The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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Organ Pipe National Monument is located on the Mexican Border. In the above picture, the scar running across the bottom of the valley floor is a fence. There are 1400 border agents assigned to this segment. In recent years, it feels like a militarized zone. It is a hostile land, if your not ready for it. But the beauty here is as rare as anything on earth. There are more plant species here than any other desert in the world. Think of it as forest of pain.
For all of the wonder that is here, one miss step and your in a world of hurt. Everything around you is designed to bite back if touched.
As American tourists, we can wander through this area at our leisure.
But if you are left with no option but to try to cross into America for a better life, it is done in the darkness, in stealth and at great risk. 445 deaths in 2014, with the Tucson sector being the deadliest. With checkpoints being closed and safer areas being clamped down on, migrants are forced to take the more isolated, treacherous routes, like Organ Pipe. Hell, if someone can make it through this, they deserve to be in America. They earned it.
This fact is never far from the front of my mind as I wander the area. In the bottoms of sandy washes, I find buried water jugs with caution tape tied to them sticking out of the sand, so migrants can find them. Groups like No More Deaths help out how they can. If you agree that people should not die for trying to better their lives or their families, think about donating.
Temps in the Winter and Spring drop close to freezing. Cases of Hypothermia are common. Check out how my friends are dress for a hike in the ‘desert’ in the photo below.
There are over 2000 species of plant here, most indigenous only to the area. So it seems that everything I look at is a rare miracle.
A lot of these plants have medicinal usage. The creosote in the above picture are the lower olive green bushes, for example. There are some really neat endeavors to create awareness of how unique and useful these plants can be. Check out one of the ground breaking non profit enterprises, Native Seed Search, that have brought attention to the fact that this place needs to be preserved and not bull dozed into the next strip mall.
So, if your where it’s frozen and it’s been miserable for months now, come on down and get your fill of a magic that can’t be found anywhere else. And watch your step.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
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