MNPC Newsletter 2012 Spring

8/2/2019 MNPC Newsletter 2012 Spring

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MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE

CONSERVANCY NEWSLETTERSpring 2012

Our Missionis preserve, protect, and promote theunique natural beauty, ecological integrity, and rich

cultural history of Mojave National Preserve, and to

build a community dedicated to the enduring

stewardship of the Preserve.

The President's Cornerby David Lamfrom

As Mojave winter transitions into spring we enjoy cool,sunny days and clear, cold nights. This is a spectaculartime of year to visit the Preserve! The low angle of thewinter sun produces beautiful light and the cooltemperatures permit exploration. You should expectgolden hued sunrises viewed from Joshua TreeWoodlands and crimson and purple sunsets casting longshadows on the Kelso Dunes. Occasionally, powerfulwinter storms blow off the Pacific, crossing the highranges to the west, bringing the Preserve neededmoisture. These storms can leave Joshua Trees andYucca covered in snow! In years with sufficientmoisture that is well-timed, complemented withfavorable temperatures, the desert erupts with springwildflowers. Yearly abundance and distribution vary,but no two years are the same and experiencing thecolor carpeting the desert in a banner year changesperceptions about the Mojave. Those spring flowersfeed migrating orioles and tanagers as well as residentslike the desert tortoise who depend on this bounty tomake it through leaner times.

The Conservancy is working to connect old friends andnew faces to the Preserve. We are building on what wehave been doing right. We hold star parties in Mojave

National Preserve to showcase the pristine night sky,recruit members, partners, and new friends to restorePreserve wildlife habitat, and we proudly fund studentgroups to experience the Preserve to ensure thatCalifornia desert students understand their role asstewards. The Conservancy board is also taking note ofplaces where we can improve by more effectivelycommunicating with our members, participating in

board training, and redoubling our efforts to fundraiseand to build our membership. The board thanks you foryour continued support of the Conservancy! With yourhelp we will continue to protect, enhance, and buildsupport for this enduringly beautiful desertscape.Please visit our website regularly for updates on events,to donate, and to join our community!

MNPC Welcomes the new PreserveSuperintendent

On June 2, 2011, Stephanie R. Dubois became MojaveNational Preserves fourth superintendent. Her mostrecent posting was as Deputy Superintendent of Glacier

National Park in Montana, but Stephanie is a veterandesert hand. She worked as a ranger at Glen CanyonNational Recreation Area and also served as Super-intendent of Chaco Culture National Historic Park.

Superintendent Stephanie Dubois. Photo by NPS.

Special Events and Activities Highlights

Checkout this newsletter for details

March 3rd - Castle Peaks hikeMarch 10th - Help cleanup recently donated landMay 19th - Star party at Hole-in-the-Wall


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The new superintendent has made good use of her timedevoted to orientation by riding along with rangers andother staff as they work in different areas of this 1.6million-acre preserve. In this way, she is learning first-hand about the challenges facing each employee inaccomplishing their job, and also about their personalconnections to different features of the park. A recenttrip with Ranger Tim Duncan highlighted concerns overroadside car camping. They discussed strategies fordealing with issues such as sanitation and unwantedexpansion of campsites without compromising the back-country camping experience that so many enjoy.

Stephanie observes that Mojave NP, being 17 years old,is truly like a teenager, still developing its own identitywithin the National Park System. In contrasting herexperience at Glacier to the job at Mojave, Stephanie isenjoying the challenge of working in a park that is notcompletely developed. She pointed out that the work at

Glacier principally involves operating the park eachday. Mojave is still developing its programs, practicesand infrastructure, and decisions made now will havefar-reaching consequences, she says.

Stephanie met with the MNPC board in October of 2011for a day-long retreat to talk about shared goals and

projects. Mojave was born in an era of partnerships, she said. We need to be sensitive to how differentkinds of people relate to and appreciate this specialplace. Working with the Conservancy and other groupshelps us to achieve our mission as part of the National

Park System of connecting people to parks whilepreservingpark resources for future generations.

Stephanie and the board identified many areas forcooperation. Lands inherited from the Bureau of LandManagement as well as some other newly acquiredlands have left us with a legacy of impacts. Dump sitesare unsightly and frequently include hazardousmaterials. Old barbed-wire fencing impedes wildlifemovement and sometimes entraps deer and otheranimals. Cleaning up these areas is labor-intensive, andis a highly suitable activity for volunteer groups

(historically significant fencing is being retained). Thegroup noted that maintaining the ecological integrity ofMojave NP is crucial, given its central location in theCalifornia desert. With changing conditions, desertplants and animals need room to migrate north andsouth. Mojave National Preserve is key to maintainingmigration corridors.

Stephanie also thanked the board for providing funds totransport children to the park for field trips. While wehave plenty of students and teachers that want to learn

about the park and rangers that want to show them,finding funds to get the kids out there is our greatestchallenge.

The Superintendent is focused on helping Mojavenavigate those challenging teenage years. Over thenext decade, she anticipates that Mojave will solidify itsidentity as the crucial link in the chain of CaliforniaDesert protected areas.

NPS Photo

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Dead and Desolate, or Highly Diverse Ecosystem?by Dennis Schramm

How do your friends and relatives refer to the desert?Wasteland? Uninteresting? Or highly scenic with vast

vistas, many diverse landscapes, and beautiful plantsand animals? As a lover of the desert you might not besurprised by the diversity of landscapes, plant life andwildlife. However, some of our politicians and

Photo by Dennis Schramm

neighbors are not necessarily so aware of all that thedesert has to offer. So how about helping us spread theword that the desert is an amazing place of superlative


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scenic vistas, landscapes like vast sand dunes, lavaflows and cinder cones, colorful mountains andthousands of species of plants, animals and insects. TheMojave National Preserve is one of the largest areas ofprotected Mojave Desert ecosystem at 1.6 million acres.Did you know it contains the world's largest Joshua treeforest?


Over 50 square miles of them! There are even relictwhite fir populations left over from the last ice age,hanging on to microclimate areas on Clark Mountainand the New York Mountains. *Photo not of white fir


The Preserve is also home to the largest populations ofdesert bighorn sheep in the Mojave, with over 600animals. Did you know that there are also mule deer,mountain lions, bobcats, badgers, coyotes, goldeneagles and over 40 species of snakes and lizards.

Photo by Le Hayes

I'm sure you know about the desert tortoise, but did youknow we have one fish species, the endangered Mojavetui chub? And what about plants? Most people drivingInterstate 15 think of the desert as having one plant - thecreosote bush. They might also know about the Joshuatrees, a few cacti and spring wildflowers. I'll bet thatmost would never guess that there are over 900 plantspecies in the Preserve! The entire Mojave Desert

ecosystem is home to overtwo thousand

species ofplants.

Photo by David Lamfrom

You have probably encountered the Gambel's quail orchukar on some of your hikes in the desert, but haveyou seen the black cardinal-like bird with red eyes?The phainopepla feasts on mistletoe berries when theyare available - up to 1,100 per day. You can find overtwo hundred species of birds in the Preserve. And of


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course, the most abundant life forms of the desert aresometimes the least liked and appreciated. But withoutthe thousands of species of insects, spiders, scorpionsand other creepy crawlies, life would not be possible.

Photo by Le Hayes

So the next time you hear someone call the desert awasteland, hit them with a few facts. Now more thanever the desert is under siege by developers, so stand upand help ensure that future generations can enjoy thedesert we have come to love.

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ALERTS: Information You Should Know About

State to close Mitchell Caverns Indefinitely!

Visitors to Mojaves Hole-in-the-Wall Campground ofteninclude a tour of Mitchell Caverns as part of theiractivities. but no more. State budget problems haveforced the shutdown of this beloved desert attraction.Providence Mountains State Recreation Area, home toMitchell Caverns, is a California State Park located withinthe boundaries of Mojave National Preserve. State parkofficials shut down operations in January 2011. Employeeretirements coincided with the development of seriousproblems with the water system, and state officialsdecided to temporarily close the park until the system

could be repaired.

Meanwhile, shortfalls in the California state budget causedlawmakers in Sacramento to ask that state agenciesidentify possible budget cuts. In May 2011, CaliforniaState Parks released its closure list, and ProvidenceMountains was among the 70 parks included. Althoughclosures for most parks on the list wont go into effectuntil July 2012, California State Parks officials decidednot to invest in repairs to theparks infrastructure during atime of shrinking budgets, so Providence Mountains StateRecreation Area remains closed.


Mitchell Caverns was initially developed as a privatelyoperated tourist attraction by Jack and Ida Mitchell in theearly 1930s. Jack Mitchell died in 1954, and his family

turned the property over to the state. ProvidenceMountains State Recreation Area was added to theCalifornia State Park system in 1956. Over the years,California State Parks has made many improvements tothe caverns, including the development of a safe pathwaythrough the caverns, a tunnel connecting the two principalcaves, and installation of a lighting system. However, thecaverns remote location and lack of connection to theelectrical grid have contributed to the difficulties in itsoperation and maintenance. With continuing weakness inthe economy and ongoing fiscal issues for California StateParks, the future of Mitchell Caverns remains uncertain.

Solar and Wind Energy Projects

The desert is smack in the middle of the bulls eye when itcomes to the national focus on green energy development.While the goal of green energy is good, the reality on theground in the desert is frightening in scale. Hundreds ofthousands of acres of the desert are being developed now,or are under application. Two huge projects are alreadyunderway near Mojave National Preserve. TheBrightsource project is evident on the west side of I-15just south of Primm. It will eventually convert about 5

square miles of native desert to mirrors. Across thehighway thousands of photovoltaic panels are beinginstalled around the small gas fired electric power plantthat sits behind Primm. Wind turbines are proposed forMountain Pass, and for the pass between Nipton andSearchlight. Please make your voice heard on theseprojects. The Bureau of Land Management CaliforniaDesert District Office in California, and the Las VegasDistrict Office are the lead agencies on most of theseprojects. You can visit their websites at:


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http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/cdd.htmlhttp://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/lvfo.html

DesertXPress High Speed Train

Did you know that a high speed train to Las Vegas is onthe verge of beginning construction? The DesertXPresstrain is to be built mostly in the median of Interstate 15,starting in Victorville. That means the train will parallelthe Preserve for about 60 miles from Zzyzx Road toNipton Road. You can follow the progress andparticipate in the public process by going to thefollowing websites:

http://www.desertxpress.com/http://www.fra.dot.gov/rpd/freight/1703.shtml

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MNPC Supports Projects That Benefit the Preserveby Sid Silliman

The Mojave National Preserve Conservancy, DesertSurvivors, and Mojave National Preserve staff andvolunteers joined National Park Service CoordinatorChris Mills on a beautiful desert day in October 2011 toremove another section of the abandoned barbed-wirefence east of the Kelso-Cima Road. The hardy groupincluded Michael Gordon, Richard Haney, Le Hayes,Joe Orawczyk, Eugene DeMine, Stacy Goss, SallyGreensill, Bob Lyon, Denis Kearney, Bob Mills, DickPfeifer, Linda Slater, Greg Thorton, Chris, and me.

Removing the fence is a step toward ensuring anauthentic experience for visitors and opening a scenicview of the rugged Providence Mountains. Taking thefence out clears yet another area of the preserve forunobstructed exploration. The land to the east of thefence line supports a rich variety of desert plants,including beavertail cactus with stunning magentacolored flowers. The washes running down the bajadaare good places to look for tracks, other evidence ofdesert dwellers and, maybe, a lizard or two. Removingabandoned fences enhances habitat for wildlife. Mostnotably, fence removal eliminates the risk that deer,birds, and other wildlife might become impaled on thebarbed wire and die a painful death in the struggle tofree themselves.

The Mojave National Preserve Conservancy willcoordinate with the National Park Service to scheduleone or more work parties each year. The efforts ofvolunteers and NPS staff in these endeavors will helpprotect the beauty of the Mojave National Preserve.The shared experience of work in the open desert builds

toward the community that is essential to an enduringstewardship of this national treasure. And we have fun!Please watch the Conservancys web site for notice ofthe next work party. The more volunteers the better.

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MNPC supports field trips to Mojave National

Preserveby Linda Slater, NPS Interpreter

When Mojave rangers visit classrooms in Barstow andother desert towns, they are often reminded that fewarea students have ever been to a national parknoteven those in their own backyard, like Mojave NationalPreserve. Mojave rangers want to change that, byhosting local students on field trips. Dormitoryfacilities at Soda Springs Desert Studies Center (Zzyzx)make overnight trips possible. For the past three years,rangers partnered with educators from Barstow inhosting overnight field trips to Mojave.

Planning and leading these trips requires a lot oflogistical support. Staff and volunteers from NationalParks Conservation Association, Barstow College, theBureau of Land Management, and the Desert DiscoveryCenter have attended, along with Mojave rangers,providing instructors, aides, and assistance with foodpreparation.

NPS Photo

Each year, field trips focus on a different theme. Overthe years, students have learned about and practicedChemehuevi crafts such as rope making, seed roasting,and weaving blankets from rabbit skin. Students haveconducted surveys for desert tortoise and visitedgeological land forms and features like the sand dunes,cinder cones, and lava beds. Desert Studies Centermanager Rob Fulton pulls out microscopes, andstudents examine butterflies, stink bugs and other


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insects up-close. Field trips include visits to KelsoDepot Visitor Center and a hike through the Joshuatrees on Teutonia Peak Trail.

The highlight of each field trip is the nighttime scorpionhunt. Armed with black lights, students walk throughthe sandy areas west of Zzyzx. Scorpion shells have aphosphorescence that causes them to glow like jewelsunder a black light, so they are easy and fun to find.

Field trips cost money for food, busses, and overnightaccommodations, and the Mojave National PreserveConservancy, along with other non-profits, has providedfunding for some of these trips. Thank you for yoursupport!

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Field Trips and Special Events

Join former superintendent, Dennis Schramm, on a hiketo the Castle Peaks, in the northeast corner of thePreserve, on Saturday, March 3rd. Group size is limitedso please RSVP to reserve a spot. Call 760-219-4616.The hike is about 5-6 miles round trip. It involveshiking on an old dirt road about 2 miles, then crosscountry to the amazing spires that are visible for dozensof miles. Bring a lunch and water, and dress in layers.


Spend Saturday, March 10th in the Mojave NationalPreserve with a group of volunteers cleaning up privateland recently donated to the National Park Service andnow legally part of the Preserve. Starting at 9:00am andworking through the afternoon, we will collect andremove junk, garbage, and other solid waste from a sitein the Lanfair Valley on the eastern side of the park.Bring water, sun screen, a hat, and lunch. Layers ofclothing are best as temperatures can be unpredictable.Gloves, garbage bags, and tools will be provided. The

Hole-In-The-Wall and Mid-Hills campgrounds (withwater and vault toilets) are available on a first-come,first-serve basis. Sturdy tents with strong stakes areadvisable in case of high winds. The Mojave NationalPreserve Conservancy is pleased to partner with thePark Service on this project. Contact Sid Silliman fordetails and to RSVP ([email protected]).

Starry Skies over Mojave

If the stars should appear but one nightevery thousand years

how man would marvel and stare.Ralph Waldo Emerson

Astonishing in their darkness, Mojave NationalPreserves night skies are remarkable for the ability tosee thousands of stars, rare and worth protecting.

More than two-thirds of Americans cannot see theMilky Way from their own backyards as light pollutionincreases. By some calculations, using the current rateof light pollution, 99 percent of the country may bedeprived of stargazing by the year 2025.

Satellite Image by NASA

Twelve years ago, the National Park Service recognizedthe importance of protecting night skies and naturaldarkness by setting up a Night Sky Team. Mojave andthree other California national parks were the first parkssurveyed and informally named dark sky parks. Sincethen, Mojave has worked closely with the Night Sky

Team in monitoring light pollution, defining visitorenjoyment, suppressing impacts on wildlife, and inencouraging night sky interpretative programs.

Mojave National Preserve Conservancy organizes twospecial stargazing experiences each year. Free andappropriate for all ages, Mojaves next stargazing eventwill be May 19th. Professional astronomers bring theiramazing telescopes for us to view the night sky inamazing darkness. The event will be held at the BlackMountain group campsite, which is at Hole-in-the-Wall.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Most participants arrive by mid-afternoon, bring potluckdinner items and spend the night. Camping is free. Formore information, please call: 760-219-4616

Photo Courtesy of Beverly Houwing

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Volunteer in the Mojave National Preserve

Volunteering is fun. It's healthy. It makes a difference.And it's easy to get started. We has a wide variety ofvolunteer opportunities for both individuals and groups,including many that do not require training or a lengthytime commitment. When you volunteer, youre making a

vital contribution to the health of our local Park, our openspace, and our community. Join us for a fun andrewarding experience. Contact us directly for moreinformation at 760-219-4616 and tell us you are callingabout the Mojave National Preserve Conservancy.


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Donate / Join Now

The Mojave Preserve depends on support from folks likeyou. We invite you to join our mission in safeguardingthe scenic beauty, wildlife, and historic and culturaltreasures of our diverse park. Committed donors help usto preserve our parks heritage for generations to come. You can help assure the future of our special park bymaking a tax-deductible gift today to provide a future forour park and those who enjoy it.

For a $25 annual membership, you can:

Support much-needed youth education programsin the Preserve,

Sponsor important National Park Service researchprojects in the Preserve, and

Ensure a sustainable future for the MojaveNational Preserve.

Receive invitations to star parties in thePreserve, hosted by astronomers from PasadenaOld Town Sidewalk Astronomers

We are a registered 501c3 non-profit organization; ALL

donations are tax-deductible.


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MOJAVE NATIONALPRESERVE CONSERVANCY400 S. 2nd Avenue #213Barstow, CA 92311WWW.PRESERVETHEMOJAVE.ORG

760-957-7887

Do your part to Preserve the Mojave!

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City, State, Zip:______________________________

Phone number ____________________________ Email: ___________________________________

Membership LevelAnnual Membership $25.00 Lifetime Membership $500.00

ALL Donations accepted, and aretax-deductible

Lifetime Membership receives a membership card andfeatured art print from Desert Light Gallery!

Method of Payment

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Mojave National Preserve Conservancy Membership Form
http://www.preservethemojave.org/http://www.preservethemojave.org/http://www.preservethemojave.org/

MNPC Newsletter 2012 Spring

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