55th Annual Membership Meeting
Sunday November 8, 2009 11AM–4PM.

Meet DPC Board, staff, and your fellow members at the beautiful Whitewater Canyon Preserve, 2,851 acres surrounded by the BLM’s San Gorgonio Wilderness, a crucial transition-zone wildlife corridor between the San Jacinto and San Bernardino mountains.

[Photo: Bighorn Sheep at the Whitewater Canyon Preserve, photo courtesy the Wildlands Conservancy.]

On the agenda:

• Cameron Barrows of UC Riverside will offer a presentation on his research on climate change and the desert tortoise
• The DPC’s own Pat Flanagan Pat Flanagan will speak about the “Making of a Naturalist” field trip curriculum DPC is funding for Imperial County students, and will provide update on Mojave Desert Land Trust successes.
• Chris Clarke (yours truly) will read some of his writing on Joshua trees.
• Ruth Nolan will introduce the new anthology of desert writing she edited for Heyday Books, and will speak on the “spirit” of the California desert, a place of inspiration and renewal, as embodied in the literature of the California desert.
• plus Special Guest Elden Hughes, lifelong protector of the desert and mentor to generations of activists, with a presentation on Senator Diane Feinstein’s forthcoming “Desert Conservation and Recreation Act.”

Lunch will be provided by DPC.

We’ll send all our members postcards with even more details and directions soon, and will keep you posted here on DesertBlog as well.

The weekend of October 25-26 offers two opportunities for friends of the desert to gather in or near two of our favorite National Parks units.

On the evening of Oct. 25, the National Parks Conservation Association will hold a celebration of the skies of Mojave National Preserve, featuring an astronomy presentation, as well as opening remarks by Mojave Preserve Supt. Dennis Schramm. The event begins at 5:00 at the Preserve’s Black Canyon Equestrian Center Campground, and participants are invited to bring their camp gear and spend the night for free. RSVP by e-mail to Mike Cipra: mcipra AT npca DOT org. Click here for more info.

The next day, trek down to Twentynine Palms for DPC’s annual meeting. More info here and here. RSVP to Terry Weiner by October 23 at 619-342-5524 or e-mail: TerryWeiner AT sbcglobal DOT net.

Some folks, such as DPC board member and wilderness activist Geoffrey Smith, are planning to make a National Parks crawl out of it and attend both events. Google Maps has it as a 3-hour drive, so you’ll need to hit the road at o’dark thirty to make it to Pat Flanagan’s nature walk at 8:30 a.m. in Twentynine Palms.

Photo: The vast skies of Mojave, David Lamfrom, 2008.

Several desert-oriented readings and book signings are coming up, with Ruth Nolan involved one way or the other.

First, her Phantom Seed reading series will take place at the Riverside Public Library at 1:00 p.m. on October 4, featuring desert poetry by Ruth, Chris Clarke, and others.

A second Phantom Seed reading will take place at the Palm Springs Public Library at 6:30 p.m. on October 27.

Also at the end of the October, (and also co-organized by Ruth!), authors Howard Wilshire and Jane Nielson will appear at two events in the Coachella Valley in support of their new book, The American West at Risk: Science, Myths, and Politics of Land Abuse and Recovery. Quick details below, and more to come in our upcoming newsletter and on our main website. Thanks to Ruth for her help organizing these events.

Saturday, Oct 25th
The reading will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., at the Borders Bookstore in Rancho Mirage, Ca, located at the River Shopping Center, 71800 Highway 111; Phone: 760.779.1314. In addition to speaking about the book, the authors will be available for signing. For exact location and directions, use the store locator at www.borders.com.

Tuesday, October 28
This reading will take place at 6:00 p.m., at the Palm Springs Public Library. The library is located at 300 South Sunrise Way (corner of Baristo), Palm Springs, 92262. Phone: (760) 322-7323. Website: www.palmspringslibrary.org. Books will not be available for sale at the library but you can purchase one in advance and bring it for signing.

And of course, Howard and Jane will be the Key Note presenters at our 54th Annual Meeting, October 26th, in Twentynine Palms. We’ll hope to see you at one or more of these events!

With atrocity after atrocity being enacted or planned on desert landscapes, it’s easy to give in to unremitting gloom. There’s no better antidote for this syndrome than to get out and do something to benefit the desert, using your own two hands (or perhaps a shovel, rake or trash picker). Besides the satisfaction of a job well done, you also get to meet great people. (I first met Kelly Fuller on a National Public Lands Day outing at Table Mountain.) 

This weekend offers several opportunities in the California desert. We’ve already publicized a clean-up event happening near the border in the Jacumba Wilderness; the National Public Lands Day web page for California has service opportunities across the state, and throughout the fall. If you scan the list, you’ll find desert areas like the Santa Rosa-San Jacinto National Monument, Nolina Peak (put on by our friends at the Mojave Desert Land Trust) and areas near Ridgecrest and Needles. (Unfortunately, none of these had their own web pages.)

A few of the service outings did have their own web pages, and here are links:

Alabama Hills Community Spirit Day (Saturday October 4)

Carrizo Plain

Joshua Tree National Park (park entrance is free on the 27th!)

For National Public Lands Day on September 27, the Bureau of Land Management is conducting a clean-up in the Jacumba Wilderness, near Smugglers Cave. Volunteers are welcome and needed! If last year’s cleanup (pictured at right) is any indication, temperatures in this high desert location should be comfortable. No four-wheel-drive is necessary, since vehicles will be provided by the BLM.

Details:

• Meeting Time: 9 a.m.
• Date: September 27
• Meeting Place: The “wilderness kiosk” on Old Highway 80 off of I-8, east of the town of Jacumba: Take the In-Ko-Pah Park Rd. exit off of I-8 and find Old Highway 80 on the east side of the freeway; head south a short distance to a dirt parking area on the left.

For more information: Contact Dallas Meeks at 760-337-4453

Bring lunch, water, sunhat, sunscreen, sturdy hiking boots or shoes, and gloves.

We hope you’ll join us at DPC’s 54th Annual Meeting, to be held this year at the 29 Palms Inn in Twentynine Palms, California, close to Joshua Tree National Park. We’ll have naturalist-led walks, three great speakers and a good chance to meet up with old friends and find new ones. The gathering takes place on October 26th; full details are on our website or on this printable card (pdf).

The past two weeks may have convinced you that it’s all Sunrise Powerlink all the time here at DesertBlog, but we’re interested in other topics too. Really… how about these two events for some relief from the gloom and doom?

Starting Wednesday and extending through Sunday, the 2008 Yuma Birding and Nature Festival offers 32 field trips, with opportunities to view wildlife of the Colorado (Sonoran) Desert, such as the burrowing owl and desert bighorn. Several of the trips will step over the state line into California, with visits to the Algodones Dunes, Salton Sea, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Check the Arizona Daily Star and the Fest’s website for more info.

Up in the Mojave, the Rockin’ for Joshua Tree benefit concert runs April 18 & 19 in Pioneertown. Proceeds from the concert, auctions and drawings go to benefit the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice and the Desert Protection Society in their legal efforts to stop the Eagle Mountain dump, which threatens Joshua Tree National Park. (But organizers promise there won’t be any gloom and doom!) Prizes in the drawing include stays at the 29 Palms Inn and the Joshua Tree Rock House. Check the concert’s website for more details.

And of course, don’t forget your local Earth Day Celebration!