Cutting and partial burning of mesquite in Sonora. Making charcoal is a small extractive industry in some areas. It is sometimes done with care by taking a limb or two from every mesquite, but can be very destructive with over harvesting.
Grasslands of central and southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and northern Mexico, an area known as the Apache Highlands Ecoregion, have undergone dramatic vegetation changes over the last 130 years, including encroachment by shrubs, loss of perennial grass cover, and spread of non-native species. Changes in grassland composition and structure have not occurred uniformly across the region and their extent and distribution are poorly understood at a regional scale. Moreover, these changes are dynamic and ongoing.
