Various Updates
UPCOMING DESERT COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Winter meeting: February 21 & 22, 2026 in Shoshone
The next Desert Committee meeting will be held on February 21 and 22 at the Flower Building in Shoshone, CA. The meeting will be held noon-5:00pm Saturday and 8:00am-noon Sunday. There will be a Happy Hour and a potluck supper on Saturday evening. Jora Fogg (Jora@conservationlands.org) will be chairing the meeting. Please contact her if you would like to present on a topic.
Note that the agenda includes an additional Friday event sponsored by Friends of the Amargosa Basin, that will tour some of the lands in the proposed Amargosa Basin National Monument. See details in the agenda on how to sign up.
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Summer meeting: August 8 & 9, 2026 in the White Mountains.
More details will of course be posted as the date gets closer.
Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity
The article "The California Desert’s Role in 30X30: Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity" is available on this website.
National Monument Management Plans
In March, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Bureau of Land Management for failing to prepare monument management plans for Gold Butte and Basin & Range National Monuments. Both monuments were designated by President Obama under the Antiquities Act – Basin & Range in 2015, and Gold Butte in 2016.
Nevada Solar Takeover
An avalanche of high-voltage transmission and utility-scale solar projects are moving forward in review and approval in Nevada. The $4.2-billion Greenlink West Transmission Project was approved on September 6, 2024, to be constructed across more than 400 miles of wildlands, including public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from Las Vegas to Reno-Sparks, Nevada, opening up tens of thousands of acres of habitat for Mojave desert tortoise, sage grouse, pygmy rabbit, pronghorn antelope, and rare plants to remote solar development.