As part of California's major 30x30 initiative to conserve 30% of the state's land and biodiversity by 2030, data has been gathered statewide to develop "nature-based solutions" to climate change challenges. MBCA Board members Pat Flanagan and Arch McCulloch have been part of this statewide effort for several years. Statewide project leaders unfortunately continually overlooked the important role of the desert in achieving climate change adaptation goals. Pat and Arch became part of a team of desert scientists who created a major study of the desert's critical carbon sequestration role in mitigating climate change. The report Nature Based Solutions-Desert Sector provides data and a comprehensive analysis to educate the statewide Expert Advisors Committee and expressly reinforces the need to preserve desert lands.
 

MBCA's October 23 comment letter about the proposed Easley Solar Project near Lake Tamarisk and Desert Center explains how the proposal will add to the already excessive dust problems in current projects nearby, affecting residents' health and violating concepts of environmental justice. Additionally and critically, undisturbed desert land provides carbon sequestration that has far more value and far less harm than scraping more desert for industrial scale solar. 

MBCA was well-represented at the launch of the campaign to designate Chuckwalla National Monument and expand Joshua Tree National Park. At the event held at the 29 Palms Spotlight Casino in Indio, Representative Raul Ruiz announced he will sponsor a bill for creation of this monument and will encourage the use of the Antiquities Act by President Biden should passage of a bill not be possible. (Ruiz is pictured with MBCA Board member Pat Flanagan.) Expanding Joshua Tree National Park will also part of the bill. Tribal leaders, government leaders, community leaders, and many non-profit conservation group representatives attended. 

A resolution to support the Regional Conservation Investment Strategy was on the September 26 agenda of the San Bernardino County Supervisors. While MBCA joined other organizations in supporting the RCIS in an August 2023 comment letter, one of the provisions in the Supervisors’ resolution negated much of the value of the plan. Comments from MBCA and the SummerTree Institute, among others, requested deletion of Provision 7, which would disastrously limit the types of vegetation to be conserved. The comments emphasized the importance of preserving the desert’s ability to sequester carbon, provide essential biodiversity, and enable the future translocation of the endangered Western Joshua trees. The resolution was approved by the Supervisors unanimously without change.

While the name of the company draining water from the San Bernardino Forest has changed from Nestle to BlueTriton, an order from the State Water Resources Control Board requires an end to the extraction by November 1. There have been lawsuits and public campaigns on the issue since 2015, and MBCA reported on it in 2018. The Water Resources Board determined that the company does not have water rights on this land. Read the details in this LA Times article. 

At the County Land Use Services Open House held in Joshua Tree on August 30, MBCA's President Steve Bardwell talked at some length with Mark Wardlaw, new Director of the department. MBCA sent a followup letter outlining concerns about land use issues that affect the Morongo Basin's unincorporated communities particularly. The letter includes some specific suggestions and summarizes our concerns related to water issues, Community Action Guides, climate change, Short-Term Rental ordinances, and a number of other topics.