Desert Companion

Birding has become a popular way to get outside and connect to nature. But newcomers to the hobby might have a skewed baseline of what to consider normal as climate change disrupts the typical progression of seasons. So, what are some of the patterns that longtime birders are noticing in the Las Vegas Valley?⁠
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Nature is dynamic, not a still life. As climate change and other pressures, such as urban development, affect our world, it’s difficult to attribute one reason to changes in bird abundance and behavior. One example is migration.⁠
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Typically, in the springtime, hormonal cues triggered by increasing day length spark the urge for many birds to migrate north, beginning with the males racing to secure the best breeding territory. “It doesn’t take much to disrupt the vital flyway that birds have to go through twice a year,” says Tim Almond, a local who’s been birding here since 2000. “And we’re seeing earlier migrations.”⁠
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✍️ Morrigan DeVito⁠
📸 Ronda Churchill⁠
🔗 Read the full story in Desert Companion's newest summer issue, or see it here: https://tinyurl.com/4t8apt2e

Fifty-first.

That’s Nevada’s ranking in Mental Health America’s latest annual report, published last year. For years the state’s prevalence of mental illness has run up against, and created friction with, a dearth of accessible services.

Measures of Nevada’s continued struggle toward more ubiquitous, better funded, and attainable mental health programs are disconcerting. UNR’s Nevada Health Workforce Research Center estimates that more than 91 percent of the state’s population lives in a federally designated mental health professional shortage area.

Though only 7 percent of Nevadans with mental illness are uninsured, almost 33 percent of residents with significant mental health burdens report being unable to see a doctor because of prohibitive costs — even with insurance.

Now, providers are expressing concern that federal-level funding cuts combined with Medicaid changes, which mandate that all able-bodied adults log 80 hours of work monthly, could create even more suffering for Nevadans seeking mental health care.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://tinyurl.com/bt46cey7
✍️ Anne Davis | Desert Companion
🎨 Ryan Vellinga | Desert Companion

More Than Services Providers of mental health support and families of patients fear the dire consequences that will come from changes to insurance coverage