Lots of energy and wildlife news

More Ivanpah solar, military training facility spiked, Valley of Fire State Park

Bighorn sheep, Gila monsters, and sand dunes lizards

Sage grouse; invasive snails; Las Vegas Wash news

Jaguars, sheep, and sage grouse.

Sage grouse, snails, and prairie dogs

Desert plants dying in drought; Neighbors fight mine; Hikers versus bighorn

Suit to protect orchid; Another suit on NV water; Border wall video

Endangered species news; Border impedes wildlife, scientists; Burning Man gets slapped

Desert cottontail rabbits socializing | Creative Commons photo by Lon Enriqueta

By now it's no secret that wild things live in California's cities. Some of those wild things are reasonably popular, some less-so, but all of them eke out a living in the urban spaces we haven't yet paved — and some of the places we have.

But though it may be hard to remember in an age of identical corner coffee shops in Westwood, Wisconsin, and Washington, DC, not all cities are the same. We have certainly instituted a monotonous uniformity in the human aspects of our urban landscapes. For the most part, however, aside from a handful of species like rats and pigeons and starlings, our non-human neighbors will reflect the landscape that was there before we built our cities. The more intact that prior landscape remains, the more profound the difference in the cities' wild citizens there will be.