While Assembly Bill 1139 ("Net Energy Metering") contains provisions that support expansion of clean energy, especially to low-income customers, other provisions undercut those benefits. They add costs and reduce solar customer credit for extra energy they can send back to the grid. MBCA joined more than 30 organizations in signing a letter to insist on amendments that will continue to advance clean energy for low-income consumers.  

MBCA has published new website features and content. First, we have created a section called MBCA Takes a Stand. These letters, addressed to those having the power to affect our future (decision-makers and public agencies), demonstrate our commitment to our desert way of life with detailed and data-rich information enforcing our point of view. An extensive new section titled Desert-Wise Living contains new content and numerous helpful links in the spirit of MBCA’s mission to encourage “economic and environmental welfare” for residents of the Morongo Basin and other desert communities.

The Top Ten Tips for Desert-Wise Living page provides a good introduction to people new to the desert and a reminder for long-term residents. The dozen links on the Plant Resources page include examples of successful local desert gardens, plus a narrated video on how to navigate the Calscape database to research native plants. Three local Desert-Wise Public Gardens are highlighted for water-wise plant and landscape inspiration. The Plant Spotlight section will expand, with a new plant featured each month.

 

A spectacular blue-flowered sage, Cleveland sage (Salvia clevelandii) is native to the Southern California coast and Baja. This highly-aromatic plant is a fast grower. Showcase this plant either by itself as a specimen plant, or create groupings in the landscape. Allow room for this plant when siting as it gets larger.  In the image immediately below this sage is 10 feet wide and four feet high and is located in Joshua Tree. 

Residents across the Morongo Basin have expressed concern about a proposed luxury camping development just off Old Woman Springs Road in Flamingo Heights. MBCA has sent a letter to the lead San Bernardino County contract planner emphasizing the need for a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report. A news story from local radio station KCDZ provides additional information.

Rosemary (Rosemary spp.) is native to the dry, rocky areas of the Mediterranean, yet it performs so well in our climate that we consider it a "desert-wise" plant and worthy of the spotlight.

 

There are two basic rosemary types: upright forms useful as shrubs or hedging, and prostrate types that will spill down slopes and cascade over walls. Once rosemary is established, occasional deep watering is almost all it needs. You can help bees get through the winter by planting rosemary, as it is a late winter bloomer.

 

                                                                Upright rosemary in Pioneertown, CA. 

The Bureau of Land Management announced on April 7 that Mojave Trails National Monument is one of five western public lands areas that will receive Land and Water Conservation Funding. The BLM Press Release notes that the funds will conserve wildlife habitat, "secure public access to a variety of recreational activities and set aside exceptional places for all Americans to enjoy.”  

MBCA is among 34 organizations signing a letter in support of AB 223 which would make it illegal to harvest Dudleya plants in California without a permit or landowner permission. Poaching of this native plant has increased greatly in recent years, and it needs protection against possible extinction. The plants are commonly known as "liveforevers" in California. Learn more at the Dudleya Protection page on the California Native Plant Society website.