Author Archives: ChihuahuanDesertProtector

by Jacob R. Croft Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. Hello, I am Jacob Croft, a scientist trained in biology working with the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition. From 2021 to 2022 I worked on a project to bring back the black-tailed prairie dog to the El Paso region.ContinueContinue reading “Efforts continue to bring back prairie dogs to El Paso”

By Rick LoBello, Board Member Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. The fun part about writing about all the different plants that there are growing at the El Paso Zoo is how every time I do so I get to know many new forms of life thatContinueContinue reading “Chihuahuan Desert Plants: Little-leaf Cordia”

Green Gulch, Chisos Mountains by Betty Alex Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. The Sky Island concept originated in an Arizona Highways article in the early 1940s when the writer referred to the Chiricahua Mountains in far Southeastern Arizona as mountain islands in a desert sea.  OverContinueContinue reading “Wildlife of our Big Backyard – Sky Islands”

Golden Eagles are rarely seen in El Paso’s Franklin Mountains. They are dependent on lowland habitat surrounding the mountain peaks where they hunt for prey species including jackrabbits and desert cottontails. By Rick LoBello, Board Member Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. How we develop or not developContinueContinue reading “Why does land use in El Paso matter?”

By Rick LoBello, Board Member Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. Here in El Paso a new group is forming to help come up with a plan to create a binational conservation corridor along the US Mexico border. Ever since the first sections of the border wallContinueContinue reading “Can binational wildlife corridors be created along the border wall?”

By Rick LoBello, Board Member Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. As the audience awaits the rising curtain on the big bat flight show, vociferous Cave Swallows fly overhead in search of a final evening meal.  These dive-bombing acrobats must know that they will be forced outContinueContinue reading “Chihuahuan Desert Birds: Cave Swallows”

Burrowing Owl next to a drainage culvert. Owls often displaced by development projects will nest in culverts only to lose their eggs when it rains. Zoo staff came to the rescue and built a artificial burrow that the owls soon moved into. Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to ourContinueContinue reading “Can we learn to share El Paso with burrowing owls?”

Ocotillo along the Lost Dog Trail with lechuguilla stalk blooming in the foreground. Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. Ocotillo is a common plant here in the Chihuahuan Desert. This blog post is courtesy of Big Bend National Park. Big Bend is home to many unusual plants.ContinueContinue reading “The ocotillo, easy to see and well adapted to the desert”

By Rick LoBello, Board Member Enjoy reading about our amazing Chihuahuan Desert. Sign up for a free subscription to our blog. In many El Paso neighborhoods people at this time of year are hearing the vocalizations of rock squirrels and mistaking them for birds.  Rock squirrels are fairly common in El Paso and during the first partContinueContinue reading “Don’t be fooled by the whistles of the rock squirrel”