Category: State News

PHOENIX – Arizona State Parks and Trails is announcing the winners of its Opt Outside Photo Contest. The agency received more than 1,300 images from more than 500 people during the contest, which ran from November 24, 2023 to January 15, 2024.  The Opt Outside Photo Contest showcased the talent of photographers and the beauty and diversity of Arizona’s more than 30 state parks. The contest invited photographers of all levels to submit their best shots in Arizona’s state parks for the chance to win prizes and recognition in five categories: * Living creatures, spotlighting Arizona plants, animals, and insects * Friendly…

The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s proposed recommendations for the 2024 deer, javelina, bighorn sheep, bison, black bear, mountain lion, predatory and fur-bearing mammals, small game, migratory birds, trapping, and population management seasons, as well as for the 2025 spring javelina, black bear and bison seasons, are available for review at www.azgfd.gov/huntguidelines.  The hunt structures and recommendations were formulated based on the hunt guidelines approved by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. All questions or comments about a particular game management unit or hunt can be emailed to AZHuntGuidelines@azgfd.gov. The public also is invited to call any of the department’s regional offices…

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…