Despite having to reschedule the official signing ceremony due to extreme winds in southern California, President Biden today designated Chuckwalla National Monument in the California desert and also Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in northern California. (Enjoy this PBS video of the actual ceremony on January 14.) The Chuckwalla designation honors the cultural significance of desert lands for several Tribal Nations as well as securing over 600,000 acres of carbon-sequestering land from inappropriate...

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Plan to Attend MBCA Annual Meeting Scenic 247 and County Long-Range Multimodal Transportation Plan Lighting and Dark Sky Workshop Cadiz Water 2025 Desert Wise Living Landscape Tour  

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The State Lands Commission on December 17 terminated a long-term pipeline right-of-way lease for the Cadiz Water Project, providing another setback in the company's plan to drain a major desert aquifer for profit. Cadiz has publicized its claims that their latest plans with California tribes will provide a beneficial public-private partnership that would benefit "communities in need." Environmental justice advocates argue convincingly against the touted benefits of the plan, as outlined...

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The Morongo Basin Conservation Association has added a specialized and comprehensive new Desert-Wise Living section to our website. It is focused entirely on desert-wise landscaping and is packed with videos, text, photos, animated illustrations, and helpful links. The new content builds on MBCA’s fourteen-year history of in-person and video landscape tours of water-wise and creative properties in the Hi Desert. Read our Press Release and visit the new Landscaping How...

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For the third time in two years, MBCA has addressed both continuing and changing concerns about the proposed Sienna Solar and Storage Project in the Lucerne Valley area. The latest letter emphasizes unaddressed points made in our September 22, 2022 letter, as well as significant changes in the latest project proposal compared to the 2017 Planning Project Notice. Our letter also includes references and links to the Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity...

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MBCA contributed to and signed this comprehensive letter initiated by the Friends of Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, demonstrating that the proposed communications tower in Morongo Valley has unacceptable consequences for the local residents and the ecosystem. Seven local concerned non-profits  contributed to the extensive data and visual aids in the letter, concluding: "The significance of impacts has been generally downplayed through omission of key information and the use of outdated resources....

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