Desert-Wise Top Ten Tips

Our Top Ten Tips for Successful Living in the Morongo Basin

If you're a longtime desert resident, you probably understand that living in harmony with the desert environment creates an enviable quality of life. You may already be following all of these tips, but take a look in case there is something more you can do. If you are new to desert living, you may find some significant differences in day-to-day life than what you're used to. By following our Top Ten Tips for Desert-Wise Living, you will not only add to your enjoyment of desert life, but will help conserve its beauty and balance.

1.		Plant Native - Successful Morongo Basin landscaping uses native plants that support wildlife, requires less water and no fertilizer.
2.		Go Solar - Combat climate change by harnessing the power of the sun. Desert-Wise in the Morongo Basin means putting sunny skies to work at your home.
3.		Protect Wildlife - Poisons (rodenticides, insecticides, herbicides) flow up the food chain and kill pollinators and natural predators like owls, bobcats, and coyotes.
4.		Keep Night Skies Dark - Shield and limit your outdoor lights -- the better to see our majestic night skies!
5.		Conserve Water - Water wise is Desert-Wise. Water is limited and precious in the Morongo Basin. Add rain barrels and greywater systems to your landscape for irrigation needs.
6.		Drive Slowly - Desert dust travels far on dirt roads...and wildlife has the right-of-way.
7.		Tread Lightly - don't bust the crust of desert soil as it's alive. Stay on designated OHV or hiking routes.
8.		Shop Local - Support our Morongo Basin small-town businesses before shopping online or outside the area..
9.		Treasure the Quiet - Respect your neighbors as sound travels far in the desert. The desert speaks softly. Keep quiet to hear it.
10.		Respect Indigenous and Pioneer Relics - Honor the past. Do not disturb Native American petroglyphs/Pioneer artifacts.

Desert-Wise Living Program

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Constance Walsh commented 2023-07-12 16:49:09 -0700

MAYBE not scrape??
Land scalping – this is what it is – is possibly the most devastating practice of all the devastating environmental practices in these parts. And why?? why lay bare and kill acre upon acre of wild desert, often where there is no sign of construction to come.
Kills plants, kills animals, kills insects, kills root systems, deprives Joshua Trees and Creosotes of their companions; eliminates habitat for rabbits (the few remaining), quail, lizards, snakes (oh, is that it? afraid of snakes?); is terribly ugly as needless soul-killing is ugly.
And the mile-high sheets of sand now obliterating the sun on a windy day? look to hundreds of scalped properties all over this desert for this.
And, it is illegal. Yes, I am really really angry about it.
Toni Hale Gonzalez commented 2023-07-12 15:44:06 -0700

Also maybe not scrape your larger properties entirely clean of native vegetation? Those lower growing plants prevent erosion, dust and give smaller animals cover.
Constance Walsh commented 2023-03-24 12:01:14 -0700

Hello!

I’d like to see the ten tips printed as a flyer and a poster to be distributed to every local realtor and mailed to real estate agents who have listings here, something I’ve wanted to do for years.
What do you think?
If you printed the flyer exactly as it is here I would do the distributing.
We often blame the newcomers especially for not respecting the desert, but little is done to inform the ignorance that leads to irrecuperable desert destruction.

Thanks!
Constance Walsh
Landers
Stacy Doolittle published this page in Desert-Wise Living 2022-01-25 15:59:14 -0800