A Gila Monster moving through a burn scar in central Arizona. Last year, fire from an illegal campfire swept through the area, fueled by invasive grasses. This one managed to survive, but shows signs of how close it came to death – the top of its head and patches on its tail are black scars.

Wildfires like this are now common, as fires, OHV use, and target shooting spark them constantly. With hotter, drier years, and increased human activity in the area, another fire is likely as soon as there’s enough regrowth to burn. The landscape in another decade will be unrecognizable, without saguaro, native trees, and erosion erasing the rocky arroyos where the only surface water was available.

If your first reaction is to deny human involvement in all of this, a better use of time would be to stop watching political messaging and start looking out your own window.

Barra, C., Fule, M., Beers, R., McGuire, L., & Youberg, A. (2025). Soil biogeochemical and hydraulic property response to wildfire across forested ecosystems of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, USA. CATENA. Elsevier.

Boyle, J. M. (2025). Spatial and temporal trends of reburns in western US forests (Undergraduate thesis, Gettysburg College). Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College.

Jiménez Morillo, N. T., Rosa Arranz, J. M., & Miller, A. Z. (2024). Soil degradation: Local solutions for a global problem. CSIC Digital Repository.