by Tom Budlong | Nine companies* have looked for gold at Conglomerate Mesa. Looked and left. The early ones started around 1984 when Conglomerate was the Cerro Gordo Wilderness Study Area (WSA). Then in 1994 the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA) released the area from WSA status. More came. They ranged from biggies (Newmont, BHP), to […]
by Wynne Benti | Desert bighorn threatened by military expansion. Legislative Environmental Impact Statement opens for public review December 2017. In the heart of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, north of Las Vegas, the Sheep Range is home to one of the most isolated and biologically diverse communities in the Mojave Desert. Sheltered by massive […]
In This Issue • Conglomerate Mesa Once Again Threatened By Gold Miners • Public Lands Conservation Under Attack • Ill-Advised National Monument Review • Life On The Edge: Terrestrial Arthropod Communities On Salt Flats • Salton Sea: Several Steps Forward, Many More To Go • Tragedy Brews For Desert National Wildlife Refuge • Bringing Environmental Changes One Young Mind At A […]
By Kate Allen | From December 2008 to March 2016, I had the pleasure of leading more than two dozen Desert Committee service trips in Death Valley National Park. These were sponsored to help restore wilderness values in the 91% of the Park that is designated wilderness. The ranger responsible for directing the projects was […]
By Tara Callaway | I posed a question to high school students during a presentation on desert tortoise at Joshua Tree National Park in 2016: How would you deal with the issue of ravens eating desert tortoises? I received a multitude of feasible answers, which showed me that these students understood the issue. However, […]
By Geoffrey McQuilkin | Located high in the California’s Eastern Sierra, Mono Lake is an oasis for migratory birds, a popular destination for photographers and outdoor adventurers, and the source of a legendary piece of California water history. Mono Lake’s salty, alkaline waters support a unique ecosystem ⎼ instead of fish, a population of […]
In This Issue • Protection and Restoration: Advocates For Mono Lake Make a Difference • The Amargosa Valley: Different Perspectives From Above and Below • The Burning Question: Air Quality Issues Related to Agricultural Burning • Ravenous Ravens in the Desert • Conservation Planning in the California Deserts • Adapting to Extremes: Desert Communities and Water Scarcity • Service in Our […]
By Edie Harmon | There is a popular and incorrect belief that the deserts of the southwest are too hot and dry for ticks to survive. Tick bites and tick-borne infections in Imperial County CA and Mexicali BC prove otherwise1. From documents with links from the California Department of Public Health-Vector Borne Diseases Section, one […]
by Joan Taylor | As the saying goes, “Whiskey is for drinking, but water is for fighting!” Nowhere is that truer than in the American southwest. And unfortunately, the long-term fate of the Salton Sea rests squarely on a regular influx of water and lots of it. Currently the lifeblood of the Salton Sea […]
By Nick Ervin, Sylvia Henry, & Birgitta Jansen | After a wet winter, all across Southern California the spring flower bloom was astonishing. Three personal accounts follow. The message, of course, is that deserts are not desiccated wastelands but wear many faces and appeal to many kinds of people. The parks, monuments, and wildernesses […]
