The video recording of MBCA's 2022 Annual Meeting with speakers on "The Last Joshua Tree? Climate Change and the Future of this Iconic Species" is now available. For more background, here is the January 22, 2022 Press Release announcing the meeting. You can find the time stamp for the several sections of the meeting on the YouTube page or below.

     0:06  Introduction and Issue Overview by President, Steve Bardwell
   17:16  Laraine Turk Honoring Ruth Rieman, retiring Board member
   20:15  Remarks by Ruth Rieman
   21:16  Introduction and Remarks by Chris Clarke
   41:16  Presentation by Brendan Cummings
1:20:05  Questions and Conversation with Chris Clarke and Brendan Cummings

The Coyote Hole historic petroglyph site in Joshua Tree, an area of long-time concern due to incidents of graffiti and trash dumping, is now being patrolled and conserved by the Native American Land Conservancy, with volunteer assistance. Transferred by San Bernardino County to the Conservancy for stewardship purposes in 2018, a recent grant from the Rose Foundation provides the Conservancy with funds to increase oversight of 30 acres in the wash area. This Desert Sun article describes the Conservancy's role and provides a series of photos of Coyote Hole.

In November a Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment was published by the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center and other agencies, proposing actions to manage widespread raven problems in California desert military locations. In response, Ed LaRue of the Desert Tortoise Council sent a comment letter that approves of the raven abatement project so far as it’s necessary to protect desert tortoise, but also recommends a number of changes.

The San Bernardino County Light Trespass Ordinance is now official. As we noted in our December 8 news post, "Two of the primary 'wins' of the final version of the ordinance are a shielding requirement and modernization of the terminology and measurement process concerning light trespass. Decorative string lights were one of the final issues of contention, and the approved version of the ordinance will only limit the color temperature and lumen output for residential, not commercial, string lights. The Supervisors agreed to revisit the issue in the future." In the near future, MBCA plans to provide more educational content about the ordinance.

 

In a unanimous vote, the San Bernardino County Supervisors approved the Light Trespass Ordinance that has been championed by MBCA and three successive Third District Dark Sky Committees as part of a decade of citizen action. Third District Supervisor Rowe posted this press release announcing the action. Two of the primary "wins" of the final version of the ordinance are a shielding requirement and modernization of the terminology and measurement process concerning light trespass. Decorative string lights were one of the final issues of contention, and the approved version of the ordinance will only limit the color temperature and lumen output for residential, not commercial, string lights. The Supervisors agreed to revisit the issue in the future. MBCA will provide more details upon official implementation of the ordinance.

The Biden Administration has pulled approval of the pipeline which was approved by the prior administration without required review. The Cadiz water mining proposal has been fought against as detrimental to the health of the Mojave Desert by MBCA and dozens of other conservation organizations for years. Press releases by the National Parks Conservation Association and the Center for Biological Diversity explain the details, as does this Los Angeles Times story. Many prior news stories posted by MBCA about the Cadiz Water Project can be found by scrolling down our Water Issues pages.

As the Brightline West High-Speed Rail Project between southern California and Las Vegas rolls toward implementation, MBCA has again joined numerous organizations to insist that the state require three wildlife crossings to protect our world-class wildlife, including mountain lions and bighorn sheep, in the fragile desert environment. The letter signed by 35 organizations is addressed to Governor Newsom with copies to California's Senators and the heads of appropriate state and federal agencies. Prior MBCA news stories on the issue were posted on September 5, 2020, and November 23, 2020, and this September 16 Los Angeles Times article focuses on the value of the wildlife crossings for bighorn sheep.

The proposed Oberon Solar Project, to be located on undisturbed BLM land near Desert Center, has drawn a great deal of concern by numerous groups in addition to MCBA. While in a Development Focus Area (DFA) proposed under California's Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, the proponents are asking for amendments that contradict the Plan’s underlying rationale. In short, as MBCA’s Pat Flanagan writes in the MBCA letter, “It is not the role of the DRECP to bend to accommodate a project proposal. It is the project proponent’s role to accommodate the DRECP.”

The San Bernardino County Planning Commission unanimously approved the new Light Trespass Ordinance at their September 9 meeting. It will be forwarded to the Supervisors for their vote in the near future. Following its approval, compliance will be required in 18 months for businesses and 24 months for residents. The approved version is contained in pages 4-15 of the Staff Report; the existing Glare and Outdoor Lighting Ordinance is on pages 17-25.