Mojave Desert Blog

The Air Force this month released the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for its proposal to take control of hundreds of square miles of public lands to expand training activities at its Nellis Test and Training Range (NTTR) in Nevada, although the report does not adequately explain why alternatives that require less impacts on public lands were abandoned.  The proposal would shut down a significant portion of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, remove protections from key wildlife habitat, and call for building 115 miles of new fence that would block wildlife movement.  The document portrays these steps as the only viable path forward to accommodate expanded training and testing scenarios, but leaves significant gaps in its review of alternatives. A golden eagle faces off with a bighorn sheep at a watering hole in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge.  Photo: USFWS Three Primary Activities: Emitters, Bombing, and Irregular Warfare To understand why the ...

President Trump this week significantly reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah, a move likely intended to benefit oil, gas and coal mining companies.  If Trump's unprecedented attack is left unchallenged, it not only opens these beautiful wildlands in Utah to potential drilling and mining, it puts every single acre of America's national monuments at risk.  The Antiquities Act allows the President to establish national monuments that protect natural and historical wonders. But undoing or modifying a national monument takes an act of Congress. Valley of the Gods will no longer be protected after Trump cut Bears Ears National Monument.  Photo by Tim Peterson, LightHawk. Through his attack on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Trump is ignoring the law and establishing a precedent that anybody in the Oval office can erase our natural and cultural heritage and hand it to private interests.  If Trump can do this to Bears ...

Canadian firm SSR Mining plans to drill samples in the Conglomerate Mesa area just east of Owens Lake in the Inyo Mountains, and eventually open a giant gold mine there.  The lands that the company wants to destroy are not just popular among outdoors enthusiasts, they have also been designated by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Conservation Lands (NCL) system.   How the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) handles the mine proposal could test the purpose and durability of the NCL designation that we were told would protect our desert wildlands from industrial-scale destruction. An aerial photo of Conglomerate Mesa looking west.  Sierra Nevada Range in the distance. The BLM just received public comments on a draft environmental assessment for the Perdito exploratory drilling project.  If the company drills for samples and deems the area lucrative,  it could build miles of new roads, bring in heavy equipment to excavate a large strip...

The Department of Defense (DOD) is poised to release details next month regarding its proposal to take over a significant portion of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), close public lands, and incorporate them into the Nellis Test and Training Range .  A review of documents made public so far, however, suggests DOD may be inflating its need to close public lands and assume control of the wildlife refuge.  The Nellis Test and Training Range already spans 4,608 square miles, and within those vast lands there probably are opportunities to accommodate DOD's training needs without significantly eroding public access or wildlife protection.  The options that DOD has proposed so far, however, seem to ignore innovative management approaches and technological solutions that can limit the impact on our public lands. Lay of the Land: 4,608 Square Miles :  Total area of the current Nellis Test and Training Range. 3,292 Square Miles : Portion of the Nellis Test and...

Solar Reserve’s proposal to build at least eight more solar power towers immediately north of Tonopah, Nevada probably will face an uphill battle, but not for the reasons you expect.  A review of documents submitted by the company to the Department of Interior regarding its proposed Sandstone Solar project suggests poor attention has been paid so far to the threat the project may pose to military aviation. The project would cover nearly 25 square miles with thousands of giant mirrors to reflect the sun's light.  Glint and glare emanating from the project could temporarily impair the vision of aircrew transiting a low-level military flight corridor next to the project, based on a study conducted by Sandia National Laboratories. An artistic rendering of the proposed Sandstone Solar project.  Image from documents provided by the Department of Interior According to the Sandia study , the glint and glare emanating from mirrors associated with solar power tower projects...

The Trump administration plans to raise entrance fees at many of our prized national parks to $70 during peak season.  If this policy is implemented, public lands that should be affordable for all of us to enjoy will become a luxury for the rich.   According to the proposal, entrances fees at the following parks will be increased to $70 during peak season: Grand Canyon National Park Acadia National Park Arches National Park Bryce Canyon National Park Canyonlands National Park Glacier National Park Grand Canyon National Park Grand Teton National Park Joshua Tree National Park Mount Ranier National Park Olympic National Park Rocky Mountain National Park Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park Shenandoah National Park Yellowstone National Park Yosemite National Park Zion National Park The Trump administration claims the fee is necessary to pay for a maintenance backlog at our national parks, but the administration could instead ask Congress to increase ...

Are pinyon pines and Utah juniper invasive species?  The Department of Interior is enthusiastically proposing to cut down  large swaths of pinyon-juniper woodland across the Great Basin Desert, although conservation group Basin and Range Watch is raising doubts about the scientific basis for such projects.  The ostensible purpose of removing the pinyon-juniper is to help the greater sage grouse and reduce fire risk, although it appears more likely that the deforestation is to benefit private livestock grazing operations.  Interior's claims that the projects are intended to support the sage grouse were further undermined after Interior opened up important grouse habitat elsewhere to oil and gas drilling earlier this year, even though experts say protecting remaining habitat is the most important step we can take toward saving it from decline. Greater Sage Grouse.  Photo from Interior website. Restoring historic sage grouse habitat to the native shrub and ...

The Department of Interior told me today that its lawyers are reviewing whether or not they will release Secretary Ryan Zinke's report on the future of our national monuments in response to my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.  It is absurd that a team of lawyers must decide whether or not the public has a right to know the results of a supposedly public review process, and Zinke's legally questionable recommendations to diminish our national monuments.  The Trump administration is concealing significant documents regarding the future of natural wonders and cultural treasures that were passed on to us by our ancestors, and that we count on sharing with the next generation. Trump, Zinke and foes of public land protections have ironically claimed that the establishment of new national monuments has historically lacked transparency and sincere public outreach.  Yet Zinke only released a short summary of his recommendations that lacked specific details rega...

You know that the Trump administration is targeting California's people and places.  Rolling back regulations and undoing progressive policies.  It should come as no surprise to either of you that California's desert wildlands are also in the crosshairs.  Trump is considering reducing multiple national monuments in California; an unprecedented attempt to exploit wild places that we should be protecting and passing on to future generations.  It is within your power to counter one of Trump's assaults by simply allowing a vote on Assembly Bill 1000 .  If you fail to do so, you should know that you break from at least a century of effort by Californians to protect our desert public lands.  Admiring California's desert. California's desert wildlands are among its greatest treasures.  And Californians have long fought to keep them that way.  Minerva Hoyt of Pasadena worked for years in the early 1900s to call attention to the destruction of...