Catalina Mountains, Arizona

Postcard US-4029693 to Belarus shows a storm brewing in the Catalina Mountains at Tucson, Arizona. Snow can be seen on the mountain peaks behind the Saguaro Cactus. Photo by Ray Manley.

Cacti and Desert Flora of the Great Southwest

Again, May 22 is the International Day for Biological Diversity. Postcard US-3971360 to Japan shows various cacti and desert flora of the Great Southwest.

USPS issued the Sonoran Desert sheet in Tucson, Arizona on April 6, 1999 that contained ten 33¢ stamps. It was the first of twelve self-adhesive stamp sheets Nature of America that USPS released annually between 1999 and 2010.

Yuccas Blooming on the Desert

Postcard US-3285001 to Finland was a vintage linen card Yucca Whipplei blooming with a background of mighty San Jacinto Mountain in California.

Native to southern California, United States and Baja California, Mexico, Yucca whipplei ( Hesperoyucca whipplei) is a species of flowering plant in the genus Hesperoyucca, but closely related to, and previously usually included in, the genus Yucca. It is extremely drought tolerant and thrives in clay soils. The fiber from its leaves was used extensively by Native Americans for making sandal, cloth, and rope.

ALMA, Chile

Postcard PL-952957 from Poland shows the Atacama Large Millimeter and submillimeter Array (ALMA), an astronomical interferometer of radio telescopes in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. The array was constructed on the Chajnantor plateau at 5,000 meters or 16,597 feet altitude, near Llano de Chajnantor Observatory and Atacama Pathfinder Experiment, to provide a high and dry environment which is crucial to millimeter wavelength operations. Initially consisting of 66 12-meter or 39-foot, and 7-meter or 23-foot diameter radio telescopes observing at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, ALMA is design to study star birth during the early universe and detailed imaging of local star and planet formation.

With its groundbreaking ceremony at ALMA site in November, 2003, ALMA began scientific observations in the second half of 2011 resulted in the first images available to the public on October 3, 2011. Inauguration ceremony was held on March 13, 2013 with the array being fully operational since.

Unrelated, it is the 3rd anniversary today since Professor Fang Lizhi (方励之), born February 12, 1936, passed away in Tucson on April 6, 2012 at age 76. A Chinese astrophysicist and activist whose liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of 1986–87 and, eventually, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Professor Fang was a recipient of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1989. During his tenure as Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona, he continued to carry out research in astrophysics and cosmology with special interests in the cosmic microwave background anisotropy, Lyman alpha forest, application of wavelet in cosmology, turbulence in intergalactic medium, and the 21cm radiation during the Reionization.

The Pinnacles, Western Australia

Postcard AU-402249 from Australia shows the Pinnacles Desert, made up of thousands of limestone formations inside Nambung National Park that is 17 kilometers or 10 miles south of the town of Cervantes in Western Australia, Australia. Those limestone pillars, from 5 cm to 5 meters in height, were formed by lime-rich sands from crushed seashells in an earlier marine environment under the long term effects of wind, water and plants. The area is popular with tourists and receives over 250,000 visitors a year.

Hedgehog Cactus, on the California Desert

Postcard US-3142509 to the Netherlands took 50 days to reach its destination. It was a vintage card showing the Hedgehog Cactus (Cereus Engelmannii), one of the most showy of all the cactus blossom with red and purple flowers. The species can be found in Baja California and Sonora, Mexico; and in Arizona, California and Nevada, USA at elevations ranging from near sea level to 2,400 meters or 7,874 feet. April is the usual time for it to blossom.

Valley of Fire

Postcard US-1804465 to Germany shows a flaming sunset view at the Valley of Fire, the oldest and largest state park in Nevada located 55 miles from Las Vegas, dedicated in 1935. The Valley of Fire got its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes some 150 million years ago when dinosaurs were around. You can find areas of petrified wood and early Indian petroglyphs throughout the park. There is a diverse desert bio-community that features creosote bush, burro bush, and brittlebush; beaver tail and cholla cactus; springtime blooming plants such as desert marigold, indigo bush, and desert mallow; birds such as raven, house finch, sage sparrow, and roadrunner; lizard and snake; coyote, kit fox, spotted skunk, jackrabbit; and the desert tortoise.

The Valley of Fire was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1968. The park is also marked as Nevada Historical Marker #150. A close-up view of an area in Fire Canyon, part of Valley of Fire, has made on to the Nevada Statehood Forever Commemorative stamp, to be issued by USPS in Las Vegas, NV on May 29, 2014, to celebrates the 150th anniversary of Nevada statehood. The oil-on-Masonite panel was painted by Nevada artist Ron Spears.

The World Day to Combat Desertification

The World Day to Combat Desertification is a United Nations observance on June 17 every year since January 30, 1995 when it was proclaimed by a United Nations General Assembly resolution. The purpose has been to highlight how to prevent desertification and recover from drought.  There has a different theme each year since, and the theme for 2013 is "Drought and Water Scarcity".

My postcard US-1877904 showcases the Las Vegas Springs Preserve where you can learn how to live in the desert environment in a sustained way by taking advantage of what is available, especially the water. It is located at the original water source for Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Springs.

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is a participant of Bank of America's Museums on Us program in 2013. If you are a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch credit or debit card holder, you can get one free general admission on the first full weekend of each month. The incoming dates in 2013 are July 6th and 7th, August 3rd and 4th, September 7th and 8th, October 5th and 6th, November 2nd and 3rd, December 7th and 8th.

World Turtle Day

May 23rd has been the World Turtle Day since 2000. It was initiated by American Tortoise Rescue to celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their ever shrinking habitats around the world.

The postcard US-1532121 was issued by SFWMD, featuring a Florida box turtle living in moist woodlands and floodplains in the greater Everglades. Turtles are the only toothless reptiles, but have beaks with biting edges.

Before I moved to Las Vegas, NV from Florida in 2006, I was aware of the problem caused by street lights to the baby sea turtles during the hatchling season. Those baby sea turtles mistook street lights as the rising sun, so they moved towards city streets and were often crashed by cars, rather than headed to the ocean. I knew there were efforts to install turtle-friendly lights along A1A, a Florida State Road running mostly along the Atlantic Ocean. However, to my surprise, I found out the problem is still serious today. A Youtube video documented disoriented sea turtle hatchlings in Broward County Florida caused by illegal lighting in the summer of 2011. It was estimated that one in every three hatchlings had gone to the street lights instead of the ocean.

In Florida, sea turtles come ashore to nest from May to late October. You can learn how to help this season in 2013 by visiting their web site SeaTurtleOP.org.

What is the difference between a tortoise and a turtle since they are both reptiles from the family of Testudines? Tortoises dwell only on land while turtles can dwell well in the water. Therefore, in the Mojave Desert around Las Vegas, we only have tortoises.