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Patagonia Regional Times
Volunteers Needed to Help Audubon Restore Sonoita Creek Habitat This Saturday
Help Tucson Audubon restore native habitat along Sonoita Creek near the Paton Center. Volunteers will help retrieve and plant splits of Big Sacaton grass along Sonoita Creek. Some volunteers can also help prepare planting areas by removing brush and invasive species and irrigating new transplants. Volunteers should be able to...
BRN Names New Executive Director
Patagonia, AZ, January 26, 2023 – Borderlands Restoration Network (BRN) welcomes Dr. Rodrigo Sierra Corona as the new Executive Director following the departure of Kurt Vaughn who recently relocated back to California to be closer to family. “I want to thank Kurt Vaughn for leading BRN through our first...
Sky Island Alliance Offers Video, Virtual Briefing on Container Wall Removal
Sky Island Alliance is hosting a virtual briefing and discussion on the container wall situation next Thursday, Jan. 19 at 9:30am. Here are the details:. Ring in the new year with us as we discuss the evolving situation with the state of Arizona’s illegal shipping-container wall on the Coronado National Forest. Our Program Director Emily Burns and Dinah Bear, legal expert and co-founder of the Border Coalition, will host the virtual talk, followed by a Q&A. We’ll be celebrating the good news that Arizona has agreed to remove the shipping containers and drop its lawsuit against the U.S. government — no longer disputing federal ownership of the 60-foot strip of land along the border known as the Roosevelt Reservation. We’ll also discuss how the shipping-container project affected wildlife and communities at the border, and we’ll share what we know about next steps for border wall deconstruction.
Fire Chiefs Discuss 2022, Anticipate Challenges Ahead
The Patagonia and Sonoita-Elgin fire services both had a busy 2022, and anticipate more of the same in 2023. “It used to be that the wildfire season began in May, but recent history shows that the fire season is now year round,” said Patagonia Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company Chief Ike Isakson in a recent interview.
Town Doctor Retires
“For the almost two dozen years we worked together, Dr. Anderson kept saying she was going to retire. It’s hard for me to believe she really meant it this time,” said Sharon Cordova, Office Supervisor at the Family Health Center in Patagonia, part of the Mariposa Clinic group headquartered in Nogales.
County’s Courthouse Lease Raises Questions
During a public meeting on Dec. 6, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors (BOS) voted to approve leasing a 278 sq. ft. office space at the historic 1904 Courthouse in Nogales to Arizona Minerals (AMI), a subsidiary of South32, for $1,000 per month. Needless to say, renting space in an iconic County-owned property to a controversial, foreign owned, for-profit entity raises several questions.
Thanks to You, PRT Fundraising Campaign a Huge Success
To our generous readers who donated to the PRT during our recent fundraising campaign, We Thank You! You have donated an astonishing $36,288 over the past two months, $9,288 more than our fundraising goal of $27,000!. $15,000 of the funds raised will be matched by NewsMatch, a national organization that...
HOPE Lends a Helping Hand to Recovering Addicts
Inside a nondescript building on Mastick Way in Nogales, a dedicated staff of 12 works on the front lines of combating the growing effects of drug addiction and associated behavioral health issues in Santa Cruz County. This facility is part of HOPE (Helping Ourselves Pursue Enrichment), a statewide nonprofit program that provides peer support services to individuals who are living with mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders.
New Trailhead Opens
In the midday warmth on Dec. 16, the Oak Tree Canyon Trailhead of the Arizona Scenic Trail (AZT) was opened with short talks, coffee, and an O’odham-inspired lunch. The new access point for trails in the eastern Santa Rita Mountains is on SR 83 north of Singing Valley Road, near Milepost 43. The mile-long trail is what AZT labels a “connector trail,” like Patagonia’s Train Track Trail, one of many spurs off the main 800-mile Mexico-to-Utah route. It saunters for just under a mile through grazing land and up an inconspicuous two-track, meeting the Arizona Trail where Passage 5 ends and Passage 6 begins. Once at the main trail, heading south leads to Gardner Canyon, and heading north, to the trailhead where Sahuarita Road meets SR 83.
Town Council Notes – Dec. 2022
The Call to Public heard three concerned residents – Jean Miller, Mary Skye, and Judith Andrew – raise questions about the Harvest Moon Hostel, to be located at 316 Smelter Ave, the alley behind the hotel. Their concerns focused on parking and traffic, and the presence in the alley of hunting dogs owned by hostel guests. Jean Miller also discussed parking problems in the town’s center, but Mayor Wood steered the comments to the parts relevant to the hostel proposal. Commenters were reminded that the hostel organizer, Heather Wood, had made a full presentation about the project previously to the Town’s Planning and Development Committee, as announced on public bulletin boards.
The Elves Did Their Part
I made it to December 26th before I furiously crammed every Christmas decoration back in its box. I didn’t pay attention to organization – 2023 me will figure it out and question why 2022 me did this to us. I did a broad sweep in the kitchen, ridding myself of any leftover cookies, cake, dip, chips and scraps of leftover meat. All tamales were relocated to the freezer. In Patagonia, tamales are currency and will come in handy down the road. I balled up lights, stuffed stockings into bags and piled the trash sky high in the alley. Christmas is officially over at the Farley house, and I must say, good riddance.
Life Among the Humans: Jews in the News
It’s nice to see that antisemitism’s on the rise again! There’s something comforting about the stuff that doesn’t change. Even the more unpleasant stuff, like jock-itch and/or athlete’s foot. They’re awful and they itch, of course, but they’re familiar, too, and reassure us that the world is as it’s always been.
How I Survived
My life as I knew it disappeared into thin air when I tried to get out of bed on Dec. 26 of 2021. My kids and I had just come back from Florida. Our family had partied at a hotel for my niece’s wedding. I’m glad I had a great time with the kids because that will be the last of fun like that for me, maybe forever!
Covid, Flu, RSV Spiking in SCC
If it seems like there is a lot of Covid around, that’s because there is. And there are also more flu and RSV infections. Santa Cruz County (SCC) is one of six counties in Arizona that had high levels of Covid community spread on Dec. 1. In a recent interview with the PRT, SCC Health Department Director Jeff Terrell said the increases in respiratory infections are to be expected this time of year as people celebrate the holidays with more travel and large indoor gatherings. Also, unlike the past two years, fewer people are wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, two mitigating precautions against the viruses that cause Covid, flu, and RSV. The spike in Covid cases in the two weeks after Thanksgiving has leveled off but Terrell expected another spike after Christmas.
Locals Pay Tribute to Joni Mitchell
It was a chilly mid-December night at the Patagonia Lumber Company when the air was warmed by a large crowd who had gathered to witness ten of Patagonia’s bravest show their stuff. No, not the volunteer firefighters or the Sheriff’s posse, but rather amateur singers stepping to the microphone (many for the first time) to play tribute to Joni Mitchell, one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time. The evening was organized by the Sashas, a local band who wanted to honor Mitchell and give local folks a chance to perform on stage.
The Cemetery Trail Is Back
Volunteers from the Mountain Empire Trail Association and the Nature Conservancy worked together to re-open the Cemetery Trail in December. The Cemetery Trail is a very pleasant, flat walk through a mature mesquite forest. The entrance is located just opposite the ramadas at the Nogales end of Doc Mock Park. The easy access and flat trail make it one of the favorite trails for locals and visitors alike. If you want to continue up to the cemetery you will leave the flat trail behind and head up a steep but beautiful trail that takes you to the cemetery at the top of the hill.
Glimpses Into Our Past: The Donnellites and the Copper Glance Mine
In 1888 a unique mining community was established in Sunnyside Canyon on the western slope of the Huachuca Mountains. Initially known as the Copper Glance mining camp, the community eventually became known as Sunnyside. For 13 years the residents were referred to as Donnellites – followers of a fundamentalist Protestant, Sam Donnelly. This is the first in a series of articles that will trace the history of Sunnyside from its establishment to the 1950s. Two publications were especially helpful in the preparation of this article: “A Place Called Sunnyside” by Roberta Lamma (A&W Limited Editions, 1982) and “Sky Island Righteousness above a Desert of Sin: ‘Donnellite’ Seeds in Sunnyside Canyon” by Bruce A. Peterson, undated.
2022 Christmas Bird Count
For the Patagonia Christmas Bird Count held on December 15, 2022, 42 observers counted a total of 127 species of birds, the most noteworthy of which were: bald eagle, white-tailed kite, numerous gray hawks (normally not here in the winter), ferruginous hawk, Williamson’s sapsucker, Steller’s jay, red-breasted nuthatch, evening grosbeak, Cassin’s finch, mountain bluebird, Townsend’s solitaire, northern parula, and Louisiana waterthrush.
Doing Beauty Better With Holistic Hair Care
Hairstylist Tami Blakely has opened a new salon in Sonoita to serve local customers looking for organic, holistic hair care. Purely Sonoita Organic is the first “clean salon” in the area, said Blakely in a recent interview. With over 33 years’ experience in the salon profession, she has recently taken a new approach to haircare, foregoing plastic containers and using only sustainable, organic products made with natural, healthy ingredients.
Nature Journeys: Always, Yet Rarely, Spotted
I’m not a gambler by nature. You won’t find me in a casino or buying a lottery ticket. When it comes to seeking rarely seen wildlife, however, I’m an eternal optimist, willing to risk my time and effort for the ultimate “prizes” nature has to offer. Glimpses of flashy elegant trogons, rare and diminutive elf butterflies straying here from Mexico, hidden reptiles or nocturnal mammals – all part of my stock and trade as a naturalist. Regardless of whether or not I actually see something rare, consolation prizes in the form of many other species of wildlife, countless native plants, and wild experiences abound.
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Patagonia Regional Times is a free monthly publication serving the Mountain Empire communities of Canelo, Elgin, Patagonia and Sonoita in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.
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