Jaguar versus the copper mine By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge
Clearing House There’s an extraordinary 70,000-square-mile
region that encompasses part of southeastern Arizona,
southwestern New Mexico and northwestern Mexico. This area,
called the Sky Islands, is characterized by forested mountain
ranges divided by desert or grassland valleys. Because of the
topographic, climatic and biological complexity of this zone,
the Sky Islands harbor some of the most diverse ecosystems in
the world. Over half of all North American bird species use the
area, as do 104 mammal species and 3,000 plant species. Four
species listed as candidates for protection under the Endangered
Species Act live there, including the desert tortoise and
western yellow-billed cuckoo, as do nine species listed as
threatened or endangered under the ESA including the ocelot and
the jaguar (more news on this cat later in this post). Roughly
30 miles south of Tucson, smack in the middle of the Santa Rita
Mountains portion of the Sky Islands is where