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The Southwest encompasses a diversity of landforms: desert, forest, mountain, coastal. Each geographical mass engenders a unique concern and defining issue |
General
Cooperative Extension Cooperative Extension is the outreach arm of The University of Arizona - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, in Tucson, Arizona.
TSHA Online A digital gateway to Texas history produced in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and the General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin. Features The Handbook of Texas Online is a multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history, geography, and culture. It comprises more than 23,000 articles on people, places, events, historical themes, institutions, and a host of other topic categories.
Climate
The Impact of Climate Change and Land Use in the Southwestern United States From an interactive and three-day face-to-face workshop held at the U of A's Udall Center that was designed to provide background information and stimulate discussion on the effects of climate variability, possible natural and human-related long-term climate change, and land-use change in the rapidly-growing southwestern United States. This information is being used by the U.S. Global Change Research Program as part of a national assessment of Global Change issues. Excellent resource for data on Climatic & Drought, Impacts of Climate Change, Societal Impacts and Responses, and links to Information Resources.
Forests
Southwest Area Fire Management "This site has been developed by the Southwest Coordination Center (SWCC), an interagency wildland fire resource coordination center located in Albuquerque, NM, to provide the general public and the wildland fire community with information on wildland fire activity in ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, and Federal units in WEST TEXAS."
University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research "The primary mission of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research is to apply dendrochronology (the study of tree rings) to improve understanding of natural environmental variability in climatic, hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological systems and their interactions with human societies."
LearnCalifornia.org's Heritage Sites of the Southwest
Deserts
Arid Land management - Santa Rita Experimental Range "As the first experimental range, it was founded in 1903 and administered by the United States Forest Service until 1987 when the University of Arizona College of Agriculture took over administration of the site."
Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park "The American Southwest's oldest and most spectacularly situated arboretum and botanical garden. Mining magnate Colonel William Boyce Thompson founded his arboretum near Superior, Arizona, east of Phoenix, in the roaring 1920's, to imbue in people an appreciation of plants." See below: CEDO
Desert Botanical Garden: The purpose of the Desert Botanical Garden is to exhibit, conserve, study and disseminate knowledge of arid-land plants of the world, with a particular emphasis on succulents and the native flora of the Southwestern United States.
Desert Life in the American Southwest "Learn about the desert environment and the unique characteristics that define the beautiful arid and semi-arid landscapes of the American Southwest."
Malpai Borderlands: A Mosaic of Diverse Habitats "The Malpai Borderlands ... are located on major political and biotic boundaries. They are located astride the Arizona/New Mexico border just north of the United States/Mexico International Boundary. They are also located in the center of one of the most biotically diverse region in the United States."
Ranchers form a 'radical center' to protect wide-open spaces, Smithsonian Magazine, June 1997
Sabino Canyon: Our Desert Oasis, Tucson, AZ
Santa Rita Experimental Range Land Use Scenario Instructional Module [To use the interactive land use module, select GUEST, then SINGLEUSE]
Sonoran Desert: 5000 Square Miles of Silence
Tohono Chul Park: located in Tucson, it is "the Southwest's center where nature, art and culture connect."
Coastal
(CEDO) Intercultural Center for Study of Deserts and Oceans Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, on the upper Gulf of California: "Twenty years as an environmental voice in the Puerto Peñasco community and twenty years of programs with U.S. students, teachers, and tourists has produced a great international resource working for the benefit of the Sea of Cortez, the coastal Sonoran Desert, and the people of the region."
Invasive Species Research from the Western Ecological Research. "Under the USGS 'Weeds in the West' initiative of 1998, the Western Ecological Research Center (WERC) began research that will improve the ability to detect, monitor, and predict the effects of invasive species."
Water
Arizona Department of Water Resources "ADWR works to secure long-term water supplies for Arizona's communities. The Department administers state water laws (except those related to water quality), explores methods of augmenting water supplies to meet future demands, and develops policies that promote conservation and equitable distribution of water."
SAHRA: A Science and Technology Center for the Sustainability of Water Resources in Semi-Arid Regions from the University of Arizona's Department of Hydrology and Water Resources