Category: Articles

Once Again, Water is the Issue by Mason Voehl, Executive Director of the Amargosa Consevancy Peering down out of the window of a Cessna 210 airplane humming across the northern Amargosa River watershed, two things become obvious: this landscape is extremely important, and the future of this landscape is in serious jeopardy. Ash Meadows seen … Continue reading A Crisis at Ash Meadows

A Threat to Land, Air, and Water by Jared Naimark Readers of the Desert Report know better than most the unparalleled beauty of desert landscapes. The desert is also full of complex, life-giving relationships that sustain communities and our planet, from tiny fungi storing carbon deep below, to trickling spring-sheds bristling with endemic plants and … Continue reading Lithium Mining in the Desert

Road Tripping in Mojave National Preserve by Superintendent Mike Gauthier and Deputy Superintendent Debra Hughson Roads in Mojave National Preserve provide convenient routes between Palm Springs, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as between Interstates 40 and 15. They travel through some breathtaking landscapes which are popular for many travelers. The Preserve provides a … Continue reading Drive Like a Tortoise

Conglomerate Mesa Is Still in Dispute by Kayla Browne, Conglomerate Mesa Coalition Campaign Manager Over the last year, the Conglomerate Mesa Coalition1 has been hard at work protecting the Mesa. In the lull between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decision requiring an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for K2 Gold's expanded exploration project and the … Continue reading Permanently Protecting an ‘Island in the Sky’

Oak Flat Sacred Area Threatened by Roger Featherstone; Director, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition In the desert southwest we have been facing a boom in mine projects. The boom is supported by mining industry rhetoric that we can "mine our way out of the climate change crisis." This new mining industry spin boils down to sacrificing … Continue reading The Resolution Copper Mine

A Changed Planet by Jan Zalasiewicz, Martin J. Head, Colin N. Waters, Simon Turner, Mark Williams, John R. McNeill, Jaia Syvitski, Anthony Barnosky, Naomi Oreskes, and Peter Haff Anthropocene: when atmospheric chemist and Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen spontaneously coined the term during a meeting of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme at Cuernavaca, Mexico in 2000, a … Continue reading The Anthropocene

Human Systems and Earth Systems Are One by Julia Adeney Thomas Rat snakes have died from eating their own tails. Suicide by self-devouring may seem preposterous, something no creature would do, but it happens, and not only with rat snakes. Our species too seems hell-bent on destroying ourselves and taking much of the web of … Continue reading Self-Devouring Serpents in the Anthropocene

A Personal Encounter by John Kiess During my twelve years as a professional wildland firefighter, events that have stuck with me are the passing away of fellow firefighters, either on the job or from health conditions as a result of the work we do. Firefighting is an inherently dangerous career field. With fire seasons being … Continue reading Wildland Fires in the Anthropocene

Are Cattle Grazing Leases Appropriate? by Jeff Aardahl, Senior California Representative, Defenders of Wildlife In September 2022, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a proposal1 to issue new 10-year cattle grazing leases which include portions of the Bright Star and Kiavah Wilderness Areas. Managed respectively by the Ridgecrest and … Continue reading Bright Star & Kiavah Wilderness Areas