NPR reports The Western U.S. and northern Mexico are experiencing their driest period in at least 1,200 years, according to the new study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The last comparable — though not as severe — multidecade megadrought occurred in the 1500s, when the West was still largely inhabited by Native American […]
Study finds Western megadrought is the worst in 1,200 years — Natural History Wanderings
Desert!
Celebrating 90 years since the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park was proclaimed — de Wets Wild

Wedged into a remote corner of South Africa’s Northern Cape, between Namibia and Botswana, lies a very special piece of the Kalahari Desert. Here a wilderness of dunes, pans and dry, sandy river beds is a safe refuge to a rich variety of natural life, and one of the last fully functional ecosystems remaining on earth. […]
Celebrating 90 years since the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park was proclaimed — de Wets Wild
New Anza-Borrego Foundation Land Acquisitions — Natural History Wanderings
From the Anza-Borrego Foundation Land Acquisition: Tax Defaults Monitoring county tax default sales is an important means of land acquisition within Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Every year, ABF purchases tax defaulted properties from the County of San Diego as well as Riverside and Imperial counties. This year was no different with five properties, totaling 35 […]
New Anza-Borrego Foundation Land Acquisitions — Natural History Wanderings
Biden Administration Protects Desert Lands — Natural History Wanderings
Friends of the Inyo Commends Biden Administration’s Decision to Protect the DRECP, California Desert National Conservation Lands In an announcement today, the Department of the Interior says it would put a stop to efforts by the previous administration to reopen the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP). Proposed changes would have rolled back key conservation […]
Biden Administration Protects Desert Lands — Natural History Wanderings
New Land Acquisition For Anza-Borrego — Natural History Wanderings
from the Anza-Borrego Foundation As most of you know, as part of our mission, Anza-Borrego Foundation acquires privately owned parcels within the Park boundaries to make the Park ‘whole’. The transfer of 17,597 acres from the Anza-Borrego Foundation (ABF) to the Park, one of the largest land transfers by a nonprofit cooperating association in California State Parks’ history, was approved in a session […]
New Land Acquisition For Anza-Borrego — Natural History Wanderings
Massive Saharan Dust Plume Heads Toward U.S. After Darkening Skies Over Caribbean JUN 25, 2020 In the Caribbean, a massive dust plume from the Sahara Desert has darkened skies and forced residents with respiratory illness to shelter indoors. Models show haze will soon settle over much of the United States, bringing hazardous air quality to […]
via Where will the Saharan Dust Plume Arrive in North America? — Eslkevin’s Blog
Michael Cross and Tom Page, CNN “It’s still debated exactly how the Namibian desert became home to a herd of wild horses. “ One theory is that diamond prospectors brought horses more than a century ago to since-abandoned mining fields. Another theory, says author and historian Manni Goldbeck, is that they arrived with South African […]
via Namibia’s Last Wild Horses Face a Perilous Future — Straight from the Horse’s Heart
March 3, 2020: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflower Update There are a few flowers blooming now in several areas of the Park. Although the fields of flowers have still not bloomed there are lupines and brittlebush along the roadside of county road S-22 on the east side of the Park. There are a few desert […]
via Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflower Update 3/3/20 — Natural History Wanderings
Wadi Rum of Lawrence of Arabia Fame The majestic beauty of the red-sandstone scenery of Wadi Rum was immortalised in David Lean’s 1962 film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and it would be still recognised by TE Lawrence today. The film is about the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War. The spectacular landscape […]
via The Wildlife of the World’s Deserts – Part 6 – The Middle East — naturetails
Human Wrongs Watch By Baher Kamal* ROME, Nov 20 2016 (IPS) – Desertification, land degradation, drought, climate change, food insecurity, poverty, loss of biodiversity, forced migration and conflicts, are some of the key challenges facing Africa—a giant continent home to 1,2 billion people living in 54 countries. Tera, Bajirga, Niger – Women at work for […]
via Battle of the Desert (II): A ‘Great Green Wall for Africa’ — HUMAN WRONGS WATCH