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TAVASCI MARSH Clarkdale Peck's Lake and Tavasci Marsh This place is for the birds---and the hikers who love them. Designated an "important birding area" by the Audubon Society, Tavasci Marsh occupies a placid strip of green bounded by Tuzigoot National Monument, Dead Horse Ranch State Park and Verde River Greenway State Natural Area. The 96-acre, spring-fed wetland hosts a colorful cocktail of winged beasts chipping among reeds, roosting, wading or gliding over the waters in feathered flotillas. Access is via a free parking area near Tuzigoot or at DHSR ($7 fee per vehicle). Both entry points funnel hikers into a network of trails that wind among enormous cottonwood trees, mesquite forests, cattail choked bogs, sandy flood plains and riverside riparian corridors. Another way to enjoy the site and tag on some educational benefits is to enter through the Tuzigoot monument. There's a $10 fee per person, but you'll get to explore a Sinagua pueblo and learn from visi...

[Episode 103] Today's Social Work Podcast is about the Grand Challenge initiative for social work . In today�s interview I asked Dr. Barth if there was a plan to bring practitioners, educators and policy makers on board with the Grand Challenge initiatives � he said they were already on board. I asked him to walk us through a Grand Challenge topic � he picked the challenge  Ensure Healthy Development for All Youth . I asked him if he hopes the Grand Challenge Initiative will make more funding available to the profession � he said that he hopes for more resources, not just funding. I asked him if he thought doctoral students should hitch their wagons to the Grand Challenges. He was very diplomatic, but basically said �yes.� I asked him about the challenges coordinating between the major social work organizations, NASW which represents practitioners, CSWE which represents educators, and SSWR which represents researchers. He said he�s never seen organizations working together so close...

WILD MUSTANG LOOP Tortolita Mountains, Marana Yucca on Wild Mustang Trail frames Santa Catalina Mtns. If you dig deep enough into the barrel of misunderstood hiking routes, you just might discover a gem like the Wild Mustang Trail. Because it snuggles up to the Ritz-Carlson Dove Mountain property in Marana, access to the trail requires a stroll past groomed gardens, posh casitas and a golf course. Not exactly the stuff of hardcore hiker dreams. But hold on to your horses--the scenery quickly transitions from fancy to fierce. Getting to the Wild Mustang Trail requires the use of connecting routes that are signed with color-coded posts. The trail can be hiked as an out-and-back or tied into several loop options. We decided to try the West Rim Loop as described on the Dove Mountain Hikers website (link below). The first 1.4 miles of the hike follows a wash in full view of the resort. After that, it ascends 1,250 feet into the raw beauty of the Tortolita Mountains, where crested saguaros ...

HOUSTON LOOP Payson Area Trails System View of the Mogollon Rim from Houston Loop For a short, moderate-rated trail, this one really packs a punch. It's wide, well-signed and within shouting distance of suburbia, but what's not advertised about Payson's Houston Loop is its unrelenting ups-and-downs that can catch the first-timer off guard. The quad burning workout pays off with high point vistas of the Mogollon Rim hovering above the metal rooftops of woodland retreats. Where the trail dips into the canyons around Houston Creek, Ponderosa pine trees throw shade over moist drainages imprinted with elk tracks. Elk rarely venture more than a quarter mile from water sources, so keep an eye out for them where the trail hops over rivulets and puddles. The trail's bonus attraction is a Cold War Era curiosity known as a seismic bunker. The metal structure built into a hillside has been abandoned for years and is now under siege by local graffiti rebel forces. It's a dank,...