Email Address change

Hello all --

Hotmail has finally pushed me over the edge.  Every new 'improvement' made it more difficult to use... Microsoft at it's finest!

Please change my email address to skyjacobs@gmail.com ---- my old address, sky_jacobs@hotmail.com, will work for a while yet, but is not preferred.

Thank you and sorry for the mass email, especially to people I barely know (you were in my address list).

Sky

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Sky Jacobs
P.O. Box 508
Tucson, AZ 85702
skyjacobs@gmail.com

skyjacobs.com
wildsonora.com

Photo show at Epic Cafe

Update: Sky Jacobs and Ian Fritz are having an opening for our photo show at Epic Cafe:

A Natural Collaboration,
Part II: Photography by
Sky Jacobs and Ian Fritz

Fri. March 14th @ 6pm
@ Epic Cafe
4th Ave. and Univ. Blvd.

Come by, have a drink or dessert and enjoy friends and photos.

Nice lighting and monsoon rain in Sinaloan Thornscrub near Nacori Chico, Sonora.

Great forethought about Fee Demo and ORV's

Here is Aldous Huxley's prediction. It is a flawless and precise statement of the conspiracy being advanced by the recreation industry and their federal land management partners. -Scott Silver

Patiently the D.H.C. [Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning] explained. If the children were made to scream at the sight of a rose, that was on grounds of high economic policy. Not so very long ago (a century or thereabouts), Gammas, Deltas, even Epsilons, had been conditioned to like flowers -- flowers in particular and nature in general. The idea was to make them want to be going out into the country at every available opportunity, and so compel them to consume transportation.

"And didn't they consume transport?' asked the student.

'Quite a lot," the D.H.C. replied. 'But nothing else.'

Primroses and landscapes, he pointed out, have one grave defect: they are gratuitous. A love of nature keeps no factories busy. Is was decided to abolish the love of nature, at any rate amongst the lower classes to abolish the love of nature, but not the tendency to consume transport. For of course it was essential that they should keep on going to the country, even thought they hated it. The problem was to find an economically sounder reason for consuming transport than a mere affection for primroses and landscapes. It was duly found.

'We condition the masses to hate the country,' concluded the Director. 'But simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports. At the same time, we see to it that all country sports shall entail the use of elaborate apparatus. So that they consume manufactured articles as well as transport. Hence those electric shocks.'

'I see,'said the student, and was silent, lost in admiration.

- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World 1932
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Senator Max Baucus of Montana is currently circulating a letter to his Senate colleagues seeking co-sponsors for S2438. YOU should contact each of YOUR Senators and ask them to agree to be a co-sponsor.

You can do this by email, phone, or fax. At the Senate website, www.senate.gov you can pull down a list of Senators. Find yours and you can then click to open their individual websites. There you will find contact information. If you live near one of the Senator's local offices, a hand-delivered letter would be very effective. If you prefer to phone, we suggest you use the Washington DC phone number. Another option is to use the email form provided at each website. And you can still write a good old-fashioned letter, although we suggest you fax it rather than mailing it due to security delays on mailed items. A fax number is listed at each website.

Keep your communication short and to the point: Just ask politely that he or she agree to co-sponsor S2438, the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act. The text of S2438 can be read at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.02438:

Time for another growth rant!

Plans for new development around the Tucson area are over the top!

We have Arroyo Grande in the paper yesterday with a proposed development for 38,000 new people, the proposed 9,400 new homes outside of Tubac at Sopori Ranch, and who knows how many 10's of thousands of homes on the Southeast-side state land.

Numerous other developments of 100's, 1,000's, and even 10's of thousands of new homes are in various stages of planning in and around Tucson.

Sadly we're reaching the point of no return for our regions environmental health, water sustainability, and livability. We're in danger of losing any sense of pride in Tucson we once could have.

Repeal Evil Recreation Fees! (Bill S2438)

Big news on evil recreation fees... Bill S2438 is exactly what we need in the U.S. if we want to hold on to any semblance of what we currently know as public lands. They need to be a place where all Americans (U.S. Citizens) can enjoy the majesty of the West.... and not a playground for only those that can afford it!

Public land recreation fees are a complicated issue... for more info on why these fees are so insidious and dangerous see this page: http://www.wildsonora.com/FeeDemoOverview.html
Read the Bill here (PDF)Senator Baucus is currently circulating a letter to his Senate colleagues seeking co-sponsors for S2438. YOU need to contact each of YOUR Senators and ask them to agree to be a co-sponsor.

You can do this by email, phone, or fax. At the Senate website, www.senate.gov you can pull down a list of Senators. Find yours (you have two of them) and you can then click to open their individual websites. There you will find contact information. If you live near one of the Senator's local offices, a hand-delivered letter would be very effective. If you prefer to phone, we suggest you use the Washington DC phone number. Another option is to use the email form provided at each website. And you can still write a good old-fashioned letter, although we suggest you fax it rather than mailing it due to security delays on mailed items. A fax number is listed at each website.

Keep your communication short and to the point: Just ask politely that he or she agree to co-sponsor S2438, the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act.

The text of S2438 can be read at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.02438: The repeal of Forest Service and BLM access fees is contained in Section 3(b)(1) which re-instates the language from the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act that governed such fees for over 30 years. That language reads in part:

(b) RECREATION USE FEES.—Each Federal agency developing, administering, providing or furnishing at Federal expense, specialized outdoor recreation sites, facilities, equipment, or services shall, in accordance with this subsection and subsection (d) of this section, provide for the collection of daily recreation use fees at the place of use or any reasonably convenient location: Provided, That in no event shall there be a charge by any such agency for the use, either singly or in any combination, of drinking water, wayside exhibits, roads, overlook sites, visitors' centers, scenic drives, or toilet facilities, nor shall there be any such charge solely for the use of picnic tables: Provided, That in no event shall there be a charge for the use of any campground not having a majority of the following: tent or trailer spaces, picnic tables, drinking water, access road, refuse containers, toilet facilities, personal collection of the fee by an employee or agent of the Federal agency operating the facility, reasonable visitor protection, and simple devices for containing a campfire (where campfires are permitted).

The dreaded I-10 bypass

The worst idea for Southern Arizona in decades is having a public hearing in Tucson on Thursday (Nov. 29th). The I-10 bypass idea, dreaded by nearly everyone but truckers, developers, and a few lucky landholders. All possible routes would wreak havoc on this regions most beloved wild areas, as well as any sense of rural-ness left in Southern Arizona.

This idea needs to be killed as soon as possible... please come to this meeting to join who knows how many others to shut this thing down.

Thursday, November 29, (5:30 - 7:30 p.m.)
Jewish Community Center
3800 East River Road

Click on this map to see proposed route alternatives... all horrible.

Day of the Dead

It seems like half of Tucson is coming out for the Dia de los Muertos parade these days. Tens of thousands came out to walk in and watch the parade last night. Here are a few photos for you all.

Letter in 10-29-07 AZ Daily Star

In response to a recent letter, "Border fence won't affect birds".

Although a border wall won't necessarily impact many high flying migratory birds, there is an extraordinarily high diversity of birds in our region, including many that will be effected.

Ground-dwelling birds such as quail -- we have 4 species on the Arizona/Sonora border -- are highly unlikely cross a 12 foot border wall. Many grassland sparrows rarely fly more than a few feet off the ground. Non-migratory species that are obligated to understory and dense vegetation may not fly across a 50 - 100 foot swath of cleared vegetation and then up over a 12 foot wall. Splitting populations greatly increases risk to that species, which is especially a concern in southern Arizona's where many subtropical species are at the edge of they're range.

The locally famous Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-owl flies low from perch to perch, usually only a few inches to a couple feet off the ground. We will be risking the extinction of Pygmy-owls in Arizona if we build a wall across the majority of our border, as has been proposed.

A border wall will have drastic, long-lasting, and as yet unknown impacts on wildlife in our amazingly biological diverse region.

Sasabe Border Wall

I spent yesterday (10-14) on the US / Mexico border near Sasabe, AZ. I've spent a lot of time on both sides of the border in this area and wanted to see the border wall construction with my own eyes. Here are a few selected photos of construction, which has progressed quickly. I would estimate this section of wall is far more than halfway complete.

The wall is put together in sections, making construction relatively quick and easy. The wall is approximately 12 feet tall and composed of hollow steel tubes filled with concrete. Each tube is spaced around 4 inches apart making it penetrable for fairly small animals, but I'm guessing the cutoff is likely between a bunny rabbit and jackrabbit. It's hard to know what the effect on small low flying birds might be.

The wall is placed only a few feet off the actual border and vegetation remains relatively undisturbed near the wall on the Mexican side.

The private security firm Pinkerton is providing security for the construction zone and Sundt Construction is building the 7 mile wall for $31.5 million.

The Altar Valley, where this wall is being constructed, is mostly owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the Buenos Aries Wildlife Refuge. The area on the Mexican side is also very wild, with few people and vast stretches of biologically intact landscape. Endangered Jaguars are known to use the area on the Eastern end of the valley.

This area is the most important connection between Sonora and Arizona for the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-owl, which is very unlikely to cross this wall due to their habit of flying only inches from the ground between perches.

The potential effects on wildlife are so numerous and complex, that it is very difficult for anyone to predict all of the possible negative consequences.












































The Altar Valley is extraordinarily beautiful as you can see above (looking away from the border and toward Baboquivari Peak). This wall is quite a scar on this amazing landscape.

Anti-growth rhetoric and no action

OK, many people have been convinced to jump on the anti-prop 200 campaign by people who also claim they are anti-growth, but don't think 200 is the right solution. It must not feel very good to be duped by the growth lobby. If this prop wasn't really going to hurt growth like many claim, than why is the growth lobby so scared?

At least Kromko is attempting to be proactive and do something about sprawl. I have seen an unforgivable lack of attempts from any other local politicians to do anything. So, as many of you are claiming you're against the endless growth that will eventually destroy our regions livability (not to mention world-class natural areas), than let's see some action! I'm tired of seeing lame excuses and politicians rolling over in fear of the growth lobby's money!

I can't believe how many people have bought in to the growth lobby's far-out anti-200 rhetoric. Virtually none of the anti-200 arguments even make sense. They are obviously grasping at straws. Let's hear substantive arguments and not slick public relations argument meant to incite fear and misunderstanding!