Daily Archives: September 18, 2017

Child Dies After Boating Accident Near Navajo Canyon

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NAVAJO CANYON, Arizona – National Park Service Dispatch at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area received a report on Sunday, September 17, 2017, at approximately 5:20 p.m., of an accident in which a six-month old boy received major head trauma. It was reported the accident happened when a houseboat was trying to dock on a beach in the area of Navajo Canyon, approximately 12 miles from Antelope Point Marina. Reports are that when the boat struck the beach an adult fell on the child. The vessel had 13 people on board, including several small children.

National Park Service Rangers were patrolling in the area at the time of the incident and responded immediately. While transporting the infant by boat to Antelope Point Marina, emergency first aid was provided, including rescue breaths and chest compressions. With the assistance of the Page Fire Department, the child was transported to the Page Hospital for further evaluation.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Page Hospital to conduct an investigation into the incident. The child was flown to the Salt Lake City Children’s Hospital. During the early morning hours of September 18, the child was pronounced dead. The family resides in Bluffdale, Utah.

This incident is under investigation by the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, the National Park Service and the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner.

Jaguar in Chiricahua Mountains video is male

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AZGF photo

PHOENIX — Contrary to a news release from a Tucson-based group, biologists from the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that a jaguar recently captured on a trail video camera in the Chiricahua Mountains is a male.

“This Center for Biological Diversity footage confirms that this is a jaguar we’ve seen before, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has photographic proof that this animal is unequivocally male,” said Jim deVos, assistant director for Wildlife Management at AZGFD. “We promptly informed the organization when the news release was issued that there is clear anatomical evidence of this jaguar’s gender.”

The news release quotes CBD employee Randy Seraglio as saying, “The really exciting part of all this is that we don’t know yet what sex (it) is,” and it refers to “The possibility that it may be a female… capable of jump-starting jaguar recovery in the region.”

A story in the Friday edition of the Arizona Daily Star says that Arizona Game and Fish Biologist Tim Snow informed Seraglio of the cat’s gender on Thursday morning as soon as their news release was made public, but CBD has yet to correct the release on their website.

“One must wonder about CBD’s motives for mischaracterizing this animal, given the clear evidence to the contrary,” deVos said. “We recognize the importance of finding a new jaguar in Arizona, however, no female jaguars have been seen in Arizona in more than 50 years. Those that have come here from Mexico have all been solitary males,” deVos said.

The proliferation of trail cameras near the border has afforded a glimpse into travels of Arizona’s unique visiting jaguars, but the distance from the nearest breeding population in Mexico and the decades-long lack of a documented female make a population in this state unforeseeable.

Because of the distance from other jaguar populations, some 130 miles south of the US border, Arizona is not considered optimal jaguar habitat.

Arizona Game and Fish Commission proposes amendments to Articles 6 and 11

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PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Commission has proposed to amend its rules following the 2017 five-year reviews of Article 6, Rules of Practice Before the Commission, and Article 11, Aquatic Invasive Species, to enact recommendations developed during the reviews.

The Article 6 (PDF) recommended amendments are designed to align the rule with statute, enable the department to provide better customer service, and reduce regulatory and administrative burdens wherever possible.

The Article 11 (PDF) recommended amendments are designed to make the rules more concise and easier to understand.

The commission approved the Notice of Proposed Expedited Rulemaking amending Articles 6 and 11 at the Sept. 6 Commission Meeting, and it will review the final expedited rulemaking at its Dec. 1 meeting.

Under A.R.S. § 41-1027(A)(7), an agency may use the expedited rulemaking process to implement, without material change, a course of action proposed in a five-year review report approved by the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council provided the rulemaking does not increase burdens or costs to, or reduce procedural rights of, persons regulated by the rule. The commission approved the Article 6 and Article 11 five-year review reports at its Dec. 2, 2016, meeting, and the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council approved the reports at the March 7, 2017, Council Meeting.

An exemption from Executive Order 2015-01 was provided for this rulemaking by Hunter Moore, natural resource policy adviser for the Governor’s Office, in an email dated May 1, 2017.

Copies of the proposed expedited rulemakings are also available on the department’s website at https//www.azgfd.com/agency/rulemaking/.