MBCA's 9th Annual Desert-Wise Landscape Tour 

2 day event with 21 different sites 

9 am – 4pm both days

Want to know more about the Tour? Here is your Guide!

Twentynine Palms Historical Society and The Desert Institute of the Joshua Tree National Park Association present "Civilization Through Citrus: The Sherman Institute 1901-1950" by Amanda Wixon, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California Riverside. $5 admission. Limited seating; early arrival is advisable. 

The California Desert Coalition in partnership with Advocates for the West, and with support from the Conservation Lands Foundation and MBCA, is sponsoring a workshop in Yucca Valley to better empower community response to defending lands of the California desert. The workshop will be taught by environmental lawyers and conservationists and utilize active, participatory learning. It will focus on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which guides decision-making on our public lands. For a comprehensive overview of the workshop topics and goals, read the CDC Press Release. The organization requests that interested participants RSVP to SethShteir@gmail.com by May 12, 2019.

Twentynine Palms Historical Society and The Desert Institute of the Joshua Tree National Park Association present "History of Water in the Morongo Basin - Perspectives on an Underappreciated Resource" by Marina West, General Manager, Bighorn Desert-View Water Agency. $5 admission. Limited seating; early arrival is advisable. 

The Free Self-Guided Tour starts between 9am and noon at Eminger's Mountain Nursery in Big Bear Lake. Tours are allowed until 4:00 pm. Tour maps, books, vendor and sponsor tents are available for information, demonstrations and more. 

SPECIAL NOTE FROM SPONSOR, SIERRA CLUB BIG BEAR GROUP! Following this year’s event, the Xeriscape Garden Tour will become a bi-annual event, returning July 17, 2021.  This will insure we have many wonderful gardens to share with you each year. So, no tour in 2020, but mark your calendar for the 2021.

This year’s theme, “Keep Calm & Garden On,” encourages you to garden and landscape appropriately despite winter rains. Xeriscape methods are timeless effort. Whether you live in Big Bear full time or part time, on the lake or amongst the pines, have a yard covered in rocks or on a slope, the Tour is the perfect opportunity to get inspired by beautiful drought-tolerant gardens and find the information and resources it takes to make it happen.

The tour will once again include the DWP’s Xeriscape Demonstration Garden, with native plant expert Orchid Black on hand to answer questions, plus a new DWP Demonstration Garden will make its debut this year. Other popular features include: the Firewise home, the Expo and plant/seed giveaway, and People’s Choice voting.  

The MBCA Board of Directors holds a Planning Retreat in August in lieu of a Board Meeting.