Free Republic

It’s been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who have nurtured it as BLM closes Vegas rescue center. LAS VEGAS — For decades, the vulnerable desert tortoise has led a sheltered existence. Developers have taken pains to keep the animal safe. It’s been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. And wildlife officials have set the species up on a sprawling conservation reserve outside Las Vegas. But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who...

Increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have helped boost green foliage across the world’s arid regions over the past 30 years through a process called CO2 fertilisation, according to CSIRO research. In findings based on satellite observations, CSIRO, in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU), found that this CO2 fertilisation correlated with an 11 per cent increase in foliage cover from 1982-2010 across parts of the arid areas studied in Australia, North America, the Middle East and Africa, according to CSIRO research scientist, Dr Randall Donohue. “In Australia, our native vegetation is superbly adapted to surviving in arid environments...

Fans of the late-1970s "Star Wars" movies probably know that Luke Skywalker, a reluctant hero battling his way through the film's evil Galactic Empire, was raised on the windswept plains of Tatooine, a desert wasteland planet located on the outer rim of director/writer George Lucas’ fictional galaxy. In reality, Skywalker’s house - known as the Lars homestead - is actually located in southern Tunisia. The whitewashed ranch was constructed on an outdoor movie set in a desert region known as Tozeur. And after more than three decades of blowing sands and extreme Saharan heat, Skywalker’s domed home was beginning to...

BOULDER, Utah – A 28-year-old autistic man from Colorado was found emaciated but alive on Thursday after living off mainly frogs and roots while wandering for at least three weeks in the remote Escalante Desert of southern Utah, authorities said. William Martin LaFever of Colorado Springs, Colo., told rescuers that in addition to the bits of food he scavenged, he drank water from the Escalante River while attempting to walk from Boulder, Utah, to Page, Ariz., a distance of approximately 90 miles or more by the route he appeared to be taking. The Garfield County Sheriff's Department estimated he had...

According to Merriam-Webster, ingenuity can be defined as "skill or cleverness in devising or combining" or "cleverness or aptness of design or contrivance." We'd say that's an apt description of a Frenchman named Emile who reportedly found himself stranded in the deserts of Northwest Africa after breaking a frame rail and a suspension swingarm underneath his Citroën 2CV. What to do? Why, disassemble the broken hulk and build yourself a motorcycle from its pile of parts, of course! As the story goes, Emile was able to use the inventive machine to escape the desert, though not before convincing the local...

Mo‘ynaq – Graveyard of Ships in the Desert Many have visited an abandoned city and wondered what catastrophic event could have caused such an exodus from a metropolis once so evidently thriving. Yet these cities are usually hundreds if not thousands of years old, the everyday clamor and cry of civilization just an echo. Visit Mo'ynaq in Uzbekistan, however, and you can see apocalypse right here, right now. The Soviet era sign still welcomes people to the city. Yet there are few visitors who stay more than a few hours. They all leave after they have done looking at what...

It’s not quite the same as the opening sequence to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” but it’s awfully close. The Daily Mail reports that a Polish oil company worker, Jakub Perka, has discovered an “almost perfectly preserved” Kittyhawk P-40 that crash-landed in the Sahara Desert in 1942. “Despite the crash impact, most of the aircraft’s cockpit instruments are intact,” according to the report.

When International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Yukiya Amano declared Friday, May 4, that “Parchin (the suspected site of nuclear-related explosion tests) is the priority and we start with that,” he may have missed the boat. As he spoke, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak said it was possible that Iran was already putting in place the infrastructure for building a nuclear bomb in 60 days. In this regard, debkafile’s military sources disclose that Iran had by the end of 2009 early 2012 completed the construction of a new chain of underground facilities deep inside the Dasht e-Kavir (Great Salt Desert)...

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are sharpening their jabs for a debate showdown tomorrow, their last face-to-face confrontation before the increasingly tight GOP presidential primaries in Arizona and Michigan next Tuesday. Debates have marked a turning point at several junctures in the topsy-turvy 2012 Republican race, and the debate will be Romney’s best chance to blunt Santorum’s rapid rise. For Santorum, it’s a golden opportunity to solidify his standing as the leading conservative candidate in the race and build on momentum carrying his campaign forward since wins Feb. 7 in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. The CNN-sponsored debate in...

Environmentalists are torn over the high cost of breaking reliance on fossil fuels. Industrial-scale solar development is well underway in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. The federal government has furnished more public property to this cause than it has for oil and gas exploration over the last decade — 21 million acres. In the fight against climate change, the Mojave Desert is about to take one for the team. "I have spent my entire career thinking of myself as an advocate on behalf of public lands and acting for their protection," said Johanna Wald, a veteran environmental...

<p>The Antelope Valley is a vast patch of desert on the outskirts of Los Angeles County, and a segment of the few rugged individualists who live out there increasingly are finding themselves the targets of armed raids from local code enforcement agents, who’ve assembled into task forces called Nuisance Abatement Teams (NATs).</p>

The video you are about to watch was filmed by a driver who stopped along the freeway with many others just outside Al-Ahsa City, in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the last few years there have been many theories put forth as to what caused this phenomenon. Along with those theories, various names have been used to describe it, like "Sand Geyser," "Sand Fountain," "Sand Volcano," and "Sand Injectites." The quality of the video is not the best because it was filmed with a cell phone, and the person who filmed it has not ever identified himself. However, the video is...

Will Arizona get federal help for their wildfires? I doubt it.

Technology created 50 rainstorms in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain region last year For centuries people living in the Middle East have dreamed of turning the sandy desert into land fit for growing crops with fresh water on tap. Now that holy grail is a step closer after scientists employed by the ruler of Abu Dhabi claim to have generated a series of downpours. Most of the storms were at the height of the summer in July and August when there is no rain at all. People living in Abu Dhabi were baffled by the rainfall which sometimes turned into hail...

Apologies! So here's two Geology Pictures of the Week, very different. Ansel Adams-ish picture of Old Faithful (click for 2x): And here's Wadi Hitan in Egypt, where whale fossils are found (this is a National Geographic wallpaper image). Click for 2x. 1600 x 1200 wallpaper NatGeo article, " Valley of the Whales"

I never expected to write this letter, but my Mom e-mailed me to get information about my career for a writeup on Veterans Day, and as this is the first such holiday in 22 years when I will not be on active duty, I felt compelled to let you know why I decided to quit. Quit is a strong word, I know. Everyone I’ve talked to has repeated that I’ve had a marvelous career and that I’ve retired with honor. Maybe that’s true on paper; I guess that it’s reflected by the record. But that’s not how I feel. I...

These are near the volcano Nevado del Huila, southwest of Bogota. I wouldn't normally think of Colombia as a semi-desert environment, but these high alpine mountain basins can be pretty dry. [Click for full-size.]

Throughout the Obama Administration, the president has been able to count on the solid support of Democrats. Not anymore. According to the FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll, Obama’s job approval among Democrats has dropped from 84% two weeks ago (June 29-30) to 76% on July 13-14. At 76%, this level of job approval is below any the Fox News poll has ever recorded. Why the collapse? Most likely it is due to liberal disappointment with the continuation of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the continued use of Guantanamo, Obama’s inability to cope with the oil spill, and his refusal to...

More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket. These communities, where access to affordable, quality, and nutritious foods is limited, are known as food deserts. By using the new interactive Food Environment Atlas, users can see the location of food deserts across the country and other indicators of how successful communities are in accessing healthy food. Lack of access to proper nutrition is one reason why many children are not eating the recommended levels of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Food insecurity and...

If an arch falls in the desert... Sorry about last week, I literally lost track of time. So here are several images from another of those amazing state parks in America, this one called the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, which is within driving distance of Las Vegas (and you can apparently drive through part of it). The reason for this particular posting is that one of the many arches in the park fell down very recently. Erosion happens. When you see the arch that fell down, you can understand why; this one was pretty precarious. Article: Valley...