image from Kevin Dooley on flickr

We’ve had such nice weather these last few days! The air smells of creosote and the temperatures have lightened up. Our garden is really soaking it up and is super happy. These pictures were taken about a week or two ago and it feels like things have nearly doubled in size, especially the squash. I wish we had a rainwater harvesting system set up but at least we have done a few things like planting in low areas and making little berms around plants so they can retain the water they get. Happy Memorial Day weekend, everybody! Lets hope for more rain.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is raising awareness of endangered species today across the country. The National Wildlife Federation blog has a great post on it (don’t forget to Tweet it!) including a cool challenge to learn one new endangered species for your area. “There are currently 1317 species listed in the U.S.: 746 plants and 571 animals. To find out what endangered species are near you, and how you can help, please visit www.fws.gov/endangered.” There are 73 species listed on the endangered species list just for Arizona! I’ve listed them below from the Southwest Endangered Species page of the FWS. They even break it down by county, they’ve done a great job with their page. Check out their suggestions for how to take action and do something positive for these dwindling species.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Species Group	Listing Status	Species Image	Species Distribution Map
Acuna Cactus	Echinomastus erectocentrus var. acunensis	Flowering Plants	C
Apache trout	Oncorhynchus apache	Fishes	T
Arizona Cliff-rose	Purshia (=Cowania) subintegra	Flowering Plants	E
Arizona hedgehog cactus	Echinocereus triglochidiatus var. arizonicus	Flowering Plants	E
bald eagle	Haliaeetus leucocephalus	Birds	DM
beautiful shiner	Cyprinella formosa	Fishes	T
black-footed ferret	Mustela nigripes	Mammals	E, EXPN
bonytail chub	Gila elegans	Fishes	E
Brady pincushion cactus	Pediocactus bradyi	Flowering Plants	E
brown pelican	Pelecanus occidentalis	Birds	DM, E
California condor	Gymnogyps californianus	Birds	E, EXPN
Canelo Hills ladies’-tresses	Spiranthes delitescens	Flowering Plants	E
Chiricahua leopard frog	Rana chiricahuensis	Amphibians	T
Cochise pincushion cactus	Coryphantha robbinsorum	Flowering Plants	T
Colorado pikeminnow (=squawfish)	Ptychocheilus lucius	Fishes	E, EXPN
desert pupfish	Cyprinodon macularius	Fishes	E
desert tortoise	Gopherus agassizii	Reptiles	SAT, T
Fickeisen plains cactus	Pediocactus peeblesianus fickeiseniae	Flowering Plants	C
Gierisch mallow	Sphaeralcea gierischii	Flowering Plants	C	No Image
Gila chub	Gila intermedia	Fishes	E
Gila topminnow (incl. Yaqui)	Poeciliopsis occidentalis	Fishes	E
Gila trout	Oncorhynchus gilae	Fishes	T
gray wolf	Canis lupus	Mammals	DR, E, EXPN, T
Headwater Chub	Gila nigra	Fishes	C
Holmgren milk-vetch	Astragalus holmgreniorum	Flowering Plants	E
Huachuca springsnail	Pyrgulopsis thompsoni	Snails	C
Huachuca water-umbel	Lilaeopsis schaffneriana var. recurva	Flowering Plants	E
Hualapai Mexican vole	Microtus mexicanus hualpaiensis	Mammals	E
humpback chub	Gila cypha	Fishes	E
jaguar	Panthera onca	Mammals	E
Jones Cycladenia	Cycladenia jonesii (=humilis)	Flowering Plants	T
Kanab ambersnail	Oxyloma haydeni kanabensis	Snails	E
Kearney’s blue-star	Amsonia kearneyana	Flowering Plants	E
Lemmon fleabane	Erigeron lemmonii	Flowering Plants	C
lesser long-nosed bat	Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae	Mammals	E
Little Colorado spinedace	Lepidomeda vittata	Fishes	T
loach minnow	Tiaroga cobitis	Fishes	T
masked bobwhite (quail)	Colinus virginianus ridgwayi	Birds	E
Mexican spotted owl	Strix occidentalis lucida	Birds	T
Mount Graham red squirrel	Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis	Mammals	E
Navajo sedge	Carex specuicola	Flowering Plants	T
New Mexican meadow jumping mouse	Zapus hudsonius luteus	Mammals	C	No Image
New Mexico ridgenose rattlesnake	Crotalus willardi obscurus	Reptiles	T
Nichol’s Turk’s head cactus	Echinocactus horizonthalonius var. nicholii	Flowering Plants	E
northern aplomado falcon	Falco femoralis septentrionalis	Birds	E
Northern Mexican gartersnake	Thamnophis eques megalops	Reptiles	C	No Image
ocelot	Leopardus (=Felis) pardalis	Mammals	E
Page springsnail	Pyrgulopsis morrisoni	Snails	C
Peebles Navajo cactus	Pediocactus peeblesianus peeblesianus	Flowering Plants	E
Pima pineapple cactus	Coryphantha scheeri var. robustispina	Flowering Plants	E
razorback sucker	Xyrauchen texanus	Fishes	E
relict leopard Frog	Rana onca	Amphibians	C	No Image
San Bernardino springsnail	Pyrgulopsis bernardina	Snails	C	No Image
San Francisco Peaks groundsel	Senecio franciscanus	Flowering Plants	T
Sentry milk-vetch	Astragalus cremnophylax var. cremnophylax	Flowering Plants	E
Siler pincushion cactus	Pediocactus (=Echinocactus,=Utahia) sileri	Flowering Plants	T
Sonora chub	Gila ditaenia	Fishes	T
Sonora tiger Salamander	Ambystoma tigrinum stebbinsi	Amphibians	E
Sonoran pronghorn	Antilocapra americana sonoriensis	Mammals	E
Sonoyta mud turtle	Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale	Reptiles	C
southwestern willow flycatcher	Empidonax traillii extimus	Birds	E
spikedace	Meda fulgida	Fishes	T
Stephan’s Riffle beetle	Heterelmis stephani	Insects	C
Three Forks Springsnail	Pyrgulopsis trivialis	Snails	C
Virgin River Chub	Gila seminuda (=robusta)	Fishes	E
Welsh’s milkweed	Asclepias welshii	Flowering Plants	T
woundfin	Plagopterus argentissimus	Fishes	E, EXPN
Yaqui catfish	Ictalurus pricei	Fishes	T
Yaqui chub	Gila purpurea	Fishes	E
yellow-billed Cuckoo	Coccyzus americanus	Birds	C
Yuma clapper rail	Rallus longirostris yumanensis	Birds	E
Zuni bluehead Sucker	Catostomus discobolus yarrowi	Fishes	C
Zuni fleabane	Erigeron rhizomatus	Flowering Plants	T

I thought this was very cool! Please do this in my neighborhood.

azdailysun.com
About 200 households and up to eight businesses in and near east Flagstaff could get solar panels for free as part of a pilot project to turn neighborhoods into power producers.

Arizona Public Service is proposing to buy solar panels and pay local contractors to install them on houses and businesses from Smoke Rise and Doney Park to Lenox Park. “We think it’s important to build awareness within our customer base, and we couldn’t think of a better place to start than Flagstaff,” said APS Chief Executive Officer Don Brandt.

The utility would buy, own and maintain the solar panels on private homes and businesses and receive the electricity — typically equating to about half of the electricity used in a local home.

Homeowners would receive a locked-in 20-year rate on portions of their electric bills for offering to have the 2, 3, or 4-kilowatt solar systems, and allowing easements to access them.

The $14.7 million proposal to generate electricity in this way is novel statewide in that it knocks down to zero the initial price of installing a solar system on a house.

In all, the utility would generate 1.5 megawatts of renewable electricity. That’s enough to supply about 230 homes from Sheep Hill to nearly Sugarloaf Peak, at typical energy use rates for homes in that area.
Continue story at azdailysun.com

Photo: Nicholas_T