by Laraine Turk
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on July 06, 2020
This Los Angeles Times article highlights and summarizes the conflict locally and at the state level about listing the Joshua Tree as a threatened species in California. Assemblymember Chad Mayes is reported to have filed a "hastily crafted emergency bill" to make it easier to "take" threatened or endangered species when economic development or infrastructure is at issue.
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 26, 2020
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 23, 2020
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 12, 2020
Read
MBCA's letter to the California Fish & Game Commission supporting the listing of
Yucca brevifolia, the western Joshua tree, as a threatened species. For background see our recent
News Update on the topic and the second item in the
June 8 EBlast.
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 11, 2020
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 08, 2020
- Desert Wise Living Landscape Tour 2020 goes virtual !
- Petition to list Yucca brevifolia as a threatened species.
- A week of Invasive Species Lunchtime Webinars.
- Opposition to Yellow Pine Solar Project
- Action on Eagle Crest Pumping Opposition.
- Funding Mojave Trails Acquisition
- Environmental Justice in Lucerne Valley.
- Opposition to Habitat Conservation Fund Budget Trailer Bill.
- Support for AB3030 For Land and Water Conservation.
- Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease found in the Morongo Basin.
- Ruth Denison 2020 Environmental scholarship recipient.
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 03, 2020
On April 16 MBCA published a News Update about the requested listing of the Western Joshua tree as a threatened species in California. The petition was presented in October 2019 by the Center for Biological Diversity. In April 2020 the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed that the information provided warranted the listing and referred their opinion to the California Fish and Game Commission. The Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the recommendation on June 25. If they agree, a yearlong review would begin and the trees would be protected during the review. We ask readers to review this very comprehensive Background and Talking Points document and submit comments in favor of the threatened species listing by the deadline of June 11. Send comments via email to [email protected].
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 03, 2020
In January 2020, MBCA sent
a letter opposing state legislative action that would have enhanced the prospects for the Eagle Crest Pumped Storage Project on the border of Joshua Tree National Park. Chief among our concerns is the inevitable overdraft of underground aquifers in the area and for the Park, with dire consequences for the flora and fauna.
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by Laraine Turk
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on June 02, 2020
The proposed Yellow-Pine Solar Project is another large-scale project inappropriately sited on BLM land in the Mojave Desert, and being fast-tracked without consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic and with many other flawed rationales. MBCA has joined six other concerned organizations to send a fact-filled document refuting the validity of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Among the statements in the letter supported with references and illustrations are these:
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by Laraine Turk
1279sc
on June 02, 2020
MBCA has forwarded
a letter of support to U.S. Interior Secretary Bernhardt and California Bureau of Land Management Director Karen Mouritsen for the BLM to acquire
Land and Water Conservation Fund resources for purchasing lands within the Mojave Trails National Monument. MBCA also signed on to two group letters (
May 8 and
May 21) on the same topic. The
LCWF provides grants for federal-state partnerships for conservation and public recreation projects. The 6,213 acres of interest in the Mojave Trails National Monument contain cultural sites and are part of important habitat linkages.
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