Environmental Issues > Wildlife Main Page > All Wildlife Documents
    |
||
          |
||
   |
||
|
|
Southwest
|
|
|
For millennia, the cracked canyons and crimson rocks of the Southwest have hosted ancient native cultures and wildlife uniquely suited to its dramatic environment. Vast swaths of land in this region have scant federal protections, and today, oil and gas interests, encouraged by the Bush administration, are grabbing public land for drilling and exploration in this fragile territory. A number of the Southwest's desert and high-country plants and animals are now at risk; the stories of a few are told here.
|
|
ACT NOW:
Save America's Redrock Wilderness |
IMPORTANT WILDLIFE AREAS
REDROCK WILDERNESS:
Southern Utah's redrock country contains the largest acreage of unprotected wilderness in the western United States. More than two dozen endangered or sensitive animal species, including the Gila monster, whose saliva is the source of what may prove to be an important new drug for treating diabetes, and the desert tortoise, live in this fantastic terrain of wildly twisted rock shapes and invaluable indigenous cultural sites.
CHIHUAHAN DESERT:
A thumb of this great desert extends north of the Mexican border into southern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Its dry, cactus-spotted landscape is prime roadrunner territory. The shrubby terrain also supports pronghorn antelope, mule deer and jackrabbits, while hawks, eagles, bobcats, and of course wily coyotes like the clear sightlines to their prey. In Big Bend National Park, which hugs the Rio Grande in West Texas, more than 450 species of birds have been identified.
TEXAS HILL COUNTRY:
This dollop of grassland northwest of San Antonio features a mosaic of open woodlands and tall grasses, rocky hills and deep canyons, clear lakes, spring-fed streams and limestone caves. Endangered birds like the golden-cheeked warbler and black-capped vireo nest in the woodlands, while bats roost in the caves below. Springs support the Texas blind and San Marcos salamanders, both endangered.
RELATED NRDC PAGES
Last-Chance Outdoor Adventures in the West Don't Spoil the Soil (OnEarth Magazine) |
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Photos: Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge © John & Karen Hollingsworth/Digital Library Service, USFWS; Chiricahua Leopard Frog © USFWS; Apache trout © John Rinne, USFWS; golden cheeked warbler © Steve Maslowski, USFWS
|
||
Sign up for NRDC's online newsletter
TAKE ACTION
Act now to save bees
Urge the Department of Agriculture to act now to save bees! Honey bees are crucial to producing about one-third of all the food we eat.
NRDC Gets Top Ratings from the Charity Watchdogs
- Charity Navigator awards NRDC its 4-star top rating.
- Worth magazine named NRDC one of America's 100 best charities.
- NRDC meets the highest standards of the Wise Giving Alliance of the Better Business Bureau.
Switchboard Blogs
- Animal Abuse, Torture, and Dead Pets: Fox News Shines Spotlight on Wildlife Services
- posted by Melissa Waage, 3/14/13
- President Obama: Protect Bristol Bay, Stop the Pebble Mine
- posted by Joel Reynolds, 2/14/13
- Reviving the rainforest - it's better than a box of chocolates
- posted by Carolina Herrera, 2/12/13
Related Stories
- Return of the Black Rhinos
- Namibia's black rhinos are now more valuable alive than dead.
- In the Bay of Whales
- Getting up close and personal with gray whales at Laguna San Ignacio.
