Update: Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan

DRECP is still an issue, and will continue to be one of our concerns.  The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan has produced six alternatives and a no-action alternative, and because of potential encroachment of “development focus areas” and “variance lands” in the Morongo Basin, the California Desert Coalition has launched a “1000 letters campaign.”  CDC Board members are staffing tables and making presentations across the Basin and in the Lucerne Valley area to explain problems with the alternatives and why Morongo Basin residents MUST be heard.  Please go to www.cadesertco.org and read the latest update, then print out, sign and send a letter, and be part of a strong voice for keeping industrial wind and solar out of the Basin and urging appropriate placement in already-disturbed areas and on rooftops.

We are uncertain when the DRECP will publish its preferred alternative; rumors range from summer to the end of 2013. 

Update on Project Bobcat

Project Bobcat supporters from the Morongo Basin traveled to Sacramento last week to show support for AB 1213, the bill proposing a statewide ban on bobcat trapping.  The bill has been amended to limit trapping ban to a 2-mile radius around Joshua National Park while the Department of Fish and Wildlife would be directed to develop a bobcat management plan.  It’s not ideal, but better than nothing, and a start toward statewide restrictions. 

Here’s the Hi Desert Star article about AB 1213 presented on the Project Bobcat website: http://projectbobcat.org/bobcat-bill-gains-momentum-law-narrowed-to-joshua-tree-zone/

For more information, visit Project Bobcat.

Desert Wise Landscape Tour a Success!

Dear MBCA Members and Supporters:

The Desert Wise Landscape Tour was absolutely spectacular!  The weather was perfect. Our volunteer docents were eager, helpful, and dedicated to the success of the event.  The garden site hosts were knowledgeable and generous.  And, it appears that the tour-goers were enthusiastic and appreciative!

We will alert you soon to some photos of the Tour on the MBCA website.  We are so grateful to our docent volunteers and garden site hosts.   We learned that many of the hosts spent lots of extra hours in their gardens recently to bring them into prime viewing condition – Thank You!   Docents’ roles were varied, as greeters, parking attendants, and check-in gurus, and some also assisted with garden tours – it couldn’t have happened without them.  Deepest thanks to our Site Hosts and Docents!

Docents

(alphabetical by first name)

Al Willcut	Danny Sall	Kathryn (Kay) Taylor
Almut Fleck	Esther Shaw	Ken Lair
Ann Murdy	Gayla Blanton	Marina West
Bonnie Brady	Ida Foreman	Meg Foley
Carol Damon	Janet Tucker	Pat Freter
Cynthia Anderson	Judy Corl-Lorono	Steve Rieman
Dan Grieser	Kathleen Lowndes	Sylvia LaBonte

Site Hosts

(in order of site number)

1 - Robin Kobaly & Doug Thompson	11 - Melva & Don Matthews
2 - Kat & Bill La Haye	12 - Phillip Mayberry & Scott Walker
3 - Nancy & George Huntington	13 - Mike Lipsitz & Phu Do
4 - Cathy & Stan Zarakov	14 - Rich Gerston
5 - Phyllis & Richard Schwartz	15 - Cheryl Montell & Brian Leatart
6 - Nora Lousignont & John Lauretig	16 - James Berg & Frederick Fulmer
7 - Bobette & Tony Milici	17 - Miriam Seger
8 - Ron Cousino & Sean Mylett	18 - Cathy Sheehe & Mark Butler
9 - Ruth & Steve Rieman	19 - Joan Robey & Steve Stajich
10 - Shelly & Dale Fredenburg	20 - Josh Hoines (Joshua Tree National Park)

Additional thanks are extended to Dave Miller for the beautiful and useful design of the Tour Guidebook, to Mike Lipsitz and Greg Gilbert for editing, and to Judy Litowitz for providing registration services at WindWalkers on Tour Day.  And finally, thanks to the Committee members who put in many hours to make the Tour successful: Sarah Kennington, Ann Murdy, Ruth Rieman, Cathy Sheehe, and Cathy Zarakov, under the stellar leadership of MBCA’s Events Director Claudia Sall.  Thank you all!