West Texas' Franklin Mountains - Surprise, Adventure, Legend: If you take delight in discovery, you will find that the Franklin Mountains – an apparently unexceptional range embraced by the city of El Paso, in the far western corner of Texas – in fact offer a windfall of surprise, adventure and legend. More...

The Desert Rock Power Plant - Economic Boon Or Cultural And Environmental Disaster For The Navajos? - For the Navajos, the looming construction of the $3 billion coal-fired Desert Rock power plant on their reservation raises troubling questions about the future of their tribe.  From one point of view, the Navajos – or Diné, or People – see the plant as an economic opportunity for reservation families. More...

Terlingua, Texas Ghost Town - We (my buddy Spirit – my dog and my best friend – and I) have been in Terlingua, in the Big Bend area of western Texas, for about a month now, and when DesertUSA asked me to write a feature on its Ghost Town, too many paths presented themselves.    More...

The Mourning Dove, A Classic Canyon Bird - To hear the call of the mourning dove ooAAH-cooo-coo-coo, one might guess that this plaintive song is from a bird in despair.  That is what early naturalists believed when they heard this “mournful” song.  We now know that this anthropomorphic view is incorrect. More...

Medallions of Pork with a Pumpkin Mole Sauce, Sweet Potatoes and Glazed Carrots - I had sworn throughout my last "Professional Thanksgiving" meal preparation that I would never again cook a Turkey! I have seen and handled too many... Pork it is this year. Being in Southern Texas, rubbing elbows with the Chilis and the Moles... More...

Surviving in the Sonoran Desert A to Z - For the unwary, unsuspecting or uninformed visitor, the Sonoran Desert can be an unforgiving place. A small blunder can turn an afternoon drive off road or an overnight camping trip into an emergency. People sometimes die in the desert! More...