Category: State News

The Bureau of Land Management has released its annual wild horse and burro population estimates, which show a marked reduction in wild horse and burro overpopulation on public lands. This is the third year since 2020 that the overpopulation of wild horses and burros has declined. The BLM estimates there were approximately 73,520 federally-protected wild horses and burros on BLM-managed public lands as of March 1, 2024 – 9,363 fewer animals than what was estimated in 2023. Due to the realities of aerial and statistical analyses, the population estimate accounts for a range of uncertainty between 63,432 animals to 85,249 animals. “Protecting…

FLAGSTAFF – The Grand Canyon Regional Intertribal Intergenerational Stewardship Expedition (RIISE) is accepting applications from young people ages 16-20 who identify as members of one of the associated tribes of the Grand Canyon for its third annual free nine-day Colorado River rafting trip through the Grand Canyon July 15-23. Hosted by the Grand Canyon Trust and Grand Canyon Youth and supported by Arizona Raft Adventures and Grand Canyon Expeditions, the trip is designed to connect Indigenous young people with their ancestral homelands. Interested applicants should be comfortable camping for nine days, hiking, and being outdoors, and must apply at grandcanyontrust.org/riise by Wednesday, May 1….

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s health department has named a physician to address ways to lessen the effects of extreme heat in the arid Southwestern state as the first statewide heat officer in the nation. Dr. Eugene Livar was appointed to the role under Gov. Katie Hobbs’ extreme heat preparedness plan, the Arizona Department of Health Services said Wednesday. Livar has been with the state health department since 2012, most recently working as assistant director for public health preparedness. In that role, he contributed to the state’s heat plan. Underscoring the dangers of increasingly hot weather, the toll of heat-associated deaths in…

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Arizona’s schools chief that challenged programs that some school districts use to teach non-English speaking students. Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne argued dual language programs – in which students spend half the day learning English and the other half focusing on another language — violate a 2000 voter-approved law that requires those students to be taught only in English, KJZZ radio reported. In a ruling Tuesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper concluded Horne lacked the statutory authority and legal standing to file the lawsuit and that…

(AP) — The seven U.S. states that draw water from the Colorado River basin are suggesting new ways to determine how the increasingly scarce resource is divvied up when the river can’t provide what it historically promised. The Upper Basin and the Lower Basin states, as neighbors, don’t agree on the approach. Under a proposal released Wednesday by Arizona, California and Nevada, the water level at Lake Mead — one of the two largest of the Colorado River reservoirs — no longer would determine the extent of water cuts like it currently does. The three Lower Basin states also want what they say…

Arizona hunters still have an opportunity to receive a hunt permit-tag for select 2024 elk hunts.  The Arizona Game and Fish Department has posted a list of leftover hunt permit-tags, as well as a printable paper application, on its website. Leftover hunt permit-tags include: 70 — limited opportunity (general) antlerless elk.   3 — archery-only antlerless elk.   3 — archery-only bull elk. The department will begin accepting paper applications for leftover hunt permit-tags on a first-come, first-served basis — by mail only — beginning Monday, March 18. All completed paper applications must be addressed to: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Attn.: Draw/First Come, 5000 W. Carefree Highway,…