This magnificent flora of the Sonoran Desert’s southern edge represents decades of meticulous work and the genius of Richard Felger (1934–2020) and his colleagues at their best. It is many things at once. A project of passion that was sparked by a trip in 1953 by an impressionable young scientist whose world was opened by canyons lined with palms, fig trees, agaves, and plants awaiting his description. The most thorough treatment of the plants of the southern half of the Sonoran Desert ever…

Residents of the Rio Cocospera river valley and the town of Imuris were shocked to learn of a huge project already under construction in late 2023. This project is a brand new railway segment from the Imuris area to Nogales, but further east than the current railway, cutting through the beautiful, biologically important, and little-disturbed Rio Cocospera drainage.

The project was so secretive that the public initially couldn't even find out who was responsible. After media…

Ecoregions denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources; they are designed to serve as a spatial framework for the research, assessment, management, and monitoring of ecosystems and ecosystem components. By recognizing the spatial differences in the capacities and potentials of ecosystems, ecoregions stratify the environment by its probable response to disturbance (Bryce and others, 1999). These general purpose regions are…