Kids in the outdoors

Youngsters are "six times more likely to play a video game than to ride a bike, according to the Sierra Club, and fewer than 15 percent have taken part in an outdoor recreation program."

In an article about the harm that can result from a generation uneducated in the outdoors, Tom Stienstra details dangerous fire and water-safety encounters in the wilds and looks for solutions:

Many young people do not have outdoor skills, ethics or know the law, or in some cases, care how they impact others. Many do not hike, fish, go boating or try to see wildlife.

[snip]

One solution is to create a program that would pay for California's kids to learn outdoor skills, ethics and the law, and take part in outdoor education and recreation. The bill to do this, Assembly Bill 2989, authored by Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Arleta (Los Angeles County) and sponsored by the Sierra Club, passed the Assembly and the Senate Natural Resources Committee, but has been stalled in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Read the rest of the article on SFGate.

The Morongo Basin Conservation Association has been supporting local environmental education programs in the Basin since 1997. Read more on the new Education page on our Website.

Desert tortoise burned in Park

The burned remains of [a desert] tortoise were discovered Aug. 4 in a fire grate at the Black Rock campground, according to a park news release issued Tuesday. Officials estimate the animal was about 45 years old.

Park officials are investigating. Read the rest at The Desert Sun.


FOR MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: See the Desert Tortoise page on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Wildlife.

Base applies to start study for expansion

The Department of the Navy has submitted an application to the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw from public use 421,270 acres of land that border Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, including land in the Johnson Valley area.

[snip]

The BLM will publish a notice of intent for the withdrawal request, which will trigger a public-comment period. While forming an environmental impact statement, the Marine Corps and BLM say they will work with off-road vehicle, recreation and business communities to manage continued public access to the areas under study for potential acquisition.

Base officials expect the Department of the Navy to issue a notice of intent to begin the environmental impact study in late October or early November, with a public scoping meeting to be held in early December.

The public acreage in the study area borders the base on its eastern, southern and western areas, including a portion of the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area. There is also interest in these areas on the part of solar and wind energy projects.

Read the rest in the Hi-Desert Star.


MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On Community ORV Watch and on the Off-Road Vehicle and Energy pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Off-Road Vehicles, Johnson Valley, Energy.

Virtual Candidates Forum: Your questions invited!

Who will decide your future? Shouldn't you have a say?

A variety of candidates has filed for vacancies on the Town and City Councils of Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms, as well as the boards of the Hi-Desert and Joshua Basin Water Districts and the Copper Mountain Community College District. Who wins will have a significant impact on the future of our lives and homes and the health of this beautiful land we share. Shouldn't you be part of the equation?

To make the best choice, you need to know where the candidates stand. If you've ever wished you could quiz them on the issues important to you, here's your chance. MBCA will be submitting a list of questions to the candidates for the open positions, and their answers will be posted on our Website and publicized for review by the voters. In putting together our list of questions, we'd like YOUR ideas on what we should ask them in our Virtual Forum.

Please send your Candidate Questions to us at info@mbconservation.org, and please include which Town or City Council, Water Board, or College Board race your question is meant for. We will review the questions and come up with a list for each race that we feel will best test the candidates on their positions on issues of concern to MBCA and its members.

Please send your Questions to us by September 1, 2008. We look forward to hearing from you! And - don't forget to register to vote!

Stadum project returns to Planning Commission tonight

The Yucca Valley Planning Commission will review Yucca Valley Homes LLC (Stadum/Fomotor) Concept Plan based upon prior Planning Commission and Town Council comments.

All four previous attempts to gain passage of the Stadum/Fomotor project have been rejected because of clear-cutting (mass grading) of the two 18.3-acre parcels. In each case, the Planning Commission sent the project back to the developer with clear instructions to re-submit plans which retained as many native plants undisturbed as practicable.

The developer is again attempting to gain acceptance of its Concept Plan. Will this new plan incorporate the Planning Commission and Town Council directions to save native plants?

Please attend the Yucca Valley Planning Commission meeting August 19, 2008, 7 p.m. at the Yucca Valley Community Center.

Add your voice for the preservation of native plants and the maintenance of our rural character.


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: See Grading/Clear-Cutting pages on MBCA Website. Additional posts: Yucca Valley, Grading/Clear-Cutting.

BLM Land issues at Open Space Group on Aug. 19

A forum on BLM Land issues with representatives from the Barstow office of the Bureau of Land Management will be on the program at the next Morongo Basin Open Space Group meeting.

MBOSG meetings are scheduled regularly on the third Tuesday every other month and open to public observation, with a stakeholder section at the end of the meetings for public input.

Tuesday, Aug. 19, from 1 to 3 pm at the Yucca Valley Community Center in the Yucca Room.

"Big Energy" updates: Green Path and solar PEIS

In the wake of last month's LADWP Green Path North meeting in Yucca Valley, the California Desert Coalition disputes LADWP General Manager David Nahai's soothing claims in a post-meeting analysis on its site:

Not to impugn Nahai's sincerity, but the 3-year-long history of GPN indicates a project far along in LADWP's planning process. LADWP has spent nearly $26 million to date on the project and has already completed feasibility studies on 5 routes. Nahai says he has made a difference since he became general manager, pointing to the removal of survey markers, but does not mention that he was on the LADWP Board of Commissioners during the full 3-year GPN planning process.

Most disturbing is Mr. Nahai's continuing contention that LADWP does not have a preferred route for GPN. Even subsequent to the Yucca Valley meeting, the Imperial Irrigation District, LADWP's partner in GPN, displays the one route and only one route that, according to public records, LADWP has worked to establish since July 2006. This is the environmentally destructive route through the high desert and its communities.

Read the rest here.

Following up on Big Solar, the Bureau of Land Management has posted on-line the public comments received during the scoping period of the Solar Energy Development Programmatic Environmental Impact Study (PEIS), viewable from here. MBCA's comments are also on view on our Website.


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.

Desert becoming susceptible to wildfires

Director of Natural History for the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Mark Dimmitt wrote: “During my 40 years of wildflower chasing, I never saw or heard of a large desert fire below 3000 feet elevation until the 1990s….”

Of course, “large” is a relative term that needs some perspective to make any sense, and this is usually provided by a comparison. And, on comparison, open desert land wildfires historically haven’t ranked anywhere near the magnitude of fires in other landscape zones such as forest, chaparral, valley grassland and so on.

Yet, anyone who saw the Sawtooth Fire of 2006 might tend to disagree. After all, this is the desert, and that fire burned over 61,000 acres. It destroyed 50 homes and 92 other structures and caused one resident death. If that isn’t comparative magnitude, what is?

MBCA Boardmember Mark Wheeler, who is also well known locally as a writer and naturalist, wrote this in a highly informative but sobering article in last week's Hi-Desert Star on changes in the local plant communities that increase the desert's chances of wildfire.

He summarizes:

Exotic grasses and the Sahara Mustard are extremely aggressive and will spread especially quickly into disturbed sites, whether they are disturbed by fire, grading, flooding or otherwise. Physiological adaptations give these plants a distinct advantage over most natives in recovery after fire incidents, and their growth habits extend the fire season. To whatever extent possible, these plants must be discouraged from becoming established. Failing this, we risk losing the desert to their weedy rule, and losing desert homes to increasingly larger wildfires.

Learn more about how we got this way in the rest of the article.

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.

Finalization of WalMart approval challenged

Councilwoman Lori Herbel challenged the finalization at the second reading of the permitting of the Wal-Mart SuperCenter on the basis that "the retail specific plan for Wal-Mart cannot be adopted because Yucca Valley’s General Plan is out of compliance with state law," according to the Hi-Desert Star.

[Attorney for the Coalition for Environmental Integrity in Yucca Valley John ] McClendon claimed Yucca Valley was out of compliance with state law by failing to file the housing element of its General Plan by June 30. The entire General Plan is therefore invalid, he argues, prohibiting the adoption of a specific plan until the missing element is filed and approved by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

[snip]

Herbel said the California Department of Housing and Community Development confirmed to her that Yucca Valley was out of compliance because its housing element was due. Without an approved housing element in a valid General Plan, she said, no specific plan can be adopted. Herbel also was told the state does not grant extensions to cities that want more time to finish the housing element.

The Town attorney contested the claim, and the finalization was carried 4-1.

MBCA President David Fick "urged the council not to approve the Supercenter without an approved General Plan, adding, 'There have been a bunch of mistakes made — please don’t add to them.'”


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

Candidates listed for November

The filing periods for candidates for the local elections in November have ended. There are important matters at stake in the Basin, and MBCA encourages you to familiarize yourself with the candidates and their positions, make sure you're registered, and get ready to vote!

The Desert Trail has profiles this week of the three candidates running for the Twentynine Palms City Council.

The Hi-Desert Star additionally lists all the hopefuls confirmed in the races for Hi-Desert Memorial Healthcare District, Hi-Desert Water District, Joshua Basin Water District, and Yucca Valley Town Council.