In This Issue • A Line Through the Wild: Golden Pacific Powerlink • A Broken Landscape: Border Wall Meets a Sacred Peak • Recalled to Life: Restoring the San Joaquin Desert • Lithium and Uranium Mining in the McDermitt Caldera • Bonanza Peak Solar Project Proposed • Sand Lizards of the Mojave Desert • The … Continue reading August 2026 – Latest Issue
Blog
August 2022 – Special Issue
INTRODUCTION • From the Editor: Renewable Solar Energy • Solar Photovoltaics In The Energy Transformation LARGE SCALE SOLAR FACILITIES • The Desert Is Alive : And It's Threatened • Scraped Earth And Desert Winds: Fugitive Dust • A Costly Omission: Carbon Sequestered in Soils • Solar Energy That Spares The Land LOCALLY GENERATED ENERGY • … Continue reading August 2022 – Special Issue
January 2026
In This Issue • A New Beginning at the Salton Sea • Cadiz Water Updates • Let Me Tell You A Story Of A River: The Colorado • Desert Icon: Edmund C Jaeger and his Curious Palaver • Castle Mountains Gold Mine Phase 2 • Greenlink West Transmission Is Under Construction • NEPA in Flux … Continue reading January 2026
What’s the Real Problem?
And Can We Do Anything About It? by William E Rees, PhD, FRSC Introduction: Beyond climate change I've recently spent considerable time and energy trying to get climate-change NGOs - and wider society, for that matter - to look beyond global heating to it's cause, the much greater problem of ecological overshoot. Why? Because society's … Continue reading What’s the Real Problem?
Saving Walker Lake
A Community Based Approach to the Western Water Crisis by Kat Dow Driving through Nevada on Highway 95 can be a lonely journey. Sprawling expanses of scrub desert, interrupted only by mountains and telephone poles, extend mile after mile, as far as the eye can see. Human settlements are often hours apart. It can come … Continue reading Saving Walker Lake
A Proposed Area of Critical Environmental Concern
Protection from Solar Energy Sprawl in Pahrump Valley by Kevin Emmerich Conservation organizations are requesting long term protection of outstanding cultural and natural resources on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands in the Pahrump Valley, Nevada, along the California border. About 19,000 acres of public lands in the South Pahrump Valley are planned to … Continue reading A Proposed Area of Critical Environmental Concern
The Joshua Tree Conservation Coalition
A Collaborative Approach to Species Conservation by Krystian Lahage The iconic western Joshua tree, a highly emblematic keystone, flagship, and umbrella species of the Mojave Desert is in dire straits. Wildfires, invasive grasses, and habitat loss due to human development are detrimental to the species and its habitat. Climate change multiplies the impact of these … Continue reading The Joshua Tree Conservation Coalition
Ripples In the Groundwater
A Tribute to Bill Christian by Patrick Donnelly The following is a talk given at the dedication of the Bill Christian Trail at China Ranch Date Farm in Tecopa, California on November 2nd, 2024. Friends and family of Bill Christian gather at China Ranch to dedicate the Bill Christian Trailhead on November 2, 2024. Photo: … Continue reading Ripples In the Groundwater
The Perilous World of the Jackrabbit
Animal Encounters in Death Valley National Park by Birgitta Jansen 2014 - Late Spring: Skidoo Area, Death Valley National Park The temperature is comfortable and there is no wind. Gently undulating hills are covered in sagebrush and other desert shrubs. The scent of drying vegetation hangs lightly in the air. We haven't had rain in … Continue reading The Perilous World of the Jackrabbit
Burrowing Owls
One Step Closer to State Protections by Sophia Markowska In a significant conservation gain, the Western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) has been granted "candidate status" for protection under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) voted unanimously in October 2024 to advance the species to candidacy after the … Continue reading Burrowing Owls
West Mojave Route Designation Project
Summary of Judge Illston's Decision, October 22, 2024 by Jeff Aardahl, Senior California Representative, Defenders of Wildlife Conservation organizations have a long history of challenging the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over off-highway vehicle (OHV) route designations on public lands in the 3.1 million-acre West Mojave (WEMO) area. A first lawsuit was filed in 2006, … Continue reading West Mojave Route Designation Project