The author takes issue with the statement, "Only three percent of the cows are from the West" and discusses all that is involved in raising cows that are then shipped east to graze before slaughter. They forget that they were born and raised out here. The Altar Valley alone produces millions of pounds of beef a year.

Concern has been expressed that mesquite bosques are disappearing or diminishing in quality, and that the survival of the mesquite mouse is consequently threatened. This study, funded by a grant from the Arizona Heritage Fund to the Pima County Regional Flood Control District, investigated the current distribution of the mesquite mouse by reviewing historical records from museum specimens, examining existing potential habitat at historic locations of the species and elsewhere in the county, and conducting a live-trapping study at 19 sites representing a range of ecological communities with mesquite as a major component.