MBCA News

Eblast: May 23, 2025

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375sc
on May 23, 2025

LoveMore Ranch Lawsuit Filed
Luxury Resort ‘Ofland’ Recommended for Approval by 29 Palms
Another Luxury Development! - Joshua Tree Resort
Rancho Lucerne - 4,200 unit, 30-Year-Old Development Proposal
New Desert-Wise Living Video Released
Speak Up! Your Public Lands are Under Attack!
Community Conversation on Development in Our Desert Ecosystem

MBCA Joins Power in Nature Coalition Comments on 30X30

by
1514sc
on May 18, 2025

As part of the Power in Nature Coalition, MBCA joined 19 other organizations to comment on California's Wildlife Conservation Board's 2025-2030 Strategic Plan. Among other recommendations were creating metrics that measure more deeply than just number of projects, taking stronger action on climate change, and more emphasis on partnerships.

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Joshua Tree Village Neighbors File Petition Challenging Lovemore Ranch Approval

by
1514sc
on May 15, 2025

Joshua Tree Village Neighbors filed a petition with the County of San Bernardino Superior Court of the State of California on May 9 challenging the approval of the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) for the Lovemore Ranch subdivision and development. (Background and a link to the appeal hearing can be found in our April 8 News post. (MBCA co-filed the unsuccessful appeal but is not involved in this legal action.) Key points of challenge are that the County violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it relied on its role as the lead agency in the preparation of the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration instead of an Environmental Impact Report and that the County violated some of its own regulations in the approval. The petition contains extensive details leading to these contentions. JTVN is requesting donations to support their legal actions via a Go Fund Me page.

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MBCA Opposes SB 607 CEQA Changes

by
1514sc
on May 13, 2025

California Senate Bill 607 was introduced in February and is intended to change some aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act in order to fast-track large-scale energy-related projects. MBCA’s letter to Senators McGuire and Caballero opposes the bill for its potential to permit "many harmful projects including pipelines, data centers and waste storage facilities (to) be built in communities without sufficient environmental review or public participation." (Note: the bill was “ordered to inactive file on request of Senator Wiener” on June 5.)

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MBCA Scholarships for 2025 Announced

by
1514sc
on May 09, 2025

Morongo Basin Conservation Association has awarded college scholarships to three local graduating high school seniors.

Recipients demonstrate commitments to include conservation and environmental interests in their education and career plans. Each $1,000 scholarship goes toward the student's higher education expenses in the 2025-26 academic year.

MBCA's Conservation Scholarship is the continuation of our commitment to educate the next generation of conservation-conscious citizens. Jocelyn Gonzalez of Yucca Valley High School is the recipient, planning to study biological sciences at Cal State Fullerton.

The Women's STEAM Scholarship (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) is provided anonymously by two generations of women who held careers in STEAM fields. Molly Brown of Yucca Valley High School is this year’s recipient. The scholarship will help fund her study at University of Utah in Chemical Engineering.

Donations in memory of renowned local artist, conservationist, and longtime MBCA member Steve Rieman make it possible to offer the Steve Rieman Scholarship, intended for a student who will incorporate their conservation commitment into fields requiring environmentally-conscious creativity. The Rieman Scholarship this year goes to Meghann Arballo of Yucca Valley High School. She will study dance and psychology at San Diego State University..

MBCA's mission is to advocate and educate for a healthy desert environment which nurtures wildlands and our communities’ rural character, cultural abundance, and economic well-being.

Our heartiest congratulations to the scholarship recipients!

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MBCA Featured on Z107.7 Up Close Radio Show

by
1514sc
on April 20, 2025

On April 18, three MBCA Board members were interviewed on the Up Close Show (Episode 397), a weekly public affairs program of local radio station Z107.7 FM. Host and Hall of Fame Journalist Gary Daigneault conversed with MBCA's Vice President Stacy Doolittle, Board member Arch McCulloch, and Secretary Laraine Turk. While much of the hour-long discussion focused on details of the upcoming Desert-Wise Landscape Tour, the Board members were also asked to comment on issues including the Chuckwalla National Monument, Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan and the recent Lovemore Ranch appeal.

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Lovemore Ranch Appeal Denied by Supervisors

by
1514sc
on April 08, 2025

After hearing three hours of public comment, the San Bernardino County Supervisors unanimously denied the appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of the Lovemore Ranch housing project. The appeal was filed by MBCA and supported by the Joshua Tree Village Neighbors group and others. Public comments were almost entirely in support of the appeal. You can view the entire hearing by clicking "video" on the April 8 line of the list of Supervisor meetings at this page; timestamps for various stages of the appeal are shown below. Read or listen to the Z107.7 radio report here.

Appeal Item #42 begins at 30:40
32:05 – Mark Wardlaw, head of Land Use Services, responds to MBCA’s appeal specifics.
44:40 – Begin presentation by appellant (MBCA and Joshua Tree Village Neighbors)
1:00:36 – Begin presentation by project proponent (Lovemore Ranch)
1:13:13 – Begin public comment at San Bernardino Location
1:47:11 – Begin public comment at Joshua Tree Community Center
2:27:15 – RECESS
2:43:00 – Restart public comment at Joshua Tree Community Center
3:06:00 – Final comments from project proponent (Lovemore Ranch)
3:15:09 – Final comments from appellant (MBCA and JTVN)
3:21:52 – Board Chair Dawn Rowe begins questions to Staff
3:33:50 – Chair Rowe asks County Counsel about State Housing Affordability Act
3:35:12 – Chair Rowe asks for Supervisor Questions
3:44:25 – Public Hearing is Closed and Supervisors vote to deny the appeal.

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Eblast: April 7, 2025

by
375sc
on April 07, 2025

Appeal of LoveMore Ranch Hearing Set
Attend California Desert Coalition Meeting on changes to NEPA
Desert Wise Living Landscape Tour April 27, 2025

Announcing Desert-Wise Landscape Tour 2025

by
1514sc
on March 25, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date of Event: Sunday, April 27, 2025

Contact:

Steve Bardwell: 818-516-1437

Laraine Turk: 760-799-2951

MORONGO BASIN CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION 2025 DESERT-WISE LANDSCAPE TOUR

Morongo Basin, CA – March 25, 2025

The annual Desert-Wise Landscape Tour offered by the Morongo Basin Conservation Association is scheduled for Sunday, April 27, between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM. The public is invited to visit five creatively landscaped home sites and two public gardens located across the Morongo Basin. A new element of the Tour this year is the Coyote Hole Experience, a separately-ticketed opportunity to walk through the natural and cultural features of Joshua Tree’s Coyote Hole, led by experts from the Native American Land Conservancy and the California Native Plant Society.

Each Tour site provides a unique perspective on desert-wise landscaping that is both creative and water-conscious. Native and drought-tolerant plants are emphasized along with architectural and artistic features.

Among the sites are a newly-built home in Yucca Valley with a carefully developed native landscape where the homeowner will share her home and landscape design process. In downtown Joshua Tree an artist’s “work-in-progress” garden demonstrates creative use of a small space. A long-time family property in Twentynine Palms showcases both large mature plantings and newer expanded areas created from local native plant sales. The outdoor venue Wind Walkers Medicine Wheel in Joshua Tree has been lovingly expanded over a number of years by the owner, and provides meditative features and extensive native plant arrays. A minimalist modern house designed to make the most of naturally-occurring desert plants rounds out the five home sites.

Self-guided and docent-guided tours will also occur throughout the day at the Mojave Desert Discovery Garden at the Mojave Desert Land Trust and at the Demonstration Garden at the Joshua Basin Water District. A special chance to view a “world premiere” video of a unique site in Morongo Valley and also to “Meet MBCA’s Filmmaker” will be held at MDLT at 2:30 PM. Cole Gibson has been working with MBCA creating both tour site and “How-To” videos for five years. Detailed information and directions to all sites will be provided upon registration.

Advance online registration for the Tour is available at the organization’s website, MBConservation.org. Registration for MBCA members is $15, while non-members are $20 each, with options to purchase membership and registration together.

A digital Tour Guide with descriptions and directions will be provided to online registrants, with printed copies available on the day of the Tour. Late registration on the Tour Day will be available at Mojave Desert Land Trust between 9 AM and Noon only.

Tickets for the Coyote Hole Experience can be separately purchased on the MBCA website for $35 per person. Only 20 spaces are available so early registration is suggested. The proceeds will fund ongoing restoration efforts at Coyote Hole.

The Desert-Wise Landscape Tour is supported by water agencies of the Morongo Basin: Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency, Golden State Water Company, Hi-Desert Water District, Joshua Basin Water District, Twentynine Palms Water District, and the Mojave Water Agency.

Morongo Basin Conservation Association Board of Directors
Steve Bardwell, President
Stacy Doolittle, Vice President
Laraine Turk, Secretary
Bob Wold, Treasurer
David Fick, Director
Pat Flanagan, Director
Brian Hammer, Director
Janet Johnston, Director
Sarah Kennington, Director
Arch McCulloch, Director