Bighorn Water public forum in Johnson Valley

The Hi-Desert Star gives extensive coverage of the public forum held in Johnson Valley by budget-troubled Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency last weekend. Suggestions included such controversial possibilities as selling water, stand-by fees, and rate hikes.

Two more meetings are planned for September in Landers and Flamingo Heights

Desert Wildfire Workshop on Aug. 22

There will be a Desert Wildfire Workshop on Friday, August 22, 8:30 am-1:00 pm at the Yucca Valley Community Center.

This is a FREE event hosted by CAL FIRE, San Bernardino County Fire Dept, Town of Yucca Valley, and UC Cooperative extension. Refreshments!

House and Property: Featured speaker Steve Quarles explores fire susceptibility of various building materials, components, and assemblies with a Live Burn Demonstration. Steve is the University of California Building Materials Testing Expert and will burn deck assemblies, walls, fences, and more as part of a special day of presentations including local Fire Professionals. Find out what new California Fire Hazard Severity Zone ratings mean for living, remodeling, and building in the local desert.

Landscape: Firescaping basics including the arrangement of plants in the landscape, interactions between vegetation and structures, low water use landscapes, utilization of native plants, conservation of Joshua Trees, invasive weeds and more.

Environment: Special challenges of living in the “Wildland Urban Interface.” Variable climate, watershed values, increasing demands on water supplies, habitat in the human matrix, with presentations by local fire officials on local fire behavior and fire history in the valley.

Yucca Valley Community Center, 57090 Twentynine Palms Highway, Yucca Valley, CA. Call (909) 387-2242 for more information, or e-mail Kamcarthur@ucdavis.edu. Fire Demonstration information available here.

The State of California CAL FIRE Website also has current fire updates as well as extensive resources on protecting your home and property, including information on issues of Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI).

FOR MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: See the Plant Life and Invasive Mustard pages of the MBCA Website. Also, see more posts on Plant Life and Fire on this blog.

Motion to join granted on Power Corridor lawsuit

The Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a motion to intervene on behalf of each of several organizations, including the Morongo Basin Conservation Association, in a suit against the 2005 Energy Act and the designation of 7 Southern California counties as a Power Corridor without regard to environmental resources or alternatives.

Additionally, these complainants have been accorded the right to participate in all the pending appeals challenging the Department of Energy Corridors--both in the Southwest and in the Mid-Atlantic states.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs have received DOE's administrative record index and are starting work on reviewing the record and preparing opening briefs on appeal.

The successful designation of Southern California as a Power Corridor under the 2005 Energy Act would impact the ability of Morongo Basin residents to fight the Green Path North transmission corridor project.

Read more about this important lawsuit on this previous post.


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: At California Desert Coalition and on the Energy page of the MBCA Website. Previous posts on this blog: Energy, Green Path North.

Bats as neighbors

Last week a rare rabid bat was found in Morongo Valley, according to the Hi-Desert Star.

Bats are an important part of the ecology of the Morongo Basin, helping to control insect populations and even scorpions. Learn a whole lot more about bats on the Joshua Tree National Park Website.

Bat World-Mojave in Joshua Tree is a rehabilitation facility for bats. View their Website here, and read about the importance of the Inland area as a "migratory freeway" for bats here.


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the Wildlife page of the MBCA Website, including referrals for issues with both wild and domestic animals.

Invasive plants targeted by new National Council Plan

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior, "Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne...convened the National Invasive Species Council (NISC) at which he oversaw the adoption of the new 2008-2012 National Invasive Species Management Plan developed collaboratively by 13 federal departments and agencies and their partners."

Like many regions in the West, the Morongo Basin is increasingly plagued by invasive plant species, which can lead to displacement of native species and ruinous wildfires.

The new Plan, which replaces the 2001 plan, will "focus federal efforts to prevent and control invasive species, which are defined as species that are nonnative or alien to a nation or region and that cause or are likely to cause harm to the economy, environment or human/animal health." The Plan is viewable as a pdf here.

Read more about the devastation caused by invasives in the West in the "The Beige Plague" in the Los Angeles Times.


FOR MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: See the Plant Life and Invasive Mustard pages of the MBCA Website. Also, see more posts on Plant Life and Fire on this blog.

MBCA Meets Thursday, August 14

The next regular board meeting of the Morongo Basin Conservation Association is August 14, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. at PFF Bank & Trust in Yucca Valley.

Note the changed meeting time of 9:30 a.m. for this meeting only.

Please join us and add your voice and experience!

Reactions to WalMart CEQA suit

The Town of Yucca Valley reacts to the filing of two CEQA lawsuits over the proposed WalMart Supercenter in this article in the Hi-Desert Star.


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the WalMart page on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: WalMart, Yucca Valley.

"Water, money shortages make store bad idea"

Celeste Doyle lays out the issues underlying the two lawsuits brought over the Yucca Valley Wal-Mart SuperCenter project in a concise and informative Soapbox in last Saturday's Hi-Desert Star. Among those important issues is water:

The EIR...relies on an outdated and unapproved water supply assessment, which has been superseded by the governor’s declaration of a state-wide drought, and restrictions on withdrawals from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, the source for Yucca Valley’s supply.

The town is barely able to purchase enough water to meet current demand without having to tap reserves, and future supplies are uncertain at best. This means there may not be water for the new housing developments and new residents that are the justification for the Supercenter.

The approval for the Wal-Mart Supercenter is built on a house of cards, and it will come crashing down on Yucca Valley and the whole Morongo Basin if this facility is ever built.

MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the WalMart page on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: WalMart, Yucca Valley.

Conservationists File Lawsuits Against Town of Yucca Valley

Dear MBCA Members and Friends,

MBCA wishes to announce to the membership and interested friends the recent actions of our board: MBCA is now party to two lawsuits for two very worthy causes.

The first lawsuit is an "Intervention" with the Federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that is now considering MBCA and seven other parties to join as "full parties" in a huge consolidated lawsuit against the 2005 Energy Act and its resulting free reigning power transmission corridors. Our Attorney, Mr. Stephan Volker Esq., said of the case:

“Our intervention as full parties (rather than simply as amici curiae, or friends of the court) seeks to overturn DOE's designation of the 7 counties in Southern California (and 3 adjacent counties in Arizona) as the Southwest Power Corridor for future construction of power lines and support facilities. National parks and monuments, state parks, federal wilderness areas, and other lands of ecological sensitivity are all exposed to development without regard to their unique resources and species.

“DOE failed to conduct any review under NEPA and ESA, failed to consider alternatives such as conservation and renewable energy sources, and ignored the growth-inducing and global warming impacts of its decision.

“We are intervening into a consolidated set of lawsuits in which several states including Arizona, California (its CPUC only), New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, together with a coalition of eastern and western environmental groups including NRDC, The Wilderness Society, the Piedmont Environmental Center and the California Wilderness Coalition, filed suit against DOE's decision. All support our intervention and welcome our assistance, as the utility and power industry is of course lined up on the other side in support of DOE's decision.”

MBCA is waiting for approval from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to be a "full party", however, the wheels of justice turn slower the higher you go, and even slower yet on the federal level. (The Eagle Mountain MegaDump federal appeal [also 9th Circuit Court of Appeals] has taken three years and counting.)

The second lawsuit is closer to home and will have far more local scrutiny. In order to challenge the Town of Yucca Valley, MBCA formed the Coalition for Environmental Integrity in Yucca Valley (CEIYV) partnering with the Morongo Basin Property Association (MBPA) and the Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development (CREED).

Mr. John McClendon, Esq. is representing CEIVY in this California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit filed July 30, 2008, against the Town of Yucca Valley for the Town Council’s approval of the Yucca Valley Wal-Mart SuperCenter Environmental Impact Report (EIR). See MBCA’s Wal-Mart blog.

The Wal-Mart EIR deserves legal scrutiny because the Marketing Input Study, Wastewater Assessment, Traffic Study and local Water Supply Availability Assessment are all flawed and incomplete.

Urban Decay is the main problem with the Wal-Mart SuperCenter Project. The projected growth of the western Morongo Basin was completely out of line with the current reality of fuel costs (commuting), housing problems (mortgage, foreclosures and lack of building inducements), State Water Project future water availability (unknown), retail square footage glut and the resulting decline in commercial property values.

This stalled growth threatens the economic viability of the four local grocery stores that would be affected by Wal-Mart SuperCenter's $30 million hit on local grocery demand. Dr. Philip King’s marketing survey and comments, while not part of the EIR, demonstrate that one, or possibly two, grocery stores would close. These failed anchor stores would decimate the auxiliary small retail stores in their shopping centers, resulting in urban blight and decay.

(Please see Mr. McClendon’s Retail Specific Plan on our website and the new and expanded entries devoted to Wal-Mart.)

We believe these activities answer our charge and responsibilities as the Morongo Basin Conservation Association.

Best regards,


David Fick
MBCA President

MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the WalMart page and Energy pages on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: WalMart, Yucca Valley, Energy.

Suit filed against Yucca Valley over Super Wal-Mart

The Center for Biological Diversity filed suit yesterday against the Town of Yucca Valley to "force Wal-Mart to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new store construction as required by California law," according to the Center's press release.

“Wal-Mart has stated for years that its goal is to be supplied by 100-percent renewable energy,” said Jonathan Evans of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Yet even for stores proposed in the California desert, it refuses to incorporate cost-effective features like solar panels to reduce its carbon footprint.”

[snip]

The lawsuit is one of a series of court challenges brought by the Center to reduce greenhouse gases from new development through the California Environmental Quality Act. In 2007 California passed Senate Bill 97, which affirms the requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land-use decisions. In June 2008 California also provided technical guidance on how to properly calculate and reduce greenhouse gases. The California Environmental Quality Act requirements are in addition to the requirements of the California Global Warming Solutions Act and the governor’s June 2005 Executive Order, which sets a goal of reducing emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

“Business-as-usual big-box sprawl is devastating to our local environment and communities,” said Evans. “Forty-three percent of U.S. greenhouse pollution is tied to buildings, but the good news is that with today’s technology green buildings can be a major part of solving the climate crisis.”

The Writ may be viewed on CBD's Website here.

The SB Sun states that a "second lawsuit asserts that mistaken market analysis was used to justify the new Wal-Mart, and that economic degradation and urban decay will likely follow when the store opens, and that an outdated, unapproved water supply assessment was utilized, according to a news release."

ADDENDUM: Read the Hi-Desert Star's coverage of this topic.


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the WalMart page on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: WalMart, Yucca Valley.