KNAU update for May 17 — Navajo Communities Give a Voice to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Gov. Doug Ducey this week signed a bill to commission a task force to study the high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Arizona. The state has the third highest rate in the nation, but the epidemic remains under-researched and the full scope of the problem isn’t clear. Learn more at KNAU.org.

Over the last two years, U.S. Forest Service biologists have gone high-tech to identify the bats gracing the night skies of Arizona’s Red Rock Ranger District. But instead of the traditional monitoring method they’re deploying ultrasonic microphones and recorders to listen in to bat talk. Learn more at KNAU.org.

The funeral service for a Navajo Code Talker will be held this week in Chinle. Fleming Begaye Sr. died May 10. He was 97. Learn more at KNAU.org.

Sending kids to Camp Colton at the base of the San Francisco Peaks has been a local tradition since the seventies. Thousands of sixth grade students have learned about science and nature there. But this spring there’s a new curriculum focused on forest health and wildfire prevention. Learn more at KNAU.org.

The U.S. government plans on replacing barriers through 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the southern border in California and Arizona, including through a national monument and a wildlife refuge. Learn more at KNAU.org.