Arizona Episodes

After the Dragon Bravo Fire, Grand Canyon trail staff warned that the North Kaibab Trail faced years of heightened danger from debris flows, flash floods and rockfall. Yet the entire trail reopened in May 2026. Journalist Joe Dana of Phoenix's 12 News joins 90 Miles from Needles to discuss his reporting on internal National Park Service recommendations, pressure to restore public access, and the decisions made before the deadly August 29 Grand Canyon flood.

Journalist Kimon de Greef follows the dirty business behind psychedelic “toad medicine”: wildlife exploitation, manufactured Indigenous tradition and a global market selling ego death as transcendence.

Kate Scott reports from a tree sit in Lochiel, where activists occupied the last of four landmark cottonwoods after contractors destroyed the others for double-wall construction through the San Rafael Valley.

Russ McSpadden documents plans for a second wall through Organ Pipe and Cabeza Prieta, including damage to sacred geoglyphs, groundwater and wildlife habitat made possible by sweeping REAL ID Act waivers.

John Dougherty of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas explains how Hudbay’s Copper World proposal would expand open-pit mining, deplete groundwater, damage cultural and wildlife resources and exploit the 1872 Mining Law.

Andrea Hoerr explains why 27 miles of border wall through the San Rafael Valley would fragment a major wildlife corridor, damage waterways and threaten exceptional grassland biodiversity—and how residents are organizing resistance.

Mandy Culbertson explains how state wildlife agencies and commissions govern most American wildlife, why special interests often outrank biodiversity and how public participation can make wildlife policy more democratic.

A 1,600-mile journey from the Mojave through Tucson to El Paso reveals shared threats, passionate local defenders and the possibility of a cross-desert movement built through relationships and regular communication.

Journalist David Morales explains how Tucson residents stopped Project Blue, a proposed Amazon data center whose enormous water and electricity demands exposed Arizona's tax incentives and longer history of extraction.

Writer Morgan Sjogren reads from Path of Light, tracing the beauty of Glen Canyon alongside the lasting damage uranium mining has inflicted on Indigenous communities, wildlife, water and public lands.

Prompted by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge, Chris shares nine desert destinations he hopes to experience—from Kofa and El Pinacate to the Ruby Mountains and the Wave—and reflects on visiting while we can.

A lyrical argument against border violence traces migrant deaths across the Sonoran Desert and asks listeners to imagine a borderland restored to wildlife, Indigenous communities and human freedom.

Humane Borders chair Laurie Cantillo describes placing and maintaining life-saving water stations in the Sonoran Desert while confronting migrant deaths, militarization and disinformation at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Kyle Paoletta discusses American Oasis and the histories of Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas and El Paso, arguing that understanding the desert Southwest requires understanding its cities.

Season Four opens with the Los Angeles fires, the designation of Chuckwalla National Monument, and the emerging Moab-to-Mojave network of protected lands across the Southwest.

Arizona's Great Bend of the Gila holds an extraordinary concentration of Indigenous cultural sites, wildlife habitat, and largely intact Sonoran Desert landscape. Chris Clarke talks with advocates Skylar Begay and Mike Quigley about efforts to secure permanent protection for the region. They discuss its cultural and natural history, threats from development and destructive recreation, habitat for species including Sonoran pronghorn, and why protecting the Great Bend means recognizing a landscape shaped by thousands of years of human history.

The saguaro cactus is an enduring symbol of the American Southwest, yet its life story is even more remarkable than its silhouette. This episode explores the biology, ecology, and cultural significance of the Sonoran Desert's iconic giant, revealing how saguaros support countless other species throughout their centuries-long lives.

Conservation work can be exhausting, especially when environmental setbacks seem relentless. In this personal episode, Chris reflects on activist burnout, the emotional challenges of protecting the desert, and the encouraging successes that remind us why the work is still worth doing.