When you think of our Nation’s oldest settlements, stories of Plymouth Rock, Jamestown or Albany may come to mind. Yet America’s oldest towns are actually right here on the Colorado Plateau — Oraibi in Arizona and Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico.

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque hosts a unique holiday tradition this time of year. It’s the Pueblo Gingerbread House Contest, an annual — and edible — celebration of Pueblo architecture.

The Hopi Mesas in Northeastern Arizona rise more than 600 feet above the surrounding landscape. They form the southern edge of Black Mesa, a large geologic uplift that peaks at more than 8,000 feet above sea level.

More than 260 bird species in North and South America will be getting new common names. On the docket for revision are all English eponymous bird names, that is, any bird named after a person.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the federal Endangered Species Act. The landmark conservation law lists more than 1,600 animals and plants as threatened or endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sets plans to recover those species and their habitats.

You’ve likely heard of the Venus fly trap, a subtropical botanical carnivore that traps flies in its leafy jaws! But the Grand Canyon has its very own insect entrapping plant, too.

A hundred years ago, before big dams constrained the Colorado River, boating was exciting and far less predictable. The Birdseye Expedition of 1923 experienced such excitement at Lava Falls — the monstrous class 10 rapid in Grand Canyon.

A vast amount of research shows how humans have changed the ecosystems of the Southwest, but these long-term changes can be difficult to comprehend. Images can be a powerful way to fill this visual deficit between past and present.

Northern Arizona is known for its roaming wildlife and the world’s largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest. This rugged, contrasting landscape beckons to species that need space to meander, yet many find themselves barricaded by the state’s cross-cutting interstates.

If you have ever had the fortune to witness an Apache Crown dance or watched the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee, you may have heard an indescribable sound made by a curious device known as the bullroarer. The bullroarer has been used by cultures worldwide as a ritual musical instrument and for communicating over great distances.