Sur vehemently OPPOSES the Paredones Amarillos open pit gold mine because of the irreparable damage it will cause to our community and the Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve. For more information info@VistaGoldNo.com. For Spanish go to info@ParedonesAmarillosNO.com and http://ParedonesAmarillosNO.com"

Get more info, links, and resources here http://www.vistagoldno.com/

Macho B Photo - After Capture by AZ Game and FishMacho B, Arizona's only known long-term resident Jaguar in decades, was killed by Arizona Game and Fish after being captured and radio collared. After realizing that something was wrong , Macho B was recaptured and euthanized by Game and Fish. After an initial attempt to claim that the capture had nothing to do with Macho B's sudden bad health, it became clear that the stress of capture along with strong tranquilizers caused his bad health. Some believe that the euthanasia may not even have been necessary. Click through to see videos.