e-Paisano-012 - WRITE A QUICK LETTER FOR MORE WILDERNESS PROTECTION IN IMPERIAL COUNTY

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WRITE A QUICK LETTER FOR MORE WILDERNESS PROTECTION IN IMPERIAL COUNTY


	Vinagre Wash, a potential new wilderness area in Imperial County. Photo by John Dittli / CWC

Imperial County has many exquisite wild areas that are unlike places anywhere else in the world. These unique landscapes include Milpitas Wash, with towering palo verde, mesquite, acacia and ironwood trees, and the Indian Pass area with its wind- and water-sculpted canyons and places that the Quechan Tribe still use for cultural purposes today.

Right now, these special places are threatened and they need your help to protect them for future generations. Please take a moment to write a letter urging our representatives, both local and national, to permanently protect these places as wilderness.

For more information on how to write your letter, and where to send it, visit our wilderness alert page.

NEW PUBLICATIONS FROM DPC

Our spring issue of El Paisano, DPC’s quarterly newsletter, is now available online. This issue features:

a celebration of Joshua Tree (both the park and its namesake yucca) by desert poet Ruth Nolan

coverage of the recent outstanding legislative victory for wilderness across the country

news about new efforts to designate more wilderness (like the rugged volcanic landscape of Vinagre Wash in Imperial County, above), and an upcoming wilderness conference

a description of our latest grant to help preserve the cultural heritage of Imperial Valley

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Superintendent Mark Jorgensen’s retirement letter

and photos by desert writer/photographer Chris Clarke and DPC Life Member Florian Boyd


Looking toward Clark Mountain from Cima Dome. Photo by Chris Clarke

Our latest Educational Bulletin is also available here. For this issue, we’re particularly pleased to have an essay by nature and science writer Chris Clarke. Titled “Vox Clamantis in Desierto,” this narrative essay is a rumination on the value of the most common of desert landscapes, and the way our culture de-values what it does not understand. It also helps to dispel the myth that the desert is a barren wasteland - a message that cannot be repeated too often, and that is central to the Desert Protective Council’s mission. The essay brought a tear to many an eye on our “editorial board.” Although it doesn’t focus strictly on science or natural history, we feel it’s one of the best Educational Bulletins we’ve put out.

For more of Chris’s writing and photography, check out his Coyote Crossing site.

You can receive a subscription to El Paisano and the Ed Bulletin if you become a member of the Desert Protective Council.