If, like us, you value desert landscapes for more than their monetary value, we hope you’ll consider a tax-deductible
gift to the Desert Protective Council. Because, where you value deserts for their scenic, scientific, historical, recreational or spiritual qualities, others see only dollar signs.
Right now, our deserts face an unparalleled number of threats. Whether from power lines in state parks, a proposed housing development near the Salton Sea, new golf courses in bighorn sheep critical habitat, or an Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Division that outbids its own Parks Department on land acquisitions, our deserts are under assault like never before.
That’s why we need you to help us carry on our work protecting Southern California’s deserts for generations to come. Your donation today will help us carry the momentum we’ve built during 2007 into the new year.
If you’d like to find out more, visit our Successes and Issues Archive pages to learn about our conservation work. Go to our Education pages to learn how we foster appreciation of desert landscapes. And visit our Stewardship pages to find out about our efforts in restoring desert lands.
Since we’re a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, all your donations and membership fees are tax-deductible.
Help Preserve Wildlife Linkages between Anza-Borrego and the Coast Ranges
The high desert landscape of Beauty Mountain.
Photo courtesy California Wild Heritage Campaign
The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office has begun preparing a management plan for the 130,000 acres (203 square miles) it manages in a region that stretches from Santa Clarita in the north to the border with Mexico in the south and includes Los Angeles, western Riverside, western San Bernardino and western San Diego counties.
The management plan will guide the agency's approach to a variety of important issues including mining, cattle grazing, off-road vehicle use, land sales and land acquisitions for the next decade or more. Wild places affected by the plan include Beauty Mountain and Agua Tibia in Riverside County and Otay Mountain and Hauser Mountain in San Diego County among others. Many small parcels that serve as critical open space for recreation and plant and wildlife habitat will also be affected by the plan. The South Coast BLM lands provide habitat for a variety of rare plants and animals like Munz's onion, Tecate cypress, slender-horned spineflower, least Bell's vireo, Stephen's kangaroo rat, coastal California gnatcatcher, arroyo toad, and Quino checkerspot butterfly, and include such important features as Native American cultural sites and 15 miles of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.
It is essential that people who care about wild places get involved in the development of this plan and make their voices heard! This is especially true given that in the aftermath of the recent fires some pro-development interests are trying to foment a backlash against habitat protection.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please attend one of the following public hearings hosted by the BLM:
12/5/07 in CAMPO from 4 to 8 P.M.
Mountain Empire Community Center, 976 Sheridan Road
12/6/07 in SAN DIEGO from 4 to 8 P.M.
Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 1895 Camino del Rio South
12/10/07 in TEMECULA from 4 to 8 P.M.
Mary Phillips Senior Center, 41845 Sixth Street
12/12/07 in SANTA CLARITA from 4 to 8 P.M.
George A. Caravalho Activities Center, 20880 Centre Pointe Parkway
In addition, please send a letter to the BLM by 1/9/08 (letters must be postmarked by this date and e-mails or faxes must be received by this date).
Your letter should be addressed to:
John Kalish, Field Manager
BLM, South Coast-Palm Springs FO
Attn: South Coast RMP
P.O. Box 581260
North Palm Springs, CA 92258.
At the public hearings and in your letter, please express in your own words why BLM lands are important to you. If you are familiar with specific places like Otay Mountain, Beauty Mountain, Hauser Mountain or others, tell them why you like those areas. Also, please request that:
—All currently roadless South Coast BLM lands regardless of size be managed for habitat restoration and non-motorized recreation;
—The Beauty Mountain Wilderness Study Area, all nearby BLM lands and all future acquisitions in the Beauty Mountain region be managed for habitat restoration and non-motorized recreation. Please explain that Beauty Mountain is one of the most important wild places in southwestern California, that it serves as a critical habitat bridge for plants and wildlife by linking Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to the Coast Range and therefore it deserves as much protection as possible;
—The Hauser Mountain Wilderness Study Area, all nearby BLM lands and all future acquisitions in the Hauser Mountain region be managed for habitat restoration and non-motorized recreation. Please explain that Hauser Mountain and the newly-acquired BLM lands nearby serve as important habitat corridors between Mexico and the Cleveland National Forest, and includes such key features as the Pacific Crest Trail;
—The BLM lands adjacent to or near the Otay Mountain Wilderness, as well as all future acquisitions in the area, be managed for non-motorized recreation and habitat restoration; and,
—That the BLM identify the Beauty Mountain, Hauser Mountain and Otay Mountain regions as high-priority areas for future land acquisitions.
For more information, please contact:
Ryan Henson
California Wilderness Coalition
530-246-3087
E-mail: Rhenson AT SYMBOL calwild.org
A Campaign to Return 29,775 Acres of Land in the Eagle Mountain Range to Joshua Tree National Park and Designate the Defunct Kaiser Mine and Townsite a National Historic Landmark
Joshua Tree National Park ("Joshua Tree") has been described as a living fabric, as pristine as any site in the California desert today or ever will be in the future. Joshua Tree's history elucidates the level of significance placed on the Park by the American people. The lands omitted from Joshua Tree National Monument in 1950 were to be used to mine the minerals first and foremost and if not, the Highest and Best Use is to return the land to the Public, i.e. Joshua Tree National Park, since that is where it originated. There are no intentions to mine these lands in the future, and Kaiser relinquished all of its claims in the hopes of building the world’s largest dump. The old Kaiser Mine and campsite/townsite will be designated a National Historic Landmark, managed by National Park Service (“NPS”) for its superlative interpretive value, and its unique role in American culture in the creation of the steel industry on the West Coast. Secretary of the Interior Gayle Norton proposed a Superfund Garbage Dump in Fresno for National Historic Landmark designation in 2002. Here in the desert, we have a National Historic Landmark that the Department of the Interior want to turn into a superfund site!
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK HISTORY
August 10, 1936 President Roosevelt established Joshua Tree National Monument by Presidential Proclamation to protect and preserve the area's historic, prehistoric, and scientific features.
September 25, 1950, Congress deleted 265,340 acres from Joshua Tree National Park by enacting Public Law 837. The President ordered a survey of minerals to “determine to what extent said area is more valuable for minerals than for National Monument purposes”.
July 8, 1952 Congress enacted Private Law 790 (“PL790“) granting certain rights-of-way and issuing patent to 465 acres of land to Kaiser Steel Corporation for campsite/millsite purposes. PL790 included the expressed condition that “said property shall revert in fee to the United States in the event that said property is not used for a continuous period of seven years as a camp site or mill site or for other incidental purposes in connection with mining operations of said corporation or its successors in interest”. It was fully intended by Congress and the President that this land would go back to public ownership if not used for the purposes of which the Acts were created, “the development of the Steel industry on the West Coast” (Source: House Report No. 398 that accompany PL790).
In 1976, Joshua Tree was given federal wilderness designation and in 1977 Joshua Tree received Class I Wilderness Airshed status.
In 1984 the United Nations designated Joshua Tree as an International Biosphere Reserve as one of the last examples of a pristine desert ecosystem. According to the Park's former Superintendent Ernest Quintana, the chief reason for the Park's designation as an International Biosphere Reserve is that it "offers the most refuge for the greatest number of species from human impacts of any area in southern California."
On October 31, 1994 Congress added 234,000 acres to the monument, designated an additional 163,000 acres as wilderness, reaffirmed that Joshua Tree is "a public wildland resource of extraordinary and inestimable value for this and future generations" and, affirmed Joshua Tree's status as a national significant area by designating it a National Park.
The Southeastern Wilderness areas of Joshua Tree National Park are threatened by the proposed development of the World’s largest garbage dump. Plans for the Eagle Mountain townsite include, but is not limited to smelters, fabrication plants, asphalt batch making plant, recyclable sales and a recycling center. All of these facilities are inappropriate when surrounded like an amphitheater by Joshua Tree National Park Wilderness. 29,775 acres of land omitted from the Monument in 1950 including the land slated for the dump, must be returned to the Park or the results will be an irretrievable commitment to natural resources, and death to one of our nation’s premier National Parks.
TWO SONGS
Eric Neil and J. T. Shakers of Joshua Tree have recorded two songs (Raw Trash Cannonball and Big Money Man) that express their opposition to L. A. County garbage being hauled to Eagle Mountain. You can download and listen to those songs by going to the Web site at http://www.new-moon-records.com/16wordsweb.html.
Become a Supporter
For more information contact Donna Charpied @ (760) 574-1887 or email laronna@earthlink.net.
Protect America's Special Places from Mining
Stake Your Claim to Protect the West
Dear Westerners for Responsible Mining supporter,
Westerners for Responsible Mining is fighting to protect the West's special places from mining. And we need your help. Please tell your friends how the 1872 Mining Law threatens special places by sending the below eCard.
Westerners for Responsible Mining, is an alliance of western residents and organizations, and non-westerners who cherish our communities, landscapes and resources. We have come together to ensure that these communities, water resources, and special places in the West are protected from the adverse impacts of irresponsible mining practices and a lack of corporate accountability in the hardrock mining industry.
Fish & Wildlife moves to reduce critical habitat for Peninsular bighorn Take Action Now!
UPDATE: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Superintendent says critical habitat proposal lacks scientific merit Read the sharply worded letter from Supt. Mark Jorgensen here.
In a move that could lessen the chances for survival of one of southern California’s most recognized and beloved endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing critical habitat for the Peninsular bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis cremnobates). This distinct population of desert bighorn has experienced a remarkable recovery since being listed as an endangered subpopulation in 1998, and having 840,000 acres of critical habitat designated for it in 2001. The new move, which would reduce critical habitat by a whopping 55 percent, comes on the heels of a lawsuit brought by the Agua Caliente Tribe, a gravel mining company, and others, which reduced critical habitat to 815,000 acres. These groups contended that the critical habitat designation did not take economic considerations into account. The move also fits with the Bush Administration’s effort to remove protections for endangered species wherever possible.
The new proposal would leave designated habitat in areas that are already well protected such as Anza-Borrego and the San Jacinto-Santa Rosa Mountains National Monument. Areas that would lose protection are those most vulnerable to development and industrial exploitation because they lack other protection, the very type of area for which critical habitat designations are designed.
At DPC’s Annual Meeting in October, Mark Jorgensen, Superintendent of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and one of the key bighorn experts responsible for the original critical habitat designation, filled DPC members in on the proposed rule change. At issue are the alluvial fans at the base of the steep eastern slopes of the Peninsular Ranges, which stretch from Baja California to Mt. San Jacinto above Palm Springs. These more level areas provide essential summer forage for the bighorn at a time of year when lambs and nursing ewes need it the most; unfortunately, they are also easily developed into golf courses and condominiums. Such areas in the Coachella Valley are especially vulnerable because they are unprotected by park or monument designations.
In addition to halving the total area of critical habitat and omitting large areas of summer forage, the new proposal also violates the key ecological principle of connectivity. A quick look at the maps that accompany the proposed rule shows that the habitat will be broken into three distinct units divided by miles of potentially developable terrain. Further dividing this already isolated subpopulation is a sure way to push it toward extinction.
A description of the proposed rule can be read
here. The proposed rule itself, with maps, can be viewed
here.
Comments are being accepted through December 10, 2007. You can use our new
online campaign, via Citizen Speak. Or you can write your own letter and send it to the addresses below. Either way, please be sure to include personal comments about why the bighorn is important to you and your experience of the desert.
Field Supervisor
Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office
6010 Hidden Valley Road
Carlsbad, CA 92011
Facsimile: 760-431-9624.
E-mail: FW8cfwocomments@fws.gov
Comment Points:
The Peninsular bighorn is one of the best-loved creatures of our desert, and one of the last remnants of wild southern California
Losing this majestic species would be a greater loss to the region than any economic impacts associated with saving it
Science, not economics, should determine critical habitat designation
If economics are to be considered, then the economic impact to desert tourism of the Peninsular bighorn becoming extinct must be taken into account
Because they provide important summer forage to lambs and nursing ewes, all remaining wash bottoms and alluvial fans over the entire Peninsular Ranges should be preserved, not just those in Anza-Borrego
It is equally critical to maintain habitat connectivity and not break it up into three distinct units, as the new habitat designation would do
At the upcoming public meeting, please have a wildlife biologist available to explain the need and purpose of this habitat reduction, to answer questions, and to provide public accountability for your agency.
YOU CAN HELP THE BLM PROCURE FUNDING TO MANAGE ORV USE ON OUR DESERT PUBLIC LANDS - SUBMIT COMMENTS SUPPORTING BLM OHV ANNUAL GRANT APPLICATIONS
‘Tis the season to review the Bureau of Land Management’s OHV Applications to the California OHV Division of State Parks.
For Release: August 14, 2007
Contact: Jim Keeler, (916) 978-4654, or John Dearing (916) 978-4622
Public Invited to Review BLM's OHV Grant Applications
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is inviting public comments on its draft grant applications being proposed to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVR). The draft BLM applications encompass approximately 90 projects, ranging from facility developments to restoration work proposed throughout BLM’s 16 field offices in the state.
BLM’s outreach efforts include public meetings, mailings, and posting of the grant applications on BLM’s website . Copies of the individual field office applications are also available for review at BLM Desert Field offices in Barstow,El Centro, Moreno Valley, Needles, Palm Springs, Ridgecrest, as well as the BLM state office in Sacramento. All public comments received will be forwarded to OHMVR Division as part of the grant packages. Any public comments received prior to close-of -business, September 7 will be included with the application submitted to the OHMVR.
Jim Keeler, BLM OHV coordinator, said the grant applications are an annual process that is a key part of the partnership between BLM and California, which issues grants to a variety of entities to improve or mitigate off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation in California. Under this process, BLM applies for grants from the state each year to help fund and coordinate its OHV program. The grants support activities on public lands administered by BLM such as law enforcement, resource protection, planning and monitoring, visitor services, and maintenance.
Further information on the grant process is available on the OHMVR website.
For further details on BLM’s grant applications, contact BLM OHV coordinator Jim Keeler at (916) 978-4654 or email, james_keeler@ca.blm.gov
Fort Yuma – Your Letters Have Helped, More Still Needed
Preston Arrowweed sends us this update on the proposed Ft. Yuma casino, which threatens important tribal lands on Pilot Knob. The good news is that, thanks to your efforts, the tribal council is being pressured to change its decision. More letters are needed to keep the momentum going.
“On August 7, the Quechan Tribal Judge spoke out at the Tribal Council meeting and asked the Council to move the casino away from Pilot Knob. She said their behavior toward tribal people was not acceptable and almost scolded them for everything they have been doing, especially disregarding tribal ways and traditions and disrespecting their own people.
The Vice President mentioned that he had received letters from outside the reservation from people who were also concerned about Pilot Knob. He told the group that Pilot Knob has significance not only to them but to other people who care and respect the desert that has been home for the Quechan all these centuries.
The tide is turning. Let's hope for the best.
Thank you to all the friends who wrote letters.
--Preston”
See below for the original alert and sample letter. Keep those letters coming!
***
A Plea From Preston Arrowweed, Tribal Elder, To Protect Quechan Sacred Sites
Please continue to send letters to the Tribal Council
Dear Friends,
It is with great heaviness in my heart that I write to you today about sacred sites in my beloved desert community. Here at Ft. Yuma, California, we are governed by a group of misguided Quechan politicians whose hearts have been taken by coyote. They suddenly announced to our community this month that a casino is planned at the foot of Pilot Knob. Pilot Knob is the place where our ancestors lived for thousands of years. It was a place where Quechan people lived during the flooding seasons of the Colorado River. There are thousands of artifacts to prove evidence of that living history. And now we are faced with the destruction of what our ancestors left behind because our elected president wants to build a casino and won't listen to elders who advise him to move the casino.
We need your help to pressure President Mike Jackson and the other Tribal Council members to vote NO on the location of the casino near Pilot Knob. We want them to find another location. We have a 45,000 acre reservation. Why do they insist on building the casino there?
We have written a sample letter to give you an idea of what we are asking from you.
I recognize and respect your sovereignty of government and I know that you are a duly elected member of the Quechan Tribal Government. My intention is not to tell you how to run your government. However, I wish to provide you with my concerns over an issue that is currently before the Quechan people.
Pilot Knob is a known site for ancient artifacts. Some of these may be as much as 10,000 years old. We know that the whole Yuma area is of historical significance with Pilot Knob of particular importance because of the artifacts found there.
To place a casino so close to such a significant site is of great concern to me. The added vehicle traffic and the influx of people is a concern. The area west of Pilot Knob has already been impacted by visitors staying at the trailer park. A casino will only attract more people and more damage to your historical record and cultural heritage.
I am asking that you consider seriously the cultural and traditional value of this site, before you make your decision. I am asking you to build the casino at another location.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
*
This letter can be sent to EACH of the following Quechan government officials:
Mike Jackson, President
Keeny Escalanti, Sr., Vice-President
Merrill Kelly
Emilio Escalante
Crisel Uribe
Todd Durand
James Montague
address each letter to the following post office box:
P. O. Box 1899
Yuma, AZ 85366
Sorry, we don't have email addresses here.
THANK YOU.
Ahmut Pipa Foundation
P. O. Box 160
Bard, Ca 92222
In April, California’s Resources Secretary proposed a new Salton Sea Restoration Plan containing much that is good news for the birds and other wildlife that depend on this vital stop on the Pacific Flyway. Dependent on runoff from farms in the Imperial Valley, this largest lake in California is threatened by the water transfer from Imperial Valley to San Diego. Reducing its only supply of fresh water will cause the lake to shrink or evaporate completely, removing wetlands vital to birds migrating on the Pacific Flyway and releasing dust from the dry lakebed to pollute the air of Imperial and Coachella valleys. The new plan would provide more than 50,000 acres of habitat for a variety of species ranging from migratory birds to the endangered desert pupfish and would reduce air quality problems associated with the exposed lakebed.
But there’s a big problem with the plan – a $7 billion problem. Along with its habitat and air quality measures (which will cost abut $2 billion), the plan also includes the creation of two large recreational lakes that would require pumping enormous amounts of water from one end of the sea to the other, and would cover additional wildlife habitat. To create these lakes will require building dams, and these dams will require engineers to move mountains (well, at least one mountain) of rock. This massive engineering project will destroy more habitat and add to the air pollution problem. All of this proposed work puts the total cost of the plan at $9 billion – a high price tag against which the San Diego Union-Tribune has already editorialized.
Is it likely that the state will ever spend $9 billion to “Save the Salton Sea”? The California Audubon Society doesn’t think so, and is instead supporting a phased approach that would ensure the less-expensive habitat restoration takes place first.
SAN BERNARDINO OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE ORDINANCE NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
As reported on our Successes and Press Room pages earlier this year, San Bernardino’s OHV ordinance has been successful in curtailing unrestrained off-roading on private property near neighborhoods in the Morongo Basin. Community ORV Watch notes that the county’s Johnson Valley is the country’s largest OHV park, so why do off-roaders need to gather in large numbers on undeveloped private parcels near desert communities? And why do they feel compelled to trespass in Wilderness Areas? The county OHV ordinance has helped to reduce both of these problems. Now, however, OHV groups are waging a concerted campaign with the County Board of Supervisors to get them to revise the ordinance to make it less effective. And the county government seems to be responding, moving in the direction of rewriting the ordinance without input from the stakeholders who originally crafted the measure. If you live in San Bernardino County (and even if you don’t, but want to see federal wilderness protected from OHV trespass), the Community ORV Watch website has two easy ways for you to take action to defend the existing law and to pass a new resolution to address aggravated trespass, intimidation and harassment by off-road vehicle users.
Please attend the County Board of Supervisors hearing, Tuesday, August 21, 10:00AM.
The hearing will be held at the Board of Supervisors Chambers, 385 North Arrowhead Avenue, San Bernardino, 92415-0181. You can also write the Supes at the above address, or call them: Sup. Brad Mitzelfelt (District 1) – (909) 387-4830; Sup. Dennis Hansberger (District 3) – (909) 387-4833. If you live outside SB County, send a short letter to the supervisors and tell them that you're a stakeholder in any decision that affects our public lands, federal wilderness and citizen's quality of life, which this ordinance does. Tell them you want more protection, not less! For more info, go to http://orvwatch.com/ or call Mark Heuston at (760) 367-5206.
Help the Bureau of Land Management Craft a Sensible Plan
for Eastern San Diego Deserts and Mountains
BLM-El Centro has released its Draft Eastern San Diego County Resource Management Plan (RMP). This planning area encompasses 103,303 acres of public land ranging from pine forests to palm oases and high desert. It includes Table Mountain and In-Ko-Pah Areas of Critical
Environmental Concern (ACECs), the Carrizo Gorge and Sawtooth Wilderness Areas, several Wilderness Study Areas, and the heavily used recreation areas in McCain Valley.
This resource management plan update is more than 20 years overdue. The plan will address conflicts between motorized and non-motorized recreation, grazing impacts, protection of sensitive natural and cultural resources, including the bighorn sheep, and a number of other endangered plant and animal species, proposed energy development and its impact on visual resources.
Positives of the preferred alternative (alternative E) include a total ban on livestock grazing, removal of the ACECs from mineral prospecting, and continued management of Wilderness Study Areas for their wilderness values. The Table Mountain ACEC will also be managed for its “historical, cultural and natural qualities,” a designation which could lead to a ban on target shooting in this sensitive area.
While we support much of what’s in this draft plan, we do have some suggestions for improvement, and see a combination of Alternatives C and E as the best alternative. One of the most important items to comment on is the plan’s proposal to change the visual classification of McCain Valley, which would allow the unspoiled vistas of this area to be ruined by the installation of a “wind farm.” We will urge the BLM to maintain this area’s visual classification at Class II, rather than the proposed change to Class IV. Wind farms are a great source of renewable energy, but they should be placed in areas that are already rated at Class IV, where vistas are not as spectacular as those in McCain Valley.
The deadline for comments on the BLM plan has passed, but you can still help to protect McCain Valley:
Write to your federal elected officials encouraging them to give McCain Valley an Area of Critical Environmental Concern designation, which would help avert the possibility of a wind energy project ever being placed here. Addresses and a sample letter are available here.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN IMPERIAL COUNTY
DATE: Thursday, May 24, 2007
Geothermal plant in Beowawe, Nevada; Courtesy US Dept. of Energy
TIME: 7PM
PLACE: Borrego Springs Resort Conference Room
1112 Tilting T Dr. off Borrego Springs Rd.
Borrego Springs, CA 92004
(760) 767-5700 DIRECTIONS
Please join your fellow desert enthusiasts on the evening of May 24th at the lovely Borrego Springs Resort as we learn more about Iceland America Energy Company’s (IAEC’s) plans for geothermal development in western Imperial County. This meeting is an opportunity to ask company representatives questions regarding the background of geothermal resources and leasing in the area, and about the associated multitudinous impacts from geothermal exploration and development.
IAEC has proposed to build a geothermal energy plant on 500 acres of BLM land, some of which is currently being managed by State Parks (Ocotillo Wells). Up to 40,000 acres of Imperial County BLM-managed land – west of the Salton Sea, south of Highway S-22 and north of Highway 78 – could be impacted by this and future geothermal exploration and development.
Questions We’ll Be Asking:
Will this specific project really disturb just 500 acres?
Is this just the first of many geothermal projects that could eventually cover 40,000 acres?
What measures are being taken to safeguard groundwater in the San Felipe Creek watershed, which supplies the vital oasis at San Sebastian?
Is it possible to safeguard cultural sites from such a development?
How will waste products from the geothermal plant be disposed?
San Sebastian Marsh in the Western Imperial County desert. Photo by David Scriven
According the the BLM Draft EIS for the "Truckhaven" geothermal leasing area, there will be numerous environmental impacts, including air pollution from road-building and truck traffic to the area (in an already badly impacted air basin), impacts to visual resources from the power plant and transmission lines, impacts to recreation, impacts to the local groundwater, and to the San Felipe Creek watershed.
This area has significant heritage value to the Kumeyaay and Cahuilla people and is rich in cultural sites, a large percentage of which have not yet been surveyed and classified. The area is part of the flat-tailed horned lizard research area, and it also provides habitat for many other special status plant and animal species, including the Le Conte's Thrasher, Orcutt's woody aster, and Peirson's pincushion. There are issues of disposal of heavy metal waste products, large amounts of salt, and other by-products. A company called Ormat Nevada Inc. has been fined $156,000
for water quality violations at two existing Imperial County geothermal facilities.
Another major consideration is the possible precedent of allowing energy development in a California State Park. This is very much connected to Sunrise Powerlink issues in Anza-Borrego State Park.
We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to learn about the geothermal development process and how IAEC plans to avoid impacts to these irreplaceable Imperial County desert cultural and natural resources. See you there!
***If you can be in the area for a couple of hours the morning of May 25th, IAEC may conduct a tour to the "Truckhaven" site, located about 30 miles southeast of Borrego Springs.
Please circulate this notice to all concerned citizens and conservation group representatives.
Check out other desert conservation issues
Explore more of the Desert Protective Council’s website
If you’d like to receive regular conservation alerts from the Desert Protective Council, click here.
Gale Norton's Broken Treaties Interior Secretary Breaks Promise to Tribes, OKs Imperial County Mine
Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton announced her Department's first important interpretation of federal lands management in Indian country this week - a rewrite of the Department's legal opinion that the Secretary has discretion to deny a mining permit if there is "undue impairment" of cultural or environmental resources. Based in part on that original opinion, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt spiked the Imperial Project gold mine (in the California desert near Yuma, Arizona) to protect archaeological, religious and cultural resources sacred to the Quechan Indian Tribe and other Colorado River nations.
"Today's announcement is an affront to all American Indians. They appear destined to break another promise - their promise to protect this sacred area from certain destruction. This is an outrage," said Mike Jackson, Sr., President of the Quechan Tribal Council. "The Quechan Nation will continue to fight for its religion, traditions and history."
Quechan Tribe attorney Courtney Ann Coyle added, "We ask Interior to reaffirm that the mine decision is still valid, notwithstanding the change in opinion. The decision on the permit stands on its own." It is unclear what impact, if any, today's announcement will have on Glamis' pending lawsuit against Interior and BLM in the DC District Court. The Tribe, Mineral Policy Center and the Sierra Club filed pending motions to intervene seeking to defend the decision.
Several Native American and conservation organizations had written to Secretary Norton urging her to not reverse the previous BLM decision. "Gale Norton is blowing off the public interest in respecting sacred sites and the environment so she can give a hand out to a foreign-owned mining company." said Daniel Patterson, desert ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Despite her earlier promises to uphold the law, the Secretary now seems to be in full-gear with her anti-environmental reversals to benefit industry."
Interior previously denied the mine based in large part on its effect on significant cultural resources of the Quechan Tribe. The area contains some 49 known historic properties eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, items subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and religious sites. Interior also denied the mine because of unavoidable effects on air quality, viewshed values, and cumulative adverse effects on Quechan religious sites. Existing rights and public access are still allowed under the Babbitt decision - only the mine was prohibited.
"President Bush has often spoke about his goal of upholding religious freedom for all Americans," said Quechan tribal member Lorey Cachora. "This must include American Indians. If Interior ultimately revokes the decision and allows this mine in this place, it would be the same as destroying a church where people have prayed for centuries."
The Glamis Imperial Mine, proposed by Glamis Gold, Ltd. (trading symbol GLG) six years ago, would be a massive open-pit cyanide heap-leach gold mine located in the heart of an area now withdrawn from future mining claims. This area is adjacent to designated wilderness, critical habitat for the desert tortoise and an area of critical environmental concern for Native American cultural values. The proposed mine has drawn substantial opposition from Native American tribes, labor groups, environmental organizations, academia and experts in religion, economics, the National Historic Preservation Act and water rights.
The Quechan Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe. Members on the reservation total about 3,000 persons. The Quechan are the third largest California land-based tribe, with about 45,000 acres in reservation status. Their aboriginal lands include the area protected in the Babbitt decision to deny the mine. Many members still speak their native language.
*
Also check out a Faultline story on CBD and CNPS actions to protect critical habitat for 8 endangered plants in California:
Algodones Dunes Will Stay Protected
From Off-Road Excess
NEWS RELEASE:
for immediate release March 14, 2006
Center for Biological Diversity * Sierra Club * Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility *
Desert Survivors
ALGODONES DUNES WILL STAY PROTECTED FROM OFF-ROAD EXCESS
Big win in court for greens. Court rejects Bush administration and off-road lobby greed.
Contact:
ILeene Anderson, Staff Biologist
Center for Biological Diversity
PMB 447
8033 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 654-5943 www.biologicaldiversity.org
SAN FRANCISCO – A giant environmental and public lands ruling was issued in federal court today upholding protections of the Algodones Sand Dunes in southern California’s Sonoran Desert. The court strongly sided with the Center for Biological Diversity and other plaintiffs, and rejected the anti-conservation arguments of the off-road lobby and Bush Interior Department. Large sensitive habitat areas of the dunes will remain protected from off-road vehicle damage.
“This is a huge win for wildlife and people who care about the desert,” said Daniel R. Patterson, Desert Ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The court wisely told BLM to wake up, follow the law, and treat the dunes with some respect.”
For years the dunes have been the scene of many controversies involving off-road vehicles and harm to endangered wildlife.
In 2000, 50,000 acres of the 180,000 acre dune area were protected for wildlife and recreation by keeping off-road vehicles in other areas. This multiple-use management has worked fairly well on-the-ground, helping the endangered Peirson’s milkvetch, desert tortoise, flat-tailed horned lizard, and other wildlife on the dunes. The off-road lobby and US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) pushed to end protection of these refuge areas, and we fought back.
“Once again BLM has been chastised for its criminal negligence of a national landmark,” said Karen Schambach, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility’s California Director. “We are overjoyed that the rich diversity of plants and animals will be spared.”
The Court invalidated BLM’s adoption of the Algodones Dunes plan (RAMP) because the agency failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Federal Lands Policy and Management Act, all key national environmental laws.
The Court found that BLM could not rely on the 2005 biological opinion permit (BO) issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service because the 2005 BO was fundamentally flawed. The Court found that the BO’s conclusions that the RAMP would not jeopardize or adversely modify habitat for the Peirson’s milk-vetch were unreasonable in light of the FWS’s own acknowledgement that the RAMP would cause significant declines in the population of the milk-vetch and continue to degrade almost half of the designated critical habitat. The BO failed to adequately address the threats to the milk-vetch to insure against jeopardy and impermissibly ignored the recovery goal of critical habitat. Importantly, the FWS could not properly rely on mitigation measures that were deferred until after significant population declines and degradation of the critical habitat had occurred in reaching its “no jeopardy” and “no adverse modification” conclusions. The BO also ran afoul of the Endangered Species Act because the incidental take statement issued for the desert tortoise failed to provide a number or other meaningful measure of the allowed take of the species and failed to included terms and conditions to minimize the impact of ORV use on desert tortoises.
The Court also found that FWS had violated the ESA in designating critical habitat for the Peirson’s milk-vetch because FWS ignored the recovery goal of critical habitat and the regulatory benefit to the species provided by the expanded scope and nature of section 7 consultations for actions that may destroy or adversely modify critical habitat. In addition, FWS improperly relied on a flawed economic analysis on to exclude almost 60% of the Peirson’s milk-vetch habitat from designation as critical habitat because the economic analysis: (1) was based on an unfounded assumption that designation would result in a 15% decline in ORV use at the Dunes; (2) included “coextensive” costs that would be incurred due to the species status as a listed species and that were not attributable to designation of critical habitat; and (3) failed to analyze and quantify public cost savings that could flow from ORV closures or reduced use of the Dunes such as reduced costs of infrastructure, enforcement, and emergency services.
The Court found that BLM had failed to comply with NEPA’s mandate that agencies take a “hard look” at the environmental impacts of any project before it is approved. BLM’s refusal to analyze any alternative that reflected the current management of the dunes – one that included the interim closures intended to protect listed species— violated NEPA because the EIS failed to provide the range of alternatives necessary for BLM or the public to make an informed, objective comparison of the alternatives. In addition, the EIS refusal to examine current management obfuscated the fact that the proposed RAMP would increase adverse impacts to the environment including special status species. The Court found that BLM also violated NEPA by failing to address the impacts of the RAMP on endemic invertebrates found only in the Dunes. As the Court put it: “[T]here is simply nothing in the EIS to demonstrate that the BLM even considered the existence of numerous species of endemic invertebrates, much less took a ‘hard look’ at the environmental impact of the RAMP on any of the species of endemic invertebrates.” (Slip Op. at 63).
The Court found that adoption of the RAMP violated FLPMA because it was arbitrary and capricious for BLM to approve the RAMP based on outdated and inadequate inventories of the resources of the Dunes, particularly of the endemic invertebrates. Also, BLM could not properly approve re-opening areas temporarily closed to ORV’s because it could not rely on the flawed 2005 BO to establish that the adverse effects of ORV use on the environment that initially led to the closures had been eliminated or that measures had been implemented to prevent recurrence.
“The BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service have sought to ignore the Endangered Species Act or give it a very low priority. Fortunately the court has ruled that the Endangered Species Act is the first priority,” said Elden Hughes, Co-Chair of the Sierra Club Desert Committee.
Contact Patterson for a copy of the ruling.
Daniel R. Patterson
Ecologist & Deserts Program Director, Center for Biological Diversity -- because life is good.
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‘Tis the season to review the Bureau of Land Management’s OHV Applications to the California OHV Division of State Parks.
amounts of water from one end of the sea to the other, and would cover additional wildlife habitat. To create these lakes will require building dams, and these dams will require engineers to move mountains (well, at least one mountain) of rock. This massive engineering project will destroy more habitat and add to the air pollution problem. All of this proposed work puts the total cost of the plan at $9 billion – a high price tag against which the San Diego Union-Tribune has already editorialized. 
