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An order from U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar makes it easier to deem lands near Tucson as wilderness areas, which could make it easier to restrict motorized access and new mining claims.

The new order, which was issued in December, requires the Bureau of Land Management to review designated lands and possibly classify them as protected wilderness areas.

This policy reverses a 2003 decision that halted the Bureau of Land Management’s ability to create new wilderness areas. The Interior Department entered into the 2003 settlement with the State of Utah, agreeing that the BLM had no authority to designate wilderness areas.

Under the latest order, however, the BLM will review the wilderness status of 12.2 million acres in Arizona, including more than 35,000 acres in Ironwood Forest National Monument northwest of Tucson and more than 100,000 acres of Sonoran Desert between Phoenix and Tucson.

Like humans, rattlesnakes like the outdoors this time of the year.

And the Mojave rattlesnake that’s commonly found in Cochise County might be more deadly than any rattler in any other area of Arizona.

Emergency room doctors in Tucson and Sierra Vista have noticed that patients who suffer from a Cochise County Mojave rattlesnake bite do respond well to the anti-venom, but they often come back to the hospital complaining of the same symptoms.

Herpetologists have gathered from these cases that the Mojave rattlesnakes in Cochise County have venom that is more potent than that from Mojaves in other counties, said Brian Gill, owner of the Tombstone Reptile Exhibit.

[caption id="attachment_34" align="alignleft" width="500"]Terry Abbott makes sure one of the goats at Lakota Ladies Haven gets plenty of loving. (Photo by Sam Sais/ASNS)[/caption]Ronald Campbell and Terry Abbott are always looking for more farm animals. The latest count at their Lakota Ladies Haven near Florence is eight chickens, one rooster, three goats, three dogs, four cats, two horses and a cockatoo.

But the animals are only there until they can be placed in good homes.

The couple started the shelter to rehabilitate abandoned farm animals after a car collided with a wandering horse in Three Points, 25 miles west of Tucson, in November, killing both the animal and the driver.

Though it began more than 20 years ago as the pet project of two amateur scientists and at one time was run as a bed and breakfast, the San Pedro Valley Observatory just outside Benson has grown into an attraction that draws visitors from all around the world.

Unlike other observatories, there are no crowds or guided tours.

“We do a personalized observing program,” said astrophotographer Dean Salman, who teaches several astronomy classes at the observatory. “We keep our groups down to only four people at a time, who work with only one astronomer. It’s a one-on-one observing session, unlike other programs where you have 60-70 people.”

The observatory began in the Tucson home of Dr. Eduardo Vega, a pathologist who dabbled in astronomy. Vega started with a small collection of telescopes, said Art Nagel, the manager of today’s observatory.

When Vega ran out of space in his home for the telescopes he’d obtained, Dr. Max Bray, an optician and an optics expert, helped him find a solution. Together, they opened Vega-Bray Observatory in 1989.

For eight years, the observatory offered bed and breakfast to visitors. After both founders passed away, the observatory was sold to developers and entered a hiatus.

Vicky Westover had an itch for art, which propelled her from fine arts photography to film and then from London to Baltimore to Tucson – and the 2011 Tucson Cine Mexico Film Festival.

The festival, which is being held this week in several venues around town, came from Westover’s efforts to create community-driven venues to showcase international cinema. It will offer Mexican films not usually shown in the U.S., including Amores Perros, named one of the top Mexican films of the last decade, and a panel on documentary film chaired by Mexican documentary-maker Elena Fortes.

“I came to Tucson (in 2002) without a job and then I thought, ‘If I was a film programmer here, what festival would I start?’” Westover said. “At the time there wasn’t a Mexican film festival in the United States, and it made sense.”