DesertBlog

New from DPC

It’s been a busy publishing season for the Desert Protective Council.

Our spring issue of El Paisano, our 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

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, I 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.

Hard copies of both El Paisano and the Ed Bulletin are available if you become a member of the Desert Protective Council (see below).

In strictly online publishing, we’ve posted an updated list of the most recent projects DPC has supported through our Mesquite Fund. Grants include support for our own “Salton Basin Living Laboratory Field Trip Curriculum” implemented by Imperial Valley teachers for the first time this spring; funding for improvements to the Watchable Wildlife site adjacent to the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness; support for a project to preserve the oral history and photo collections of renowned Imperial Valley archaeologist Jay Von Werlhof; and continued funding for Anza-Borrego Desert State Park’s PORTS “virtual outing” program, as well as a new grant to help translate the park’s visitor magazine into Spanish.

And finally, our recently published Google Map, “Bad Solar, Better Solar, Best Solar,” continues to receive plenty of attention, with nearly 6,000 views so far. Check it out and maybe you’ll be the 6,000th visitor (sorry, no prizes available). The map shows one particularly bad site for a solar project, BrightSource Energy’s proposed Ivanpah Solar project in the good tortoise habitat of Ivanpah Valley; several better sites for large-scale solar on desert farmland, much of which has been abandoned due to hyper-salinity; and the best solar choice of all, the thousands of square miles of rooftops and parking lots with which we’ve paved southern California.

What’s best is we manage to do all this on a shoestring. If you’d like to support any of our efforts with a fully tax-deductible donation, you can make a secure donation with a credit card at Network for Good, operated by GuideStar. You can leave your donation unrestricted, or mark a category such as Education or Publications in the space provided. You can also make a donation the old-fashioned way, with a check sent to:

All donors to the Desert Protective Council automatically become members, and receive our newsletter and educational bulletins in the mail (unless you direct us otherwise).

Photo of Vinagre Wash by John Dittli / California Wilderness Coalition