University of Arizona
Sense of Place
Geos. 195D
Mt. LemmonMt. Lemmon, all the way to the top, is one of the great sites and natural history trips of Tucson.
User Fee to Drive the Highway
A user fee is charged to drive the Mt. Lemmon Highway and stop to hike and/or picnic or do whatever to enjoy the mountain. There are various pros and cons to user fees. Some recent voices on this subject:
- 9/13/06: U.S. judge's ruling could end forest user fees. This is about our very own Mt. Lemmon Highway user fee.
- 9/16/06: Ruling to halt forest fee will be appealed. Ever the appeals system at work.
- 9/17/06: Clear ruling needed on rec-area user fees. An op-ed piece asking for a ruling from the courts.
- 9/21/06: Letter to the editor. The voice of the people, with an impassioned viewpoint.
Piñon Pine Nut Muffins 1 cup piñon pine nuts, ground ½ cup wheat flour ½ cup water 3 tablespoons honey 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt Combine dry ingredients. Add water and
honey and mix well. Pour into greased
muffin tins. Bake for ½ hour @ 350º F.
Makes 24 bite-sized muffins (or ~6 big ones).From: Niethammer, Carolyn. 1974.
American Indian Cooking: Recipes From the Southwest.
University of Nebraska Press.Global Change and Stacked Ecosystems of the Sky Islands
Arizona is rightly known as the "Grand Canyon State," but Baja Arizona could be just as reasonably dubbed the "Sky Island State." The Catalina Highway allows a close-up look at Sky Island biogreography, namely, stacked ecosystems. With changing elevation, ecosystems themselves change, from Sonoran Desert down low, to Madrean mixed woodland in the middle, and to Rocky Mountain subalpine forest on top.
- 3/27/07: Heat Invades Cool Heights Over Arizona Desert. This New York Times article suggests that it is already warmer up the mountains of southern Arizona.
- 4/6/07: Study Predicts Dust-Bowl Southwest. This study suggests that stacked ecosystems would be in danger from global warming, if it really truly continued warming up here.
- 2/15/09: Persistent Hiker Discovers Plants Blooming at Higher Elevations Than Ever Before. This AZ Daily Star article observes that plants are already blooming at higher elevations now than 20+ years ago. Evidence of warming?
Fire on the Mountain
A large fire called the Bullock burned parts of Mt. Lemmon in 2002, and other parts were burned in 2003 in the Aspen fire. Here's an image of the Aspen burn area up close:
Photo credit — Jayme Kelter
- 5/14/07: Former FS chiefs say fire costs eating budget. This article, printed in The Missoulian (Missoula, Montana) decries the real costs of fire suppression. Fighting fires is now a large percentage of the USFS budget.
Snow on the Mountain
It snowed the day of the April 2007 SOP trip. Unusual, but not unheard of, even for Southern Arizona. Here's a shot of the remnant snow at Palisades Ranger Station, about 8,000 ft. elevation:
Photo credit — Paul Sheppard
Team Photo, 2009
Photo credit — Paul Sheppard
Back to Sense of Place Home Page
