spring 2004 the survivior newsletter ~ desert survivors

Communities Organize Against OHV Abuse

Gerlach Power Plant?

Wilderness Monitoring Reports

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Letter from the Editor By Paul Brickett, Communications Director

In case you missed the last issue of THE SURVIVOR and did not attend the Annual General Meeting last October, I have beenelected Communications Director, a position which includes editorship. Jessica Rothaar, who held the post for the previous twoyears, had declined to continue. In recognition of Jessica's excellent work over the past several years the Board of Directors unani-

mously voted her the Desert Survivor's Activist Award with which she was presented at the Winter Solstice party. Jessica will certainly betough to follow as Communications Director.

I also need to report that the graphic designer, Hall Newbegin, has discontinued his vol-unteer position. Hall is responsible for designing the sophisticated format of THESURVIVOR starting with the Spring 2002 issue and has done an outstanding job withboth graphic design and layout. Hall has had to hand off the graphic designer dutiesdue to increasing demands from his company, Juniper Ridge Western Wild Goods. Anymember wishing to help with the graphic design tasks, particulary scanning harcopy art-work, is encouraged to contact the editor. Until recently I thought �picas� were littleanimals often seen in the mountains. Starting with the current issue I am responsiblefor all errors in formatting and layout, as well as all the other errors in spelling, gram-mar, and diction. Especially as I learn more about this job, I encourage members towrite me with comments, corrections, and ideas related to THE SURVIVOR.

ErratumIn the Winter 2003 issue on page 22 the person pictured in the Black Rock Hot Spring was incorrectly identified.. The correct identifica-tion should be Julie Donohue.

Contribute to The SurvivorDeadline for submissions for the Summer 2004 issue is July 15, 2004. Submissions may include letters-to-the-editor, feature articles,trip reports, special reports, desert issues, articles on natural history, book reviews, backpacking/camping recipes, and original art, includ-ing prose, poetry, drawings and photography. All submissions will be considered for publication which relate to the mission of DesertSurvivors. Recipes must not include any endangered species as ingredients. Letters should be 200 words or less, trip reports 2000 wordsor less, and features 4000 words or less unless specifically approved otherwise. All submissions will be subject to editing for length, for-mat and content.. All text must be submitted electronically, since the editor has very limited typing skills. Please send text as an attachedfile. Formats currently accepted (in order of preference) are: Word (.doc), WordPerfect (.wpd), Rich Text Format (.rtf) and text (.txt).Please include your full name, city and state of residence and phone number with the submission. For photographs, please identify thepeople and locations shown. Preferably, illustrations will be sent in digital form accompanying the text. Alternately, original art (draw-ings, slides, negatives) may be sent to the editor for scanning: Paul Brickett 509 Hull Ave., San Jose, CA 95125.

Mission Statement for Desert Survivors:Desert Survivors is an affiliation of desert lovers committed to experiencing, sharing and protecting desert wilderness wherever we findit. We recognize the places we love to explore will not remain wild unless we give others the opportunity to experience them as we doand unless we remain vigilant and active in our efforts to monitor and preserve them.

Desert Survivor E-MailDesert Survivors has two e-mail lists for members. "DSEM" allows members to receive all regular mailings, except for the Survivornewsletter, by e-mail. "DSOL" is our listserv, which allows members to communicate with each other about desert issues, travel andother common concerns. Members may subscribe to either by e-mailing [email protected]. For the subject use "subscriberegular mailings" for "DSEM", and "subscribe listserv" for "DSOL". Don't include the quotation marks. Unfortunately we don't yethave a completely automated system, and Tortoise can be a little slow, so it might take several days.

How To Reach UsEditor: Paul Brickett (408)-279-3129, [email protected] Inquiries: Steve Tabor (510) 769-1706, [email protected]

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Cover illustration: Proposed coal-fired power plant near Gerlach, NV (see Letters to the Editor) by Michael S. Moore

Editor, breezy day on Kelso dunes

The Survivor Spring 2004

Letters to the Editor

Coalfired Power for SoCal in the HighDesert

19 March, 2004

I live near Gerlach part of the year, soSteve's Black Rock walk in the last issuewas particularly resonant. Been there, �always love going back. Survivors shouldknow about the two hanging playas aboveBlack Rock Hots if they don'talready...sweet. People in the area areincreasingly concerned about SempraEnergy's proposed 1450 megawatt coal-fired power plant at the base of theGranites, upwind of the Black RockNational Conservation Area (NCA) andwith enough pollution potential that evenUtah is keeping an eye on it ("Power play:energy project may add to Utah's pollu-tion", Salt Lake Tribune, March 4, 2004).

There have been stories in the RenoGazette Journal as well ("Gerlach to fightplant plan", mid February, and "Precursorto power plant approved", March 4).Although there is opposition at the locallevel and even, it is rumored, at the state, inbetween we have the county, merrily rub-berstamping permits for (possibly inade-quate) air monitoring stations and, moreominously, our fossil fuel fools at thefeds.A few activist neighbors, myselfamong them, are working to oppose this,and demanding the county commissionersreview the planning commission's March2nd approval of the air monitoring station.Where we live on the Smoke Creek, we seelots of wind-blown dust headed forGerlach, the Black Rock, and points east.The Sempra plant, though in sight of us ifit happens, is downwind (most of thetime), but all those tons of particulates willbe heading for Utah right over the NCAand a whole lot of other country we alllove. We are thinking about setting up a

website to coordinate information, raisemoney for legal expenses, and locate allies.Any help, advice, or noise the Survivorscould lend us would be most welcome.Persons interested can reach me at [email protected] until mid May, whenI go back to Wall Spring and have no inter-net. By then I hope a website exists, butsnailmail always gets forwarded:

Mike S. Moore, 120 W. H. St., Benicia, CA,94510.

Editor's Note: The additional lettersbelow were received after the DesertSurvivor's Alert message on this topicfrom 25 Feb was forwarded to Mr.Moore.

20 Mar 2004

�I was thrilled to see the Friends letterand Steve's follow-up - the more goodallies the better! A couple of points onSteve's note; he's right about the coal -BLM sez (unofficially) it will come by railfrom Delta, Utah (and a new eight or somile long railway spur from Phil Sidingacross the north end of the Smoke Creekrunning 200 carloads daily). Did I mentionSempra tried to get approval for a similarscheme in Mexico that was shot down? Myneighbor David Rumsey, who is amongother things a digital map guy(www.davidrumsey.com), is being a majorforce in fighting this on the legal front.Mike S. MooreBenicia CA / Gerlach NV25Mar 2004 David Rumsey's appeal of theplanning commission's approval of the airmonitoring station will be heard on April27th in Reno. Minutes of the March 2Planning Commission meeting are availableon the Washoe County website:http://www.co.washoe.nv.us/comdev/boards_commissions/pc/pc_agenda_minutes_index.htm. I'm planning to attend alongwith David, his lawyer, and some of ourmost impacted neighbors from the SmokeCreek. If any Survivors want to show upthat would be great.

Mike S. MooreBenicia CA / Gerlach NV

22 Apr 2004

Help fight the proposed Gerlach PowerPlant - come to an appeal hearing nextTuesday, April 27, at 5:15 pm at theWashoe County Commission meetingrooms at 1001 E. Ninth Street in Reno.

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Location of proposed power plant in NW Nevada

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Join us in speaking against the permit thatthe Washoe Planning Department issuedon March 2 for the Power Plant's AirMonitoring Tower. This was the first stepin approving an eventual 1,450 megawatt,coal fired, water cooled (16,000 acre feet)facility that, if built, will be the largestpower plant in Nevada, and certainly oneof the biggest sources of pollution in theState. Here are some of the keyarguments against the AirMonitoring Tower and thePower Plant:

-- The Air Monitoring Tower is ablot on the environment, over160 feet tall, makes lots of noise,and according to our experts, isnot configured correctly by thePlant developers to measure allpollution impacts the Plant willhave on the environment. Whyeven approve an air monitoringtower when the only purpose ofthe tower is to enable a PowerPlant that never should be builtnext to the Black Rock DesertNational Conservation Area andover 20 Wilderness Areas?

-- The Power Plant will consumeover 16,000 acre feet of waterper year, more than the annualinflow to the Smoke Creek basinwhere it will sit, thereby divert-ing water from drinking holesused by a wide range of animals.Nevada can not afford to waste its preciouswater on a power plant for California ener-gy consumers.

-- The Power Plant will emit over 50 haz-ardous air pollutants, such as arsenic, leadand mercury, into the air for 100's of milesaround.

-- It will rely on imported coal and haz-ardous chemicals like ammonia for its oper-ation, which will be brought in by trainsrunning 24/7 and posing a health hazardfor communities in their right of way.

-- It will be sending all its power toSouthern California, where a so called"clean coal" plant like it could not be builtunder California environmental laws.Sempra, the plant developer, is trying toexport the pollution to Nevada and sell theenergy to California where the demand is.

-- Don't buy into the new jobs and taxesargument in favor of the plant. Semprastates only 100 permanent jobs will be pro-duced, and the added tax revenue is smallconsolation for the huge environmentalcosts.

There are other arguments. Come to thehearing and learn more.

David Rumsey, Gerlach, NV

29 April 2004

I am just returned from Wall Spring, stop-ping off in Reno en route for part of thehearing of D. Rumsey et al.'s appeal of theSempra air monitoring station permit. Iarrived about 5:15 to find numerous partiesfrom both sides present, but the commis-sion still engaged in earlier business.Following a brief recess attention to thecoal plant connection was allowed andnumerous individuals spoke includingShaaron Netherton on behalf of Friends ofNevada Wilderness, who are taking the leadas a clearinghouse of information on theirwebsite, much to the relief of certainbeleaguered and inexperienced Gerlachians.The public comment was unanimouslyagainst the plant, against coal, for wilder-ness, and against permitting the facility as itconstitutes a "foot in the door" for the

much larger and more ominous project.Health issues and costs, environmental andotherwise, were repeatedly addressed.

The appellants then made their case foroverturning the permit. Lawyers JenniferYturbide and Bill Shaw of Minden outlinedalleged irregularities within the law andcounty guidelines at the previous hearing.Dr. Phyllis Fox elucidated shortcomings in

the proposed monitoring pro-tocols and their lack of confor-mity to EPA guidelines.Finally, David Rumsey utilizeda colorful map to show exactlywhich wilderness and otherprotected locations will beimpacted by various hideouspollutant streams. Shortly afterhis presentation, and havingspoken earlier on both the haz-ards of hydrocarbons, inade-quacies of the tower, and beau-ties of the surrounding territo-ry, I slipped out. This morningI called Rachel Bogard atPlanet X, one of the mostactive locals, to find out whereit went after I split.Apparently, Sempra presentedits case, continuing to dismissthe future use as irrelevant.The commissioners eventuallyforced them to admit that theend use was to be a 1450-megawatt coal plant, which ofcourse everyone was clear on

in the first place, so this was just some sortof obscure legal dance for the record, butstill felt bound to ignore in considering thepermit. More public comment, limitedspecifically to the monitoring station and itsantenna, ensued, followed by a bunch oflegal wrangling back and forth (with thedistrict attorney continually upholdingSempra's side), and finally a three to twovote to deny the appeal and uphold thepermit. This was one more vote than wehad reasonably projected we'd get, and itcame from Jim Shaw, the chairman, who isup for reelection in the fall and should beencouraged. Also on the positive side wasbeing able to put faces on some of ourallies and connect with the Friends, whoseexperience in these matters greatly exceedsthat of the locals.

I did hear from David late last night. Hefelt very upbeat after the meeting and isconsidering what to do next, possibly in

The power of pollution

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terms of lobbying the commissioners.Dave thinks the Sempra crew is seriouslyshaken, and though that may be a bit opti-mistic, the turnout definitely affected thecommissioners.

As for Gerlach, we are mobilizing to makethe big Planet X Memorial Day Pottery Salean information point for not only thepower plant issue but voter registration aswell, all three days, and we're trying to getvolunteers to distribute info... barbecue,beer, art and activism. It doesn't get muchbetter than that. If anyone's up to volun-teer contact me or Rachel Bogard ([email protected]).

Mike S. MooreBenicia CA / Gerlach NV

WeddingAnnouncementWe are happy to announce that DesertSurvivor board member and trip leader BobLyon was married to long-time girlfriendMari Zachary on December 30, 2003. Theintimate, candlelit ceremony took place attheir home in San Francisco, and wasattended by family and close friends.Desert Survivor President Steve Taborjoined in the reception party and helpedtoast the newlyweds. Bob's and Mari's(combined) five children and one grand-child were in joyful attendance, and partici-pated in a Celtic circle blessing. Mari's sis-

ter Mindy was Matron of Honor, andDesert Survivor Mike Yantos was Bob'sBest Man. Mari and Bob wish everyone awonderful New Year, and we wish themmuch happiness in their new life together!

Update On TheNevada Desert TrailRelayThe Desert Survivors 2004 Desert TrailRelay is shaping up to be a success. As ofthis writing, we have 74 participants for the14 trips (including the End-of-RelayCelebration). Thirty-three individuals havesigned up; many are doing multiple trips.We got a great article in the Reno Gazette-Journal on March 27, and will be seekingmore publicity for the Relay as it movesnorth through Nevada..

This Relay is an ambitious undertaking.Starting April 30, Desert Survivors will hikethe first half of the Nevada Desert Trail ina relay of thirteen consecutive trips over sixweeks. Six leaders will conduct the trips.The total distance is 312 miles. Terrainvaries from flat valley crossings beside salt-crusted dry lakes to high mountain ridgeswith dense pine woods. All hikes passthrough remote desert and mountains, withfour in BLM Wilderness Study Areas(WSAs). The last is a nine-day backpack onthe crest of the Stillwater Mountains, morethan 70% of it in Wilderness. We'll end theRelay on June 12-13 with a great celebrationat the base of the Stillwaters near theCarson Sink.

We'll be visiting Nevada in the springtime,its best season. Shrubs and wildflowersshould be blooming well. The trips runthrough wild and fascinating country. Mosthikes are "moderate", except for those inthe roughest mountain segments and theStillwaters Crest, which are rated as "strenu-ous". Some leaders are doing back-to-backtrips with water caches pre-set, for ease ofhiking. Detailed guidebooks describing allsegments have been written.

Refer to the Desert Survivors Spring 2004Trip Schedule for trip listings. Segmentmaps and pictures have been posted onour website, http://www.desert-survivors.org/, which also has a schedule.With this Relay, we're hoping to put theDesert Trail "on the map" in Nevada. Join

us on this historic hike across Nevada wild-lands!

Membership RenewalIs Now Available Via"PayPal"Due to popular request, we've put a newfeature on the Desert Survivors website.Members can now renew using their creditcards. We have contracted with a "secureserver", the commercial service known as"PayPal", to handle these transactions.Costs are paid by Desert Survivors. Youare charged $20 for your renewal, same asalways.

Now you can "pay up" at any time. Youwill be notified by "PayPal" when yourtransaction goes through. No hassle, andyou save Desert Survivors the cost of send-ing you a renewal letter, in its envelope,with a renewal notice on card stock, with itsown envelope. You also save us the time toprepare the mailing, the postage we incur tosend you the notice, and the work of pro-cessing your check. You'll know we record-ed your renewal when you read the label onyour next issue of THE SURVIVOR.

Many of you send in additional donationswith your renewal. Unfortunately, becauseof restrictions imposed by PayPal, we wereunable to combine the "additionals" withthe renewals in one transaction. Please postany additional donations on the "Donate"screen. The "Donate" screen is accessedfrom the home page; look for it on the left-hand side, right under the "RenewMembership" icon. We are sorry for theinconvenience in this regard. We havebecome highly dependent on these addi-tional donations and are grateful for them.

New members can also be enrolled via"PayPal"; we have already signed up a few.You can also buy teeshirts and hats on thewebsite using "PayPal" in a similar manner.We have eliminated the frustrating"Shipping and Handling" charges thatplagued the PayPal provision before.Shipping & handling charges have gone upfor hats and teeshirts; these long-overdueincreases were made to pay increasedpostage costs for these items, NOT for"PayPal".

So try this new service on our website and

Mari and Bob

By Philip M. Klasky, San Francisco, CA

Breaking through the priceless peace of a Mojave Desertmorning, I hear the whining of OHVs (Off-HighwayVehicles) in the wash. I feel my blood pressure rise to

dizzying heights as a couple of lawless idiots tear up the desert.Since I am big and imposing (and mad as hell), I rush out to huntthem down. Two motorcycles are trespassing on both private andpublic lands since all the public lands out here are designated asclosed to any kind of vehicles. I have to intervene since theBureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Barstow, which hasjurisdiction over public lands in this area, is unwilling to enforcethe law, and the local Sheriff's department, overburdened by otherpriorities, would get here, if they come at all, when the criminalsare long gone.

Most of the OHV riders I confront are both ignorant and defiantof the law. "I will ride anywhere I want", is the common refrain,and without law enforcement or citizen intervention, that is exactlywhat they do.

OHV outlaws show a reckless disrespect for private property anddo not have a clue or care about their impact on the environment.OHV abuse has reached a crisis point in the California desert withthe increasing popularity of all terrain vehicles, the growing tenta-cles of urban recreation and the negligent and at times intentionallack of law enforcement. But communities throughout the desertare organizing to defend themselves. This is not just a battlebetween environmentalists and weekend warriors. Those of uswho live in the expansive landscape, star-filled nights, and naturalenvironment with its wealth of plant and wildlife are not going tolet our lands be desecrated.

I have had many interactions with the BLM over this issue. Thelast ranger to patrol our area was a Native American woman with aknowledge and commitment to the conservation of naturalresources. She met with the community, provided us with signs toprotect private lands and placed warnings on public lands. This

ranger was on hand on those holiday weekends when we were ter-rorized by people who have no respect for our private propertyand the lands we hold in common. But then she was fired by theinfamously ignorant and belligerent head of the Barstow BLMfield office who told me in no uncertain terms that he was notgoing to send law enforcement to address illegal OHV use in ourarea. He also told me that, "you environmentalists are trying tolock up the desert", and that OHV riders had "no place to go".There are already hundreds of thousands of acres in sacrifice areasset aside for OHV destruction, but this is not enough for thosewho want unbridled access to more and more land in a misguidedthirst for freedom without responsibility. By refusing to enforcethe statues regulating OHV use, law enforcement and local electedrepresentatives are condoning and encouraging illegal behavior.

Is the situation hopeless? Of course not. Remember the saying,"Don't just agonize, organize". Our only hope is to organize our-selves neighborhood by neighborhood, community by community,town by town, state by state. And that's what we are doing in thewild west of Wonder Valley and throughout the Morongo Basin inthe Mojave Desert.

The effects of OHVs are permanent and irreversible. Theydestroy soils, crush life and scar the landscape. The delicate archi-tecture of the soils, including the threatened cryptogamic crust (asymbiotic matrix of algae, mosses, lichens, and fungi that serves asa nutrient and moisture reservoir and germination zone for seeds),depends on the living tissue that holds the particulate remnants ofarchaic seas in horizons of structure. Crushed and compactedsoils will not hold moisture or support root systems. Much of thedesert life is underground exhibiting one of the many ways inwhich desert animals survive conditions of extreme cold and heatand drought.

With the eyes of a hawk, the ears of a coyote and the nose of a kitfox, there is much life to be found just below and near the surfaceof the ground. During the winter and summer months and

throughout the year, animals hibernate, aestivateand live in underground burrows. The kangaroorat wraps its tail around its body and places thetufted end against its nose to capture the moistureits breathes while waiting out the extremes of heatunderground; rabbits build their subterranean densjust big enough so that when they exhaust theirstore of oxygen they wake to emerge in earlyspring; frogs dig under the surface in washes andenclose themselves in a gelatinous capsule thatinsulates them from searing temperatures;sidewinders partially bury themselves, melting intotheir surroundings with perfect camouflage; thedesert tortoise, which survived the conditions thatcaused the downfall of the dinosaurs 65 millionyears ago, are falling under the crush of a knobby


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Not on My Land, Not on Our LandDesert communities organize against OHV abuse while governmentfails to implement the law

OHV tracks circling creosote bush

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7The Survivor Spring 2004

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tire on an accelerated march toward extinction.

Try explaining that to a motor-head with Coors in his veins. I havespent a great deal of time attempting to understand the mentalityof an OHV offender in order to find a way to deal with them. Iknow many riders who choose to stay on the roads and are damnangry with the outlaws who invade private property and destroythe environment. The act of despoiling a pristine landscape is apsychopathic response to fragility and beauty. Some riders are justignorant and need patience and skillful communication to help setthem free.

Remember, THEY are the outlaws. The following are a few strate-gies for community action.

Early Education Children love nature and the sooner we canprovide them with an appreciation and understanding of the beau-ty, richness and value of the natural landscape, the better equippedthey will be to protect it. Bring domesticated or rescued desertanimals (tortoises, snakes, rabbits) to classes and teach about theeffects of OHVs on these creatures. Take the children outinto the field to see the damage and compare it to protect-ed places. The OHV industry is regularly invited intoschools to sell their products and we need to demandequal time.

Public Outreach Use the local newspapers, newsletters,public meetings, radio and television to educate the publicabout the OHV problems in your area. Write opinionpieces and letters to the editor. Erect large signs warningOHV riders that they can only ride in designated areas.Talk to civic organizations, business groups, school groupsand community and tribal leaders.

Organize Your Neighbors I know a lot of really greatfolks in the desert that give a damn and we have been get-ting together with some chips and salsa to strategize about

how we can protect our land. We have an effective neighborhoodwatch program, keep each other informed of illegal activity andsupport each other. Every once in a while we get together andclean up our common lands, mend fences and put up no trespass-ing signs. We made a great sign that welcomes people to ourdesert environment as long as they do not litter and keep theirOHVs off private and public lands and if you see anyone violatingthe law call law enforcement immediately. An OHV rider musthave written permission from the owner on their person in orderto drive on that land. Share letters stating that OHVs are not per-mitted on your land with your neighbors.

Organize Your Community Arrange for regular meetings oflocal folks who want to take action. Some community strategiesinclude: conducting petition drives, a good way to build yourmovement; distributing posters with the telephone numbers of lawenforcement; organizing a continuous stream of letters to the edi-tor; coordinating brigades to put up no trespassing signs; develop-ing e-mail alert and telephone tree systems; distributing informa-tion about the relevant laws and providing maps of areas that areoff-limits; keeping a log of offenses and law enforcement respons-es; giving talks at local schools and organizations about thedestructive effects of OHVs. Create a website for your area withrelevant information, a method of tracking offenses andannouncements of events and actions.

Meet with Law Enforcement and Elected Officials Requestpublic meetings with law enforcement and elected officials andmake sure like-minded folks from the community and local mediaattend. Know the law chapter and verse, and make the variousagencies accountable for implementation of regulations in yourarea. Let them know that you are not going away and try to devel-op some allies. Keep a log of complaints and the response (orlack thereof) by the officials. Don't let local and federal agenciestell you that they cannot enforce in each other's jurisdictions; lawenforcement agencies have cooperative agreements so that theycan respond to the mix of laws.

Wildlife Inventory Many public lands are home to endangeredand threatened plants and animals. Conduct an inventory and mapthe presence of the protected species to use for outreach, educa-tion, conservation and litigation. Communities can adopt wilder-ness areas, conduct nature walks and participate in community

OHV damage within last two years

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4x4 tracks running through collapsed wildlife burrows


patrols. The very best way to help people create a deep apprecia-tion and profound relationship with the land is to know the land-scape by walking among its different seasons, listening to its songsand calls, witnessing the wildlife and the secrets of the water andthe wind, sleeping on the ground and rising with the sun.

Direct Action Form a DRAT Team (Documentation/ResponseAction Team) to protect public and private lands by surroundingthe offenders armed with cameras, notebooks, walky-talkies, CBradios and cell phones. In areas where OHVs can be expected togather to defy the law, arrange for a large group of people toassemble and take video and photographs of the riders trespassing.Identify them by their vehicles. Inform law enforcement of yourcitizen action ahead of time so that they will come out to deal withthe encounter and then document their response. Invite the mediawhile you are at it. Be careful, some of these guys are real jerksgiven to violence so make sure that you are out there in numbers.Practice ahead of time to develop your skills and coordination andexercise disciplined direct action strategies.

Civil Suits Sue the outlaws! If you have a persistent problem,can identify the transgressors, and can document their damage toyour property and the resultant costs, you could have a powerfulcase. Create a log of transgressions and record calls to lawenforcement. Take them to civil court and make them hurt finan-cially.

Long Range Strategies Longer range strategies take extensiveorganizing and resources but we must begin the process of becom-ing as powerful as the OHV lobby and hoards of mechanizedmonsters.

Currently, it is difficult if not impossible to identify OHVs sincetheir registration stickers are out of sight. We need regulations thatestablish standards for easy identification. Funds from OHV vehi-cle fees should be used to provide adequate signage, enforcementand interpretation (information centers, kiosks) for designatedOHV recreation zones and areas that are off-limits.

Support local, statewide and national candidates for elected officewho will work for the protection of natural resources. Target pub-lic officials who support OHV abuse as "soft on crime" and votethem out of office. Work with Indian tribes to inform the publicabout the need to protect sacred sites and cultural resources.

Pass local, state and national laws that provide directed funding forlaw enforcement to obtain surveillance equipment, conduct proac-tive patrols and purchase vehicles capable of pursuing OHVs. Thepenalties for OHV abuse are too low hovering around $100 peroffence. We need to pass legislation dramatically increasing thefines and directing law enforcement to confiscate the vehicles ofrepeat offenders. A few weeks or months in jail may help to curban abusive habit. Even the most conservative estimate of the fis-cal impacts of the damage caused by OHVs would indicate thatcurrent penalties do not come close to the costs associated withillegal OHV activities.

Current regulations place the responsibility on property ownersand public officials to provide signage protecting these lands. ButOHV outlaws regularly pull out the signs and then plead that theydid not know that they were trespassing. Regulations must there-fore forbid riding on lands that are not specifically designated asopen to OHVs. Attempts to place this regulation in BLM manage-ment documents have been rigorously opposed by the very agencytasked to protect public lands. The concept of "multiple use", thefoundation for BLM management policy, reaches a disconnectwhen it comes to OHVs since their destructive effects precludeother uses. Ultimately, enforcement and accountability may best beachieved through litigation.

Without protection from local government and law enforcement,we must take the task of protecting our natural heritage into ourown hands. An organized community can have a very powerfuleffect on the political process as well as on the ground. Practicingprinciples of non-violence against a fundamentally violent act isvery challenging, but there are many tools within reach beginningwith any size group of committed people prepared to use a diver-

sity of strategies to defend our land and the quality ofour lives.

Philip M. Klasky is a writer, educator, and environmental andindigenous rights activist who divides his time between San Franciscoand the Mojave Desert.

Additional information from photographer, MarkHeuston, 29 Palms, Ca:

All of these images were taken in March of this springwithin a mile of my residence on Shadow Mountain road.They represent only a fraction of the actual, and ongoingdamage by OHV's in my area. Except for the shot of thedeeply incised "donut" around the creosote bush, all rep-resent OHV routes that didn't exist 18 to 24 months ago.One of the shots is not OHV damage; it is one of twoactive and very much at risk kit fox dens on BLM landwithin a mile of my home. Note the fresh paw printsacross the soft earth berm at the den's mouth! xxx imagein this series shows 4x4 tracks running through what areclearly collapsed wildlife burrows.

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Kit fox den with fresh paw prints in vicinity of OHV activity

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The Owyhee DesertOregon/Idaho/Nevada

By Laura Pace, Vancouver, WA

The Owyhee Desert covers over 2 million acres of SoutheastOregon, Southwest Idaho and Northwest Nevada. It's avast open area of high desert with few roads, fewer ranches

and even fewer towns. It's a great destination for the intrepiddesert explorer, provided you have the time, the equipment, and areal sense of adventure. Unlike most deserts, it's a great place tovisit in the summertime.

There are two distinct parts to the Owyhee, the difference betweenthem due to the most recent type of volcanic activity that tookplace. The part north of Oregon State Highway 20 was formed bythe explosions of calderas, followed by faulting and erosion. It hasa weird, almost ominous quality about it that, to my eyes, is notuncommon in landscapes created from rhyolite ash. It featuresinteresting rock formations and colors, and poor roads. I've onlydone one trip there, down Leslie Gulch Road three years ago, butwill be returning this summer.

One is more likely to encounter other people here than furthersouth. Prospectors and rock hounds come to look for opals, sun-stones, agate, and other semi-precious stones that reside in rhyolite.The Owyhee Reservoir, which attracts fishermen and boaters, isaccessed via Leslie Gulch Road. And in August during antelopeseason, hunters also roam around, shooting things and leavingstinking piles of guts behind. But in general it's not a highly usedarea. West of the river, across from Leslie Gulch, are the OwyheeBreaks - very few jeep tracks even, and very little water. Rancherswho let their cattle run there live in towns 50 miles away or more,

and monitor their herds by airplane. Cattle rustling is still a seriousproblem there.

The southern four fifths of the Owyhee has a very different char-acter. Geologically it constitutes the western end of the SnakeRiver Plain. It is flat or gently undulating, without any outstandingfeatures. Most of the time, when you are driving through it, whatyou see is a flat open plateau top. This endless expanse is cutthrough here and there by the various branches of the OwyheeRiver and its tributaries, the Bruneau and Jarbidge Rivers. The ero-sive action of these waterways has created canyons 400-1200 feetdeep and exposed the geological history of the area beneath thethin veneer of basalt: layer upon layer of rhyolite hundreds of feetthick.

The nature of this area has endeared it to the military, who claimpart of it to train their fighter pilots, and want to include the rivercanyons in their exclusive domain. They have been challenged inthe courts, and so far held at bay, by a coalition of conservation-ists, ranchers and recreation groups who use the canyons, andIndian tribes who have traditional cultural sites there.

The Owyhee is thoroughly overgrazed. The vegetation, alreadychallenged by the harsh arid conditions, is degraded to very littlemore than sage plants and dust in between; you can see the stubsof grass clipped down to the ground. Frankly, judging from whatI saw this summer, I don't know how the cows survive on it. It'sso flat that there are few places where water from the occasionalstorm can collect to form a pool or creek. Among the best raincollectors are the roads, but you have to be near one right after arain to get the benefit. I occasionally saw big metal tanks broughtin by ranchers to provide water for their cattle, but no wells. Idrove up to one of them, but couldn't tell if the water would beaccessible, or drinkable if it is. My guess would be to take whatyou need with you if for some reason you want to hike in this end-less flatness.

My first trip into the Owyhee was in June of 2003. On this trip Iwanted to start exploring the area to see what it is like, since thereis so little printed material to be found about it. Due to the dis-tances, I didn't have time to get out and hike much. From near theOregon border, I headed east from McDermitt, Nevada, throughthe Fort McDermitt Shoshone-Paiute Indian Reservation. For sev-eral miles the road ran alongside the east branch of the QuinnRiver, skirting the northern edge of the Santa Rosa Mountains. Itwas a one-track affair, in many places seriously banked downhill

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The Owyhee desert

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Rattlesnake after a large meal


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toward the river, very rough, with steep inclines and hairpin turns.

I got to a place called Devil's Gate, a narrow defile between highrocks that crowd in on the river, which you ford as there is nobridge. There's a second ford about another quarter mile furthereast. Eventually the road ran up the hills, away from the river, untilit finally reached the wide expanse of the Owyhee. I kept goingeast until after 4:00 pm, by which time clouds had gathered toform a storm. I remembered those two fords: a flashflood couldcut me off and leave me stranded, so I turned back.

I got out of there OK, and headed over to Oregon CanyonMountain, a little northwest of McDermitt, a place I had not beenable to explore adequately two summers ago, when I still had myVolvo wagon. There I came upon a rattlesnake moving very slowlyacross the road. It either had just eaten a large meal, or it was apregnant female. I stopped and grabbed my camera, set the dis-tance at one meter, and pursued it through the sagebrush as it triedto get away from me, exhorting it to turn around and say "cheese."Finally it lost patience and made its stand,head weaving menacingly, tail rattling, thelarge lump firmly anchoring it in the middle.

A couple of days later, I headed east intoIdaho from further north in Oregon, becauseI could see clouds further south, and had hadenough of gumbo for the time being. First, Ihad to have a look at Three Forks, a primeput-in spot for river rafters, and OwyheeCanyon Overlook. Then I went east toJordan Valley, where I got gas, and intoIdaho. The road crosses the North Fork ofthe Owyhee, where there's a bridge and acampground. You continue up over JuniperMountain with views east and south acrossthe dryland. Volcanic ash barely qualifies assoil, large areas of which are covered withskeletons of dead plants. I know that thisused to be a sheep-raising area. I wonder ifperhaps it was so overgrazed that the vegeta-tion was not able to recover. Nothing at allgrows now in many places.

I found gas at Bruneau and headed southacross the plateau to the Bruneau CanyonOverlook. Here the Owyhee canyons are attheir deepest. The landscape on the plateautop is the same here as elsewhere.

Sunset was approaching, and I needed a placeto camp. I like to camp next to or undertrees, but in this interminable flatness theonly trees I had passed in hours were on pri-vate land #16, where I crossed the east forkof the Bruneau River. I was about to give upon that idea when the road went down a shal-low dip - and there were a half dozen junipertrees! The depression in the land obviouslycollected enough rainwater to support them,though it was dry at this point. What a treat.

I pulled over and set up camp next to one. As I did, the localbirds that call it home began flying in for their evening roost, onlyto find me in their midst. They were quite upset - there was a lotof bird conversation well into the evening. And I was unhappyabout upsetting them, but I wasn't moving. They finally had toresign themselves to spending the night somewhere else. A bigowl with a wingspan of at least five feet watched me for awhilefrom the next tree over, then lifted off and slowly sailed aroundme in a circle, tilting his head this way and that to get a better look,before he quietly flapped off. The next morning before I left, Ifound a couple of rocks with depressions in them that I filled withwater, as a peace offering to those I had inconvenienced.

This summer I'll be visiting an area just east and south of JuniperMountain in Idaho. It's called the Badlands, located in the RedBasin and Brace Flat quadrangles. I'm told this country featuressome really interesting rhyolite formations. And I'll be taking amore extensive trip into the northern Owyhee area, now that Ihave a vehicle that can get me in and back out again.

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Bruneau Canyon’s layered basalts; depth is 1000 feet


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and I got to see the car. He�s written a lot of books. If you eversee Clegg and Beebe, foremost writers of rail books, they were upthere and they spent a couple of years writing. Then I came downto Owens Valley and visited Bodie and Keeler. I got over there andthe Southern Pacific narrow gage railroad was still running. I gotacquainted with some of those guys there and went back severaltimes afterwards. It quit running in 1960. I got to know the train-men and they welcomed people, they would let you ride right up inthe cab with them. And the engineer, Walter Ferguson was hisname, he�d advise you to come there and get in the cab and rideup there to Owenyo, or some of those little places. It�s unthoughtof today.

GH: That was in Keeler, in Owens Valley, right?

BG: Keeler is at the east side of Owens Lake. It�s one of theworst places you can be, because that dust blows, I mean it�s miser-able. The roads were all dirt, on a motorcycle. Well, the mainHighway 395 had been paved, but when you get out there byKeeler and around there, it was all dirt.

GH: Do you remember what kind of motorcycle it was?

BG: Yeah, Indian Junior Scout. I saw one here about six monthsago, a gal had it, a beautiful piece. I had a war surplus one when Igot to Muroc, I bought it for three hundred bucks from a guythere.

GH: You�ve been a Death Valley `49ers member for many years.

BG: In 1949, I went with my Model A pickup and took my samefriend of pre war days and we went out to the first Encampmentin 1949, that was a great thing.

GH: The very first one, you were there?

BG: The first one. I�ve been going to them ever since.

GH: That was a big crowd wasn�t it, I understand the actor Jimmy

Stewart was the keynote speaker.

BG: It�s so big you can�t imagine. It�s the biggest crowd everassembled in Death Valley. They ran out of gas promptly andpeople couldn�t move and there�s no bathroom. Things go to thedogs. Anyway, it was a tremendous event, it was the best eventthat ever happened out there. Las Vegas engaged busses fromthere and they brought people in. That Encampment spectaclewas four miles down from Furnace Creek Inn, in DesolationCanyon. They had big bleachers set up there, I don�t know howmany thousands it held, but it was packed in there. What a grandevent. I�m sure glad I saw that thing! The main purpose for thecelebration at the time was the 100th Anniversary of the `49ers,from 1849 to 1949.

GH: What did you do when you moved back to Southern California

after Berkeley?

BG: I worked for the City Building Department in Los Angeles.I worked there for five and a half years. I later landed at Bechtel,where I retired from.

GH: Tell me about the desert peaks you climb with the Sierra Club.

BG: The Desert Peak Section is designed for hikers that like togo to the desert. We have over a couple hundred members, and Ifirst got with the group in 1954, which is a long time ago. The first

A Lifetime in theDesert: AConversation withBob GreenawaltPart 2;

By George Huxtable, San Mateo CA

Continued from the last issue.

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Bob Greenawalt

There are too many motorhome people, theywon't get out and walk.

Chevys were known for breaking axles backthen and we carried a spare one under theseat.

GH: What were you doing later, after high school?

BG: Well, three years I was in they army, I was away from home.I was at UCLA going to school, and later Berkeley, so there were anumber of years in there that I wasn�t even in the desert.

GH: Where did you go to school?

BG: When I got out of El Monte High School, I went toPasadena JC, and later transferred to UCLA. I was in the army forthree years, then I went back to UCLA and took civil engineering.They didn�t have a four-year engineering school, so I went toBerkeley, and was there for one year and one summer session. Ifinally finished in 1947.

GH: So, you graduated from Berkeley in 1947 with a degree in�

BG: In Civil Engineering, BS.

GH: What years were you in the Army?

BG: 1943 to 1946, Army Air Corps (Air Force).

GH: What did you do there?

BG: I went up to Yale University, they had a tech school there,and it was called Maintenance Engineering. Well, engineering is aloose term in the Air Force. It doesn�t mean you�re doing muchengineering, what it means is you�re trying to keep planes flying.It�s maintenance of aircraft and they call it engineering. But any-how, I got to go to Yale, and I was there about eight months. I wasthere in Vanderbilt Hall and Connecticut Hall, where Nathan Halewent to school. My first assignment was one month at a little air-base called Liberal Army Air Field, in Liberal, Kansas. They hadB24s. I was supposed to learn something about B24 aircraft, whatare you going to learn in one month? But, I learned somethingand was assigned to Muroc, which is now Edwards AFB. I didn�tget scratched or anything, I never went overseas. So, the wholeAir Force thing was fine, I enjoyed it.

GH: What did you do when you got out of Berkeley in 1947?

BG: The immediate thing I did, was get on a motorcycle and goto Virginia City, Nevada. Lucius Beebe was a big author and hehad his private rail car, called the Gold Coast, there at Virginia City


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desert trip I went on was down to a place called Mopah Peak,which is down near Vidal Junction near Parker, Arizona. Okay,the interesting part is that a girlfriend of mine in the Sierra Clubinvited me to go on the Desert Peaks Section trip. She was one ofthe few women that had a 4-wheel drive Willys station wagon atthe time. She�s still an unusual gal.

GH: So, how many peaks are there?

BG: Right now we have a list of 98 selected peaks in the south-western U.S. It was 97 and we just added a new one called BridgeMountain, if you know where the Red Rock area is west of LasVegas. It�s a tremendous peak, it�s a spooky thing, it�s got a lot ofexposure and � I kinda chickened � I made it, but I was scared.

GH: How many of the 98 peaks have you done?

BG: I�ve done them all.

GH: You�ve done all 98?

BG: Yeah, it took me about 35years to do it.

GH: When did you finish?

BG: I finished the list in 1993 I think it was. And since then therehas been a couple of peaks added. So, I did those two later.

GH: How many of the peaks are in Death Valley?

BG: Well, naturally Telescope is the biggest one, it�s one of myfavorite all time peaks. Have you done Telescope yet?

GH: Oh, yes.

BG: Well, another is Pyramid Peak. West of Death ValleyJunction, that�s a very imposing peak. South of Death ValleyJunction is Brown Mountain. It shouldn�t be named that, becauseif you go to the top of Brown Mountain you�ll see a USGS bench-mark there, and it says �Evelyn� on it, named for Borax Smith�swife. There�s an Evelyn siding on the old T&T, right there on theeast foot of Brown Mountain. So, I actually proposed to theSierra Club that we change the name of Brown Mountain toEvelyn. There are over a half dozen Desert Peaks that overlookDeath Valley.

GH: Were there any trips that you�ve been on where you really got

in over your head or where you really got concerned?

BG: Yes. I was up on Mt. Hood several years ago and I thought Iwas a goner. I was really praying as much as I have ever prayed inmy life.

GH: Tell me a bit about that.

BG: Well, there were four of us and we wanted to do Mt. Hood.I belong to the Highpointers Club. One of the gals was in theSierra Club with me and she said she knew two guys that wantedto climb Mt. Hood. So, she said we could all meet at 2:00 a.m. ona certain day. This was only about four years ago.

GH: 2:00 a.m.?

BG: 2:00 a.m. Yeah. I drove up there and about 10:00 at night,sacked out in the back of the Blazer. About 2:00 a.m. she and theothers knocked on the window, so I got my backpack and every-thing and we start climbing. I had borrowed some crampons.

Well, that was the misdoing. I didn�t know what I was in for. Irented some plastic boots at REI. Don�t rent boots! We startedgoing up there and one of the canvas straps on the cramponbreaks. I got that fixed with some strapping that I had, some cord,got that going. We got about half way up there and Edna says,�I�m so pooped I can�t do anymore.� The guy with her, Pete, herfriend, says, �I�m tired, I�m not going to go any farther either.� So,the guy from Simi Valley, that I didn�t know before, and I said,�Well, we�re going on.� Well, there was a lenticular cloud on thetop of Mt. Hood, and I didn�t know about clouds like that.

GH: What time of year were you doing this?

BG: Summer, July.

GH: What time of day was it?

BG: Oh, about 10:00 in the morning. We�re well on our way upthere and all of a sudden we see this cloud. My friend that I just

met, I think he saved my life. Hesays, �There�s a cloud, I don�t knowif we ought to go in that or not.� Isaid, �Oh, yeah, let�s go it won�t be

that bad.� And that was a major misdoing. Suddenly, about ten ortwelve climbers pass us going up. They said, �This is pretty bad, it�sall foggy and it�s colder then heck and the wind is blowing aboutsixty and watch out because there�s a bergschrund up here.� Do youknow what a bergschrund is? Well, it�ll scare the pee out of ya!When there�s a glacier, for some reason the top of the glacier clingsto the rock, but right below it will part, and there will be a big cavi-ty there due to gravity. We got to that thing and it would hold aboutthree boxcars! Well, we had to go around. Those things can openup anytime. I mean gravity, your weight and all of a sudden thething might crack on you. We tried to follow the other group of hik-ers but we lost track of them in a hurry, so we tried to follow theirfootsteps.

GH: How were you finding your route?

BG: Just picking around, it was all foggy there and you could seemaybe fifteen feet ahead of you! We just kept going. We were closeto the top, we were not going to turn around now. Well, what weshould have done was turn around about an hour before then. Wegot up there, it was colder than heck and the wind was blowing lick-ity bang and you can�t see anything. We couldn�t even see the sum-mit where we were! We were on a flat place, we knew we were ontop, but couldn�t see anything around there. We soon started back.

GH: So, you were on ice and snow?

BG: Ice and snow, with crampons. We were roped together, prob-ably thirty feet apart. We were coming down and I was in the lead.I found what I thought was the furrow that people had beatendown in the snow, it looked like the trail. It turned out to be a bigchute, better watch out, because rocks come down the chute. Well,I got confused on that chute. My new friend was behind me andhe says, �I don�t think that�s it.�

GH: You were unable to follow your own footprints back?

BG: It was so miserable. I said, �We�re going to get into troublehere I�m afraid� and he said, �Yeah, there�s one thing we gotta do.

T o b e c o n c l u d e d n e x t i s s u e . . .

Do you know what a bergschrund is?Well, it'll scare the pee out of ya!

Rabbit Peak BackpackFebruary 14-16, 2004, Santa Rosa Wilderness

By Paul Menkes, Berkeley, CA

In February David Halligan led a trip with 12 other Survivorsto Rabbit Peak, just north of Anza-Borrego State Park. Eventhough it was February we were treated to the best flower dis-

play that I've seen since the miracle year of 1998. Highlightsincluded dozens of desert lilies and fields of dune primrose.

But about the peak - we camped in a wash just above Clark DryLake. On the summit day we dayhiked 5,200 vertical feet to thesummit of Rabbit Peak (6,640+) and back again! We started increosote, got into agave and barrel cactus and eventually made intopinion and juniper. It was a very strenuous dayhike, but everybodygot back to camp before dark. It was quite a nice trip.

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Skiing in the Desert CarcampFebruary 14-16, 2004, Owens Valley, CA

By Craig Deutsche, Los Angeles, CA"THERE IS NO CAMPING LIKE SNOW CAMPING"

Although the facts went somewhat astray, the title abovedescribes the plan of the trip. This was to be, as far ascould be determined, the first Desert Survivor trip with

the stated purpose of skiing in the desert. Many Survivors havehiked about the Mono Craters east of June Lake, many havewalked high in the White Mountains among the Bristlecone Pines,and certainly highway 395 north of Bishop, CA, is familiar tomost. But what are these places like when seen from cross-coun-try skis? And really how cold is it to camp there in February? Agroup of nine met on Saturday morning, February 14, to begin theexperiment.

A principal observation would be that it is impossible to predictweather conditions three months in advance. The weeks beforethe trip had been warmer than usual, and the Pleasant Valley

Campground where we stayed six miles north of Bishop wassnow-free with even bits of grass surviving along the Owens River.Nor were there were any complaints about the above-freezing tem-peratures. Instead of hiding in tents and sleeping bags the

moment that dark fell, we were able to sit and talkcommunally about a campfire and to compare vari-ous cooking styles which ranged from the very best(full barbeque steak by Dave Moon and Inge Werner)to the worst (an indescribable dish prepared by AmyThigpen and Frank Hersfeldt). The more significantresult of the weather was that snow was limited, andour original plan had to be somewhat modified.

After setting up tents that first morning, the groupdrove north on highway 395 to Deadman Creekbetween Mammoth Junction and June Lake. Here at8000 feet there are some groomed trails in theNational Forest, and we skied west toward the SanJuaquin Ridge about seven miles away. After somedistance we left the trails (and the accompanying*&%##& snow machines) and were pulling our waythrough the deep powder. Weather was clear andbeautiful, snow was good, only one person got lost,and we were all pretty beat by the time we returned

Road in the White Mountains

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Eric Rorer, Inge Werner and other Survivors on skis

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Ron Cohen and Julie Donohue stretching



to camp.

On Sunday we followed the original plan per-fectly, except that there was almost no snowalong the first two miles beyond the road clo-sure as we headed toward Shulman Grove in theWhite Mountains. A few persons elected toleave the group and go hiking near the EurekaDunes, a few persons went part of the distanceto the grove and then returned to the cars at thegate, and others were finally able to put on skisand explore one of the signed trails near thevisitor center. Of course a major purpose ofthis hike was for the view it provides. Lookingwest across the Owens Valley toward the snowcovered Sierras borders upon being a religiousexperience. This was the reward we receivedfor our patience.

Monday morning began with a group confer-ence. Some persons needed to leave early andsnow was scarce, so the decision was to take a short hike (bootsonly) to a nearby petroglyph site. This is in the volcanic tablelandsimmediately north of Chalk Bluff Road. In fact, the site had onlybeen located one day before our trip (by Sandy Nancarrow, EricRorer, and myself) using GPS coordinates provided by anothermember of Desert Survivors. Although the site is not advertisedby the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the use-trail leading toit suggests that it is moderately well known, and there are, indeed,signs asking visitors to respect the integrity of the petroglyphs. It

is called "Sky Rock" and is a truly impressive panel, much more sothan the other sites for which the BLM is willing to provide loca-tions. It was a mellow, snow-free morning before the group sepa-rated and our experiment concluded.

When this trip is repeated, we will all certainly anticipate the mod-erate climate, but then of course there will be boreal storms beat-ing down from the North Pole. Desert Survivor trips are neverexactly as expected.

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"Sky Rock" petroglyph

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Providence Mountains Backpack February 27-29, 2004, Mohave National Preserve, CA

By Karen James, Rosamond, CA

The Providence Mountain Backpack from February 27 to 29went off without a hitch.Rather than walk on the

road from Kelso Depot asplanned, we started our hike tothe Hole-in-the-Wall Campgroundon the Globe Mine Road. Therewere eight hikers including BobLyon, our trip leader, several vet-eran DS members (Silvia, Spencerand Ed), and four first time DShikers including myself, Roger alandscaper from Davis, andJonathon and Gab, father and sonoutdoorsmen lured to the desertfrom St. Cloud, Minnesota. Agreat group of people I hope tohike with again.

Once we left the road, there wasquite a bit of water in GlobeCanyon due to the recent storms.There were signs of animal life(tracks and scat), although the

most I saw were a few jackrabbits and a cottontail. The desert wasvery green, even this early, with lots of grasses, many varieties ofcactus, junipers, pinion pine and a few early blooming flowers. Allindications point to a great show of wildflowers this year.

Looking back down Globe Canyon

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We made camp Friday afternoon at4300 ft elevation and shortly afterdinner it began to snow. Silvia andI retreated to our dry tents. Iheard talking well into the night.

Saturday morning, we awoke tomaybe an inch of snow. This wasa first for all of us while hiking inthe desert, but we all agreed that itwas better than rain. The snowmade breakfast cold and packing abit slow. We were underway at9:30 hiking up the canyon when wecame to a water tank and ruinsfrom the Warlux Mining Co. Itwas dated 1922 with a concreteplatform stamped "Calie Merlin"added later in 1945.

Further up we came to the jeeproad leading up to the Globe Mineto the east and Summit Springs tothe west, which is the route Steve Tabor describes.

Reaching the summit (5300 ft) we had excellent views of WildHorse Mesa and quite a challenging climb ahead of us. Walkingdown the wash in Beecher Canyon was definitely the easiest sec-tion of this hike. Climbing to the top of the mesa was steep, butwith the wet ground it wasn't too bad. However, once on top, theground was mushy and muddy. We found a nice grove of pinionspines to camp in to shelter us from the wind, although after darkthe wind calmed and was not an issue, but it was cold and we allwent to bed early.

Sunday morning we could hear the train whistling through KelsoDepot at least 10 miles away. We got a much earlier start andheaded down off the mesa, only a "warm up", since we ended upclimbing back up to the top. (I won't recommend using our foot-

prints as a guide!) Once we got our bearings, we made a steepdrop off the mesa down into Banshee Canyon where there is aspring, wildlife and a Chemehuevi sacred site with some petro-glyphs.

On our final push through the valley over to Hole-in-the-Wall weencountered seven or eight horses enjoying the sun and grasses onthe trail just below the entrance to the volcanic rock and the ringladders. We reached the visitors center at 1:30 p.m. Spencer,Roger and the Minnesotans decided to take the Mitchell Cavernstour at 3:00 and this is where we said goodbye.

The California Segment M of the Desert Trail will be a mostmemorable hike for me through an area that is challenging andbeautiful.

Wild Horse Mesa before all the snow melted

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Death Valley On BicyclesMarch 12-14, 2004

By Paul Menkes, Berkeley, CA

It wasn't supposed to be hot in early March. Balmy tem-peratures would make for perfect cycling weather in thefamed valley of death and be a great introduction to

desert mountain biking for our DS pedal enthusiasts. But itwas hot, and we faced unexpected difficulties. Nonetheless,a great time was had by all. Let me tell you about it.

Back in 2002 I hatched the plan for a wild, carry all your gearbike trip in the White Mountains. There is a road to the topof 14,246 White Mountain, cars can't go up it, but bikes can- why not do it? Only Alan Katz was crazy enough to joinme on that trip. It was beyond strenuous, but we managedto do the 80 mile, 3 day tour. Something like this is not foreverybody. Could I come up with some intermediate tripsthat would challenge bikers, but be within reason?Something where we could stop and smell the flowers?

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Death Valley bicycle group

Death Valley seemed to be a good choice. The centerpiece woulda 28 mile ride down Titus Canyon, not easy but well within theabilities of anybody who does a little preparation in the 6 weeksbefore the trip.

Bob Lyon agreed to do a car camp at the same time and help carrythe gear and pick us up at the end of the rides. Bob even came upwith the idea of camping at Hanaupah Canyon, where the bikerscould just ride to camp. Everything seemed in place for a greatweekend.

In the end, we got 5 more bikers and 9 car campers to join us. Wemet at the Death Valley Visitors Center. It was warm, and theweather was trending warmer. Then we learned the disappointingnews that Titus Canyon had suffered flash floods, and the road waswashed out in places. The park service had closed the road to allvehicles, including bicycles. Bob and I decided to figure out whatto do later that night, at our first camp.

The five bikers included one novice, who was very enthusiastic, butnot quite prepared for some of the more difficult riding. CraigKing also had his mountain bike stolen just two days before, andwas going to cancel the trip. Luckily, Rich Juricich managed toborrow a bike from his brother, and Craig decided to come. DougJohnson and Karen Wray came from Richmond, and Alan Katzjoined for his second DS bike trip. We got dropped off by the carcampers 6 miles south of Furnace Creek at the start of WestsideRoad. This road crosses Death Valley and runs along the westsideof the Panamint Mountains all along the lowest portion of the saltpan. We started at minus 75 feet and road 11 miles to minus 260

feet! All along the road we would stop and gawk at the salt pan, themountains towering above us, and the general amazing view. Itwas a very peaceful ride. We took our lunch at Shortys Well, whereDeath Valley legend Shorty Borden had once dug a well to supportone of his many prospecting ventures. The area was filled withlow hummocks covered with mesquite, which didn't provide anyshade on what was becoming a very hot day.

After lunch we turned off Westside Road and started climbing up afan into the Panamint Mountains on Hanaupah Canyon road.Craig's borrowed bicycle developed a pedal problem and he couldno longer ride it. He walked the 5 miles up the road. The otherbikers soon discovered that, while the grade was easy, the roadbedwas filled with loose rock that made the riding a true intermediatechallenge. Add to that the heat, which seemed to be in the low tomid-nineties, and suddenly everybody's mettle was being tested.We stopped frequently. Several riders chose to walk their bikesrather than deal with the slow uphill grind.

But we could still stop and smell the flowers. What flowers therewere! Lupine bloomed in all of the washes. Desert five spotshowed up everywhere. Desert sunflowers and chicory dotted thefan with yellow and white. Orange globe mallow rounded out thepalette.

About two-thirds of the way up Doug and Karen found a shadyspot underneath a large boulder and waited for the cars.Everybody else decided to keep walking or riding up. After one ofour frequent rest breaks I noticed that my back tire seemed reallylow. I stopped and sure enough, it was flat. I pulled off the back


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Rich on Hanaupah canyon descent

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wheel and pulled out the tube to find the leak. Craig walked onby. Did I need a spare tube? No thanks, got one already. Whilechecking the tube I found the leak was on the valve stem. There'sno way to repair that, so I took out my spare tube. It was thewrong size. Craig! Craig! He couldn't hear me so I got down tothe business of repairing an irreparable tire. 3 patches and a lot ofeffort later, the air stayed in it. I managed to ride up to the top ofthe fan to the mouth of Hanaupah Canyon, where we camped outfor the night. Later on the car campers and Doug and Karenjoined us. When Doug and Karen were picked up he resumedpiloting his truck. He stopped once and got out to check on thecars following. He immediately noticed a camera by a bush. Mycamera. Thank you Doug for recovering it!

That night we gathered around a campfire. Doug and Karen had alot taken out of them from the heat, and decided not to bike onSaturday. Craig's bike couldn't be fixed; besides, it was really toosmall for him. We decided to join the car campers for whateverday hike would replace our Titus Canyon visit. We decided tocheck out Marble Canyon, north of Stovepipe Wells.

On Saturday we visited Marble Canyon, with it's wonderful slot,petroglyphs and pioneer graffiti. But first Alan, Rich and I speddown the Hanaupah Canyon fan on our bikes. It was quite differ-ent from the trip up! We probably covered the five miles in lessthen twenty minutes, compared to the hours spent grinding up.

We spent a lot of Saturday dealing with the logistics of moving 10vehicles and 16 people, along with accounting for the inevitablestops along the way to pick up bikers, get repairs at Furnace Creekand round up everybody at Stovepipe Wells. But we managed tospend a couple of hours in Marble Canyon and make it to ournext campsite at Lake Hill, in Panamint Valley, before sunset. Itwas a very pleasant camp. Lake Hill gave everybody the experi-ence of camping on the valley floor away from people, somethingyou do not get in Death Valley. We also discussed some of theenvironmental challenges still facing Panamint Valley and DeathValley National Park, including the possible Briggs Mine expan-sion, whether or not Surprise Canyon will be reopened as anextreme four-wheel drive route and the proposed Saline Valley AirForce radar installation.

The next morning Rich got up early and rode his bike to PanamintSprings Resort, 8 miles away. The rest of the bikers, exceptingbikeless Craig, drove up to the resort and unloaded our bikes. Wethen took a short ride up Darwin Canyon to the Darwin Falls trail-head. The car campers and Craig had arrived minutes before.Everybody then trekked up the short distance to one of thewildest experiences in the park, a hidden oasis with a 90 footwaterfall. It never ceases to amaze me. The bikers then rodedown Darwin Canyon, to Panamint Springs, and joined everybodyfor a farewell lunch at the resort.

Many thanks to Bob Lyon helping pull off this trip. It was a won-derful group of bikers as well, and everybody was enthused to findmore intermediate trips to do in the desert. I hope to return toDeath Valley to do the Titus Canyon ride and also would like to doa ride in Carrizo Plain National Monument next Spring. If any-body has any ideas for desert bike trips, please get in touch withme via e-mail at [email protected].

Sheep Canyon BackpackMarch 12-14, 2004

By Steve Tabor

Ididn�t have any takers for my Marble Mountains Monitoringtrip on March 12-14, so I decided to lead a trip to a placewhere I really wanted to go, Sheep Canyon in Death Valley

National Park. I put my new idea out to the Desert Survivors list-serv (DSOL) and got nine calls in just a few days. Seven personsaccompanied me on this segment of the Desert Trail. All weremales, the first time for that in awhile. It�s one of the most spec-tacular segments on the DT. I knew it would be a thrill.

The Sheep Canyon Segment starts in Greenwater Valley in thesoutheast corner of the Park. After meeting in Shoshone, we setup a car shuttle in the bottom of Death Valley near the mouth ofWillow Canyon. The Park Service has made a quasi-official trail-head there that fits nicely with Desert Trail logistics. The Park hasdropped its requirement that hikers get permits for backpack trips,a change from 2001, the year of our first Desert Trail Relay. Thismakes things easier for spur-of-the-moment trips like ours.

After the shuttle, we drove up Greenwater Valley from Highway178. The Greenwater Road has been graded recently, a contrast toformer years. Bryn Jones (of the California Wilderness Coalition)and Bob Ellis later told me that the same road crew had gottencarried away and plowed a road on Wilderness land for severalmiles before noting their error. We started the hike at the seg-ment�s South Trailhead, just opposite �DT Knoll�, a small hill inthe valley that serves as a landmark.

The initial part of the hike was west across Greenwater Valley.The weather was absolutely grand! Leopard lizards and hornedlizards were out and flowers were blooming. In the distance wecould see wide bands of yellow painted across the valley, especiallyat the base of hills linked to the Greenwater Range. The whole

Sheep Canyon Desert Trail, Death Valley National Park

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Death Valley region had been soaked by rain on the weekend ofFebruary 27-29. These flowers were the result. As we walked, wenoted that the soil was damp right under the surface.

We hiked across the valley to a low pass. Creosote bush and bur-roweed diminished and other shrubs increased as we got closer tothe mountains. We crossed the pass on our direct line west andentered a little valley loaded with blackbrush and four-wing salt-bush. We were following George Huxtable�s guidebook to theDesert Trail in Death Valley. We intersected the jeep trail intoGold Valley and followed it to a high pass. We got to the pass atnightfall and established a beautiful camp on soft flat ground.

In the morning, the sun lit up the mountains all around us. Therewas good light on the Panamints across Death Valley; we could seeonly their tops. After breakfast, we got back on the jeep trail andfollowed it down into Gold Valley. This small valley is landlockedon three sides. The fourth is blocked by a series of falls down-stream in Willow Creek Canyon. We stopped at another intersec-tion, easy to locate. The route goes north from there over a passinto Sheep Canyon, but first I wanted to dayhike down to WillowSpring to see for myself the flowing water others had told me of.

We hiked four miles down the canyon on another intact jeep trail,about 1350 feet. The turnaround just above the highest set of wil-lows was 3.5 miles from our packs. We hiked a miner�s trail upover the rocks and down to the bottom of the willows, where wefound a good flow of water and refilled our jugs. Dave Burch and

I left the group and hiked further downstream to check out alter-native sources. I was also eager to see what the dry falls were likedownstream, the falls that had stopped a crew of Death ValleyHikers on their official hike in November. We found more a quar-ter-mile down, a stronger flow, then turned the corner to see thecanyon. It was still traversable where we turned back but I didn�tfeel like continuing. I could see it was dropping fast around thecorner. The flowers at that level were excellent, reason enough todo the exploration.

When we got back up to the rest of the group, we learned that asmall family of chuckwalla had stopped by to see them. Thelizards were curious about our fellows, perhaps never having seenhumans before. They did a few little �pushups� to announce theirpresence, then left to take shelter under a big rock when somebodystood up to take a picture. After that, we made our way back up tothe packs, then headed north on the jeep trail for the pass.

The pass between Gold Valley and Sheep Canyon was about 900feet up. It was a cruise most of the way, then we broke off andfollowed an illegal jeep trail uphill to get closer. There was no signin the drainage to mark the Wilderness boundary, something I�llhave to report to the NPS. People are driving in that part of GoldValley without any knowledge of what is Wilderness and what isnot. We chugged up the steep slopes as best we could. It was nota hard climb, but contrary to the topo map, there was no trail. Wereached the top at 4:45 pm.

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Resting below the third dry fall in Sheep Canyon


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The view down into Sheep Canyon was inspiring. It was a steepdrop but not as far down as I had envisioned when looking at themap. Across the canyon were steep bedrock walls of light-coloredquartz monzonite. The ridge beyond was colored pink and white,also quite steep and loose. Slopes to our right below Funeral Peakwere ragged schist. Everything in our view was steep and treacher-ous scree or jagged bedrock. The only soil was on our path down,which made our descent easy.

After a final look back at the long shadows in Gold Valley engulf-ing its soft rounded hills, we turned to the work at hand. Fromrounded we would now shift to angular. The next few miles, Iknew, would be a wearying chore over loose rocks and bedrockdrops, but that�s the Wilderness. This is one of the premier DeathValley canyons. I wouldn�t want to be in any other place right now.The initial task, the drop to the bottom, was soon over. Wedanced and slid down the loose 350-foot slope, descending withoutinjury. We turned left in the canyon and bounced down the rubblychannel. This fork of the canyon was a narrow trench with fewterraces, but I knew the canyon would eventually widen. We wereworking against time because I wanted to get to a soft wash beforewe camped, and I knew there was nothing like that here. We pro-ceeded as best we could, over a few short drops and around a fewmore, dodging rocks and boulders that had fallen down from highabove. So far, so good.

One-third of a mile down-canyon we came to the first high fall.The book route went up and over a small ridge to get around this.Footing on the bypass was treacherous and we kept sliding down.I was glad to get clear of this one, but I wasn�t sure just how muchfarther the next falls would be. George�s book said there were twomore. We went over another short drop, then helped each otherover a big chock stone that filled the slot canyon.We handed down packs over this and chimneyeddown one-by-one. Soon after, we popped outinto a more open stretch with some sleepingspots. I dragged the group just a little fartherdownstream to a place where there was roomenough for everybody. It was getting dark.Though without a view, this would have to do forour camp.

We passed a pleasant night, achy as hell. At leastI was; my feet were killing me. In the pleasantmorning we still had 4000 feet of descent and thelast two dry falls ahead of us on this, the last dayof the trip.

This place in the canyon had a three-feet-thicklayer of cemented gravel, really a deposit oftravertine left over from the days when thecanyon had regular seepage during the Ice Age.We scrambled down over this nice smooth pebblysurface with a view out toward Telescope Peak.That would have been a good camp with morn-ing light for inspiration. I figured out that thedrop off this travertine platform was George�ssecond dryfall. It was also the end of the roughcanyon, at least for a while, the start of somesmooth cruising. Remember this if you�re on this

part of the Desert Trail. The best camps are below the travertine.

We followed the smooth pebble surface downstream. The canyonwas now in a deep trench, wider at the bottom with huge walls ofback diorite, a hard intrusive rock, reaching to the sky. The canyonmade an abrupt turn to the right that was littered with fallenblocks, then straightened out to give another fine view. A shortwhile later, we came to the third fall, a vertical drop. There was anobvious trail up and over to the right, easier than the one we�ddone the afternoon before. This is the fall portrayed in George�sguidebook.

We followed the pebbly surface downstream, passing over anothershort drop at a right-hand turn. A mile after the fall we encoun-tered the north fork of Sheep Canyon, which drains colorful vol-canic terrain to the east. Here we found a small oasis withmesquite trees (both honey and screwbean, the latter a rarity),arrowweed (Pluchea) and giant reeds (Phragmites). A small coyotehole in the reeds held about a gallon of water. We rested here inthe shade for a long time.

From here on, the canyon is on a truly grand scale. The bottom iswide and open, and the walls are high and steep, often vertical.Diorite predominates, but outcrops of other rock, including mar-ble and gneiss, show up in the walls. The canyon is open andsunny for a couple of miles, twisting and turning only in broadsweeps. The bottom is now rocky, due to the nature of geologyupstream. The volcanics up the north fork don�t made sand andpebbles like granite does. This stretch was hard on my feet.

Growing in the spaces between the rocks were lots of flowers,mostly blue and purple Phacelia. This part of the canyon had fared

Pierre with lizard hanging from his finger. The lizard was subsequently low-ered to the ground where it released the finger and scurried off unharmed.


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By Steve Tabor

In 2003, Desert Survivors embarked on a more serious desertmonitoring program than we've done in the past. A group wasconsigned by the Activities Committee to come up with a

monitoring form more comprehensive than we've used, one devel-oped in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management thatrecords what that agency wants. This was done. In the Spring of2003, I used this form to produce a monitoring report on theBighorn Mountains Wilderness west of Joshua Tree and sent it tothe BLM. Craig Deutsche did monitoring in the CoyoteMountains Wilderness in Imperial County and submitted hisresults. I did the "Calumet Mountains Water Search" and submit-ted that report as well.

In Winter 2003-2004, I did four more monitoring trips. InNovember, I did two in the Sheep Hole Mountains, part of the

Sheephole valley Wilderness. One of those included a day in theCleghorn Lakes Wilderness. I did one in the Clipper Mountains inJanuary, and one in the Piute Mountains in February. All of theselocations are near Route 66 in San Bernardino County. All weredesert Survivors trips, open to any member. Excerpts from mynotes on these follow.

Sheep Hole Mountains andCleghorn Lakes

On November 7-9 and November 28-30, I led trips to the SheepHoles. We went twice because the first trip did not allow enoughtime for the task. The main objective was to find and evaluate two"game guzzlers"; water catchments constructed for bighorn sheep.These contraptions are controversial in the desert today, partlybecause they are industrial intrusions in Wilderness Areas, but alsobecause, at least in California, they function only marginally aswater catchments and have to be refilled often from the air. Onthese trips, we wanted to witness the "guzzlers" on the ground, tomap and photograph them.

On November 7, we had an odd day open, so we hiked west fromAmboy Road into the Cleghorn Lakes Wilderness. This proved tobe a pleasant surprise. There had been much rain here during thesummer, with more falling in October. Even this early in winter,all was green. Typical desert wildflowers were blooming aboutfour months early. More importantly, the ground was carpetedwith blooms of two summer/fall annuals that are not often seen inCalifornia: fringed amaranth (Amaranthus fimbriatus) and chinch-weed (Pectis papposa).

Also surprising were tracks and scat of desert tortoise, which inthe Mojave are usually active only in the spring, the normal bloom-ing season. With early rains this year, the tortoises were out. Wesaw no live animals, but in many places tracks indicated that tor-toise were following each other around, either to fight or mate.

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Location of Winter 2003-2004 monitoring trips

well during the recent storms. Bare rock predominated on thewalls, where there were few plants except Pleurocoronis, desert fir(Peucephyllum) and brittlebush. A chuckwalla appeared. We found adead towhee, probably blown off course in a storm, and severaldead tarantulas. The angry collared lizard that bit Pierre Edwardswas very much alive. Pierre got someone to take a picture of thelizard hanging by its teeth from his finger.

We ate lunch below a vertical marble wall with a volcanic dike zig-zagging up through it. (This is shown in George�s book on page21). The rest of the canyon was more rocks all the way to themountain front and down the fan. Flowers were even better here:two Phacelias, Mohavea, gravel ghost, pincushion flower, brown-eyedprimrose, and desert dandelion We had a view out; we could nowsee all of the Panamints from top to bottom with the Death Valleysalt pan below. We veered left to go down a small wash that cutthe fan, where it was easier walking. We rested behind a cutback.It was 79 F. in the shade, 92 F. in the sun.

At 1:30 pm, we finally left the torture of the rocks and got ontoeasy ground on the Death Valley floor. From there it was a mile tothe cars near the mouth of Willow Canyon. The valley floor wasalso carpeted with flowers, mostly sunflowers and primrose. It was95 F. when we got to the cars. It got hot early this year and hasstayed that way. I was still writing notes as we drove back andturned left on Highway 178 to get back to Greenwater.

This was a great hike, one I�d wanted to do for a long time. WhenI planned the Desert Trail route in the Park, I knew I could notleave this canyon out. In fact the segments before and afterevolved as mere concessions to its grandeur. If you hike this seg-ment, I�m sure you�ll come away impressed.

Bibliography: Hiking the Desert Trail: A Guided Route Covering theLength of Death Valley, George Huxtable, published by The DeathValley Hiker Association, 1673 Toyon Court, San Mateo, CA94403; e-mail:[email protected].

Wilderness Monitoring Reports


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TOn our hike, we found a mix of plants from both southern andnorthern deserts. Especially intriguing was a huge pencil cactus(Opuntia ramosissima) five feet across at the top and five feet high. Itis easily the largest I've ever seen, perhaps a record for the species.When we crossed over to Cleghorn Dry Lakes in the afternoon, wefound one of the playas loaded with masses of mallow (Sphaeralceaaugustifolia), blooming profusely, obviously benefitting from a sum-mer flashflood. Its twin to the north was barren and bone dry.

On the way back, we saw several black military (Apache) heli-copters attempting to fly into the Wilderness from the adjacentTwentynine Palms Marine Base. They turned back when they sawus, obviously aware that they don't belong in statutory Wilderness.Later, when we entered the hills, a large "Chinook" helicopter withno numbers and faded U.S. Marine markings landed on NorthCleghorn Lake in plain view. This was a direct violation of theWilderness Act, which prevents motor vehicles in WildernessAreas. I described this in my monitoring report, along with thefew off-road violations was saw on the way back to our cars. Onthe second and third days, we shifted our focus to the Sheep HoleMountains to the east. We camped in Wonder Valley east of DaleLake on Ironage Road. This proved to be a good camp, but it ismarred by a very obvious, well-drilled jeep trail going west into theSheephole Valley Wilderness. This is commonly driven by jeepsand bikes, despite the presence of a prominent Wilderness sign atthe boundary. We followed it for miles on our dayhike, also on ourNovember 28-30 backpack trip in the same area. It is a major eye-sore and a trespass route that causes much damage to theWilderness.

On November 8, we hiked across Wonder Valley in the Wildernessand into the Sheep Hole Mountains. We did a boulder canyonabout 1000 feet up, the shortest route to the CaliforniaDepartment of Fish and Game's "Bearclaw Guzzler", located acouple of canyons over. We were hampered by the lousy map inthe BLM's Environmental Assessment on the new SheepholeWilderness guzzlers that it plans to build. That document had the"Bearclaw Guzzler" located on a ridge and gave no map coordi-nates. We exhausted ourselves trying to get up this canyon to theeast side of the mountains and could not get close to where wethought the "guzzler" would be.

After lunch, we dropped to the other side of the mountains andhiked south across the alluvial fan. This side was wonderful, openand pristine, except for a few old sheep camps used by hunters,complete with termite-eaten firewood. There were great views eastacross Sheephole Valley and classic examples of pedimentation, aerosional process that leaves bare rock platforms at the mountains'base and a series of incised gulches. Residual knobs left behind bythe retreating mountain front were all over the place. We alsofound garnet rock littering the pediment, lots of tracks of hoofedanimals (possibly burro deer), and more chinchweed and amaranth,plus other flowers. This, I thought, is the wild side of the moun-tains.

To get back to the cars, we dropped down a narrow canyon thatwas tough physically, but went through without any major dryfalls.This too had plenty of tracks, mostly of bighorn, and great textureto the metamorphic rock. At first I named this "WindingCanyon", but changed it to "Bloody Canyon" when one hiker took

a nasty fall. We emerged from the canyon at sunset and hikedacross the valley with headlamps to our cars.

On the last day, November 9, we did the same thing at the northend of the Sheep Holes, hiking up and down a tortuous rockycanyon, then over to another canyon to look for another "guzzler","Sud's Hole". The drop in the canyon was classic Sheep Hole:tremendously strenuous, over huge boulders and around rip-rap.At lunchtime, after much work, we got to "Sud's Hole" at the baseof a dryfall. We found the rock pool by that name, which hadabout two feet of water in it, but did not have time to explorehigher canyons to the "guzzler". I assume it exists, but once againwe were frustrated by the BLM's map, which showed this "guzzler"also up high on a ridge.

After photographing the rock pool, we hiked back to the carsaround the more benign north end of the range where there wereno obstacles. We found more flowers and saw more sign of tor-toise. We were also treated to fields of fragrant silk dalea (Daleamollis), a delicate ground-hugging plant with a potent fragrance andan excrescence that stained our hands and clothing. That was areal treat.

On November 28-30, I went back to the south part of the SheepHoles on a backpack trip to see if I could remedy our failure tofind the "Bearclaw Guzzler". Backpacking would give us moretime to look for it. I had a group of five, one of whom had beenon the previous trip. We backpacked up "Bloody Canyon", mar-veling again at its beauty, then hiked north along the east side. Inthe morning, we tried the first big canyon, with no luck. We wentup 1500 feet over boulders, close to the top, and found no "guz-

"Sud's Hole", a rock pool (center) at the bottom of a canyon

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zler". In the afternoon, we tried the next canyon to the north andthere it was, a half-mile as the crow flies and 1000 feet belowwhere the BLM's map indicated it would be. Despite the extrawork, it was a satisfying accomplishment.

This "guzzler" was located at the rim of a dryfall below a tight nar-rows. A pipe draws water from a small rock pool that has beenenlarged with sandbags to make a larger catchment. The water isdrawn off to twin fiberglass tanks on the canyon wall. Each is fivefeet across and five feet high. They contained water, obviously notderived from the catchment, which is too small to fill the tanksunder any circumstance. The BLM says the tanks are filled four orfive times a year by helicopters drawing water from fire hydrants inTwentynine Palms. Still, even though it doesn't work, it's an inge-nious construction despite the over-optimistic expectations of itsbuilders. And the water is being used by bighorn.

After photographing and mapping the site, we dropped down toour packs, then hiked back to our cars the next day. The"Bearclaw Guzzler" was functioning as a water source for bighornand was being used. This calls into question the need for a newguzzler to be built on the other side of the Wilderness eight milesaway. We had determined the previous spring that bighorn wereprospering in the Calumet Mountains without any artificially con-structed water source. Now we could see that existing sourceswere serving them well in this range. The sheep will do just finewithout any further construction. I called this to the attention ofthe BLM in my monitoring report. I also strongly recommendedthat the agency do something about vehicular trespass fromIronage Road, which shows much damage. It may eventually cometo pass that a "campground host" or armed guard will have toposted at such places to inform prospective vandals of Wildernessrules and prevent damage, but it's doubtful that the BLM has thecourage to do what is necessary. Heat-activated sensors or motiondevices may have to be installed to inform patrol rangers of tres-pass; perhaps that's as much as we can expect from the agency.This could be done if there's enough political will on the part of

environmentalists.

Clipper Mountains Wilderness

On January 23-25, I led a monitoring trip to the Clipper Mountainssouth of Interstate-40 near Essex. On this carcamp, we visitedthree locations, all of which showed water on topo maps. Thiswas another investigation of bighorn water, though less politicallycharged than in the Sheephole because no new guzzlers are pro-posed for construction.

On the first day, we parked off the freeway on the north side andhiked 4.5 miles up a long canyon with an easy wash. We followedillegal wheel tracks all the way to a turnaround. Apparently thisjeep trail, closed by the California Desert Protection Act in 1994,was still being used by the BLM and/or Fish & Game or its vol-unteers for "access". Many plants have been run over by jeeps andtrucks and the soil is compacted, reducing any prospect of naturalrehabilitation.

One-half-mile from the turnaround, we came to a large "guzzler"complex that occupied the center of the canyon. A spring show-ing on the map had been dammed, presumably with the intentionof ponding water. Unfortunately the spring is now buried undertons of rock and no longer produces water at all. A pipe hadbeen lain from the dam downstream to a tank, to no avail. Therewas no evidence that this catchment had ever functioned as intend-ed.

Having failed there, those who had constructed this "guzzler"came back and concocted a new apparatus, a sloping pad thirty feetlong and twelve feet wide, lined with thick plastic sheeting. Thiswas designed to catch rainfall and direct water to an intake on thedownstream side, where it would drain through pipes to twin tankslike those at the "Bearclaw Guzzler" in the Sheephole. We sawsome puddles on the plastic, indicating that it held water, but therewas only about a foot of water in each tank, not enough for sheep

if it's intended to last the summer.

We saw no sheep tracks or scat at either tankor at the small drinker that had been builtinside a pipe fence (to discourage burros).There was some scat up near the erstwhilespring, as if the sheep were nostalgic forwhat had once been there. We surmised thatthe whole apparatus was so intimidating tothe animals that they'd rather go elsewherefor water.

A surprise in this canyon was the existenceof cattle. There were well-worn trails andfresh cowflops all over the place. We evensaw a few cattle as we advanced upstream.On the way out, we discovered that the cat-tle has been coming in from the MojaveNational Preserve under the freeway over-passes, which were not fenced. ThePreserve still has cattle allotments. Therewas no evidence of historic grazing any-where here no old trails, no white or gray

Inspecting a tank for water at the �Big guzzler"

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Tdroppings, no corrals or cattle troughs. In my monitoring report, Irecommend that the cattle be removed from the Wilderness andtaken back to the Preserve, at the expense of the owner (not theBLM or the taxpayers).

This canyon had some interesting features separate from the "guz-zler" complex. There were many dense stands of barrel cactus andMojave yucca on terraces and hillsides. Other Mojavean shrubswere well-represented. Unlike the Sheephole or the Cleghorn, thisWilderness is solidly within the Mojave. There were also photo-genic lava cliffs, capped by a thick layer of black basalt, just a hintof the major cliffs on the south side of the range. When we triedto climb the hillsides to the crest of the range, we found them tobe extremely loose and difficult to maneuver. Hiking in the wash,however, was easy.

We drove around to the south side of the range near Essex tomake camp. The next day, we drove in 4WD vehicles on a bumpyroad to the Wilderness boundary near Hummingbird Spring. Atthe boundary, we found that off-roaders had built up the cutbankin the wash to make a ramp they could drive up and down, so theycould get inside the Wilderness, closer to the spring to hunt birds.The spring is only one-half mile up the canyon, but apparently thatis too far to walk. We broke down this illegal ramp by scatteringthe rocks and further undermining the cutbank. The Wildernesssign had been shot off at ground level.

The map location of Hummingbird Spring was occupied by twoold concrete tubs set in red clay. This curious arrangement wasperhaps part of a mineral claim, or a catchment for water forwildlife (and humans?) it was difficult to tell which. There was nowater, nor had there been at any recent time.

The present spring is thirty feet down in a gulch to the east. Pipeshave been lain underground to draw water into a small toilet-bowl-sized drinker. The drinker was full. Brickellia and tamarisk hadbeen burned out in a fire, but bladderpod (Isomeris) were comingback and were blooming well. Many small animals and birds usethis water, but we saw no sign of bighorn in the immediate vicini-ty.

After recording the spring, we hiked upstream in the gulch, againlooking for sign of bighorn. We found none. We ended up on alow ridge that allowed an excellent view of the high cliffs at thecrest. Looking up, we could read the eruption sequence in the vol-canic rock: red andesite, tan colored mud flows, white tuff andblack basalt. All of this rested on rounded hills of Precambriangneiss and schist. The gap between the two is 1.6 billion years orso, give or take a few million. It was a splendid sight. There's notmuch room to maneuver there, up on the crest. Backpackingwould be a chore.

The rest of the day, we ate lunch at a mining camp with a lonepalo verde tree and the remains of a 1920s-era truck, then hikedwest to check out another mine, following a line of four-foot-tallcairns made of boulders. There was no trail across this jumbledrock. At "Section 31 Mine", we found collapsed structures, frag-ments of machinery and crockery, and several horizontal and verti-cal shafts. In the afternoon, we returned to our cars and campunder threatening skies.

On the third day, we drove to the north side near Goldhammer tohike up to another spring. Goldhammer, an old settlement builtlong before the freeway was constructed in 1972, showed moremining activity, and was also plagued by cattle damage. Wildernesssigns, however, were intact at the boundary. Someone had tried todrive up the wash with a Humvee, but had turned back because ofrocks. We found the old jeep trail in the canyon, which went allthe way to a mine half way up the mountainside. There was a clas-sic old shaft there, with lots of bighorn tracks nearby. It lookedlike they had been fighting and pawing up the dirt. A spring show-ing on the map didn't exist on the ground, so we came back down.

Another spring showed on the map. We found it on the way back.This one was in a side gulch like Hummingbird. Also likeHummingbird, it consisted of a drinker drawing water from aburied pipe. The drinker was a blue bucket, so we named it "BlueBucket Spring". The bucket was full and the water fairly sweet.Bighorn tracks and scat were all over the place. This was a majorfind.

My monitoring report on the Wilderness emphasizes the removalof the cattle and the protection of the springs from any more"improvements". I have seen many springs that have been"improved" out of existence in my thirty-two years of desert trav-el. It is easy to disrupt a source, as happened in the first canyonthat we visited. I also recommend that the underpasses betweenthe Wilderness and the Preserve be fenced, and stated that I wouldlead such a trip for the BLM if given enough notice.

Finally, I also recommend preventing vehicular travel in theWilderness so old jeep routes would have a chance to recover.Most driving is being done by Fish & Game operatives, probablyincluding their "guzzler" volunteers. As we proved when we hikedhere, it is not necessary to drive to investigate the condition of"guzzlers" or springs. Desert Survivors does this all the time on

Denver Ward and barrel cactus, Piute Mountains WildernessS

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foot. At Hummingbird Spring, a new Wilderness sign must beconstructed and the road must be blocked with rip-rap boulders atthe boundary.

Piute/Li t t le Piute Mountains

On February 14-16, I led a monitoring trip to the Piute MountainsWilderness, east of the Clippers and south of Route 66. Thissmall Wilderness had always intrigued me because springs show onthe topo maps. I also wanted to take us to the Little PiuteMountains farther east; we'd seen a classic outcrop of GrandCanyon rocks there on an early trip in 1993. But that was not tobe.

We were plagued by deep sand on the approach, right from themoment we left the railroad tracks at Essex. Essex Road on thisside of Route 66 is called Sunflower Springs Road, and it's now asand pit all the way up the fan, much different from what Iremember from earlier trips. The only passenger car dropped outafter the first mile. The rest of us plugged on. Three pickuptrucks had to be dug out or pulled out at one time or other. Bythe time we got opposite the Lazy Daisy Ranch at the south end ofthe Piutes, that was it. I said, "Let's hike!"

So we gave up on the Little Piutes and hiked instead into low hillsto the south, outliers of the Old Woman Mountains. This was anenjoyable hike, up a wash over a low pass, then south to a pass,then north back to the cars. We saw classic Mojave vegetation,plenty of calcedony roses, great views both east and south, andlots of cow flops. This was another place where cattle dominated,mostly because of the Lazy Daisy. Though not Wilderness, it wasstill a shame to see the desert in these hills desecrated. We alsosaw outcrops of marble and chlorite schist, part of the GrandCanyon series thrust-faulted from what is now Arizona.

The second day, we hiked north into the Piute MountainsWilderness. Most of theapproach was on anotherjeep trail, also a sand pit(granite makes good sand.)We came to the Lazy Daisyafter an hour or so. Thisranch property was fenced,but had no gate. Cattle andburro tracks and droppingswere everywhere, radiatingout from a couple oftroughs. The water comesfrom a well. There werenumerous trailers, an oldwindmill that probably stillworks, at least two con-structed buildings, and atleast seventeen abandonedcars and trucks. The latterwe counted only at thewest end; we did not ven-ture inside the facility.There may be more in theinterior.

A sign on the fence displayed the name, "Melvin Blair". This Irecognized as one of the Blair brothers who hold (or held) severalgrazing leases in the Mojave Preserve on the other side of the free-way. Curiously, on the BLM's Amboy Desert Access Guide pub-lished in 1999, this plot of land shows as belonging to the BLM.Either the map is inaccurate, or the BLM has allowed Mr. Blair tosquat on the land, to disastrous result.

From the "ranch� we headed farther north to an adjacent drainageheading northeast. This was a fine pebbly wash filled with all sortsof wildflowers. It was an easy hike all the way up to a low passwhere we had a fine view down into the Wilderness' main drainage,which was occupied by a very photogenic long straight ridge ofwhite marble, grey limestone, and yellow sandstone. I had beenaware of this canyon from the map; it had been excised from theWilderness, an entire square mile, during negotiations over the pas-sage of the California Desert Protection Act in 1994. I hadthought it was cut out for mining claims, and there are a few oldtunnels, but I didn't know that it was public land; I thought it wasprivate. Three sections surrounding it, all inside the Wilderness,are private, not public. Go figure. This is the most interestinggeology in the Piute Range, and it's outside the Wilderness!

What's more, a great burro trail leads from this pass down into thecanyon, along the bottom to the northwest past great stands ofMojave yucca and barrel cactus, then northeast over two morepasses to Fenner Spring, our ultimate goal. This trail is intact witha good tread, and is easy to follow. It's like a Sierra Nevada trail.Some people don't like wild burros, but they make good trails.

We followed the trail down and across the canyon past colorfulrock. On the other side are great outcrops of red and purplequartzite. The trail was a wonderful cruise to Fenner Spring. Wedropped silently down to the spring, hoping to spook somebighorn or other animals, but we found none. We ate lunch at thespring in the shade of a cutbank.

Mojave yucca, buckhorn cholla and barrel cactus in the Piute Mountains Wilderness

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The original site of the spring was in a grove of mesquites in thebottom of the gulch. That was dry. Nearby was a tunnel cut backinto the bank about twelve feet. There was water in puddles backin there. Apparently, burros scrunch forward on their knees intothe tunnel to get water. I tasted the water and it was sweet. Wespent some time listening to the house finches, sparrows and otherbirds coming down for the water, and then went back the way wecame. On the way back, we saw five burros in the open part ofthe canyon. They were right on the trail we were using.

On the third day, we hiked northwest from the cars to BarrelSpring, which also shows on the map. This also had a well-wornburro trail leading to it. The trail goes over a low pass and downto a gulch with some very green Isomeris and a few small trees. Thewater is a small pool catching seepage from a high cutbank. Thebarrel nearby is quite rusty and it leaks.

We ate lunch at this spring, then watched the goldfinches andhouse finches drop down for water. Black-throated sparrows andPhainopeplas called from the surrounding desert. We sat thereawhile, nibbling on Isomeris pods, then headed back. The twoyoungsters with us talked about video games all the way back tothe cars.

We left early on this last day. I was worried about the sand. Wecruised back all the way down the sandy road, careful not to spinour wheels. I would not recommend this road, or any other roadsshowing on the map nearby, unless you have four-wheel-drive.

We did not have a chance to examine washes away from our mainroute for off-road damage. Another trip to do that may be war-ranted. Perhaps all the sand discourages people from leaving themain tracks. There was some off-road driving in the square-mileexcised from the Wilderness, but we had no time to check allboundaries. A sign admonishes people to stay on the main desig-nated thoroughfare, but we noted some errant wheel tracks inopen desert. Even though it�s not Wilderness in that part of thecanyon, it's still "Designated Routes Only" for driving.

This was a very rewarding winter for monitoring. The threereports I�ve written, the Cleghorn Lakes, Sheep Hole Mountainsand Clipper Mountains, have all been sent to the respective BLMField Offices and to the California Desert District Office inRiverside. I've also sent them to activists in other groups who areworking on protection issues.

If anyone wants a copy of one or more of these reports, call meto order one. They're expensive to produce, but they do havecolor pictures and descriptions of the country. The text is orient-ed to management of the land. Desert Survivors pays part of mytrip expenses, but I've produced these reports with my own money.I�m selling them at cost. Prices vary from $7-$15, depending onthe number of pictures. Call (510) 769-1706, or e-mail<[email protected]> for information.

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By Craig Deutsche, Los Angeles, CA

As a first thought, the notion of monitoring off-road vehi-cles from the air is a bit surreal. In fact, however, this isexactly what the courts have ordered the BLM (Bureau of

Land Management) to do as part of a California desert wide law-suit, and it has become a weekly reality in Imperial County. In2000 the Center for Biological Diversity along withthe Sierra Club, and Public Employees forEnvironmental Responsibility brought a law suitagainst the Department of the Interior for 20 yearsof failure to create and implement managementplans for protection of several endangered species,as required by the Federal Lands PolicyManagement Act of 1976. As a first action, inNovember 2000, the BLM decided to close a por-tion of the Algodones Dunes to protect the feder-ally listed endangered Peirson's Milkvetch. Thelawsuit was settled with an agreement between theplaintiffs, representatives of 5 Off Road Groupsand the BLM El Centro to close a specified 49,000acres in the Dunes to ORV travel, leaving open69,000 acres to ORV travel. As part of this settle-ment, BLM El Centro agreed to weekly flights overthe Dunes with a representative from the ORVcommunity and a representative of the plaintiffs inorder to monitor compliance with these protectiveclosures. The area has been a favorite playground

for off-road riders for some years. The number of visitors tothese dunes on the major winter weekends has become hundredsof thousands, and with this use there have been increasing prob-lems of all kinds, including the damage to endangered speciesalready mentioned. On January 17 this year, I was the environ-mental representative on such a flight.

The arrangements to participate in a flight may be made with

One If By Land And . . . Monitoring the Algodones Dunes

Flight over OHV camps

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either Terry Weiner([email protected]), an activist withthe Desert Protective Council, or withDaniel Patterson ([email protected]) at the Center forBiological Diversity. Although it isnecessary to make your own arrange-ments to be at the Imperial Airportnear Ed Centro, the flight is free forthe observers. I met with MikeGremillion, pilot, and with GavinWright, a wildlife biologist from the ElCentro BLM field office, at 11:00 AM.There was no observer representingoff-road riders, and I was told that theyhad declined to send anyone for anumber of weeks. The plane was aCessna Sky Master that seated fourpersons. Of course the flight beginswith instructions about seat belts, about the emergency equipmenton the plane, and on the use of the headsets so we could commu-nicate with each other over the noise of the plane. As we headedeast across open fields toward the dunes it became apparent thatneither the pilot nor the biologist were at all sympathetic towardvehicles that violated the closures.

The Algodones Dunes, also known as the Imperial Dunes, stretchnorth and south for a distance of perhaps 40 miles and have aneast-west width of about 8 miles. Within this area is a designatedwilderness area which is closed to motorized vehicles by federallaw. There are also three areas of different sizes which are closedby BLM regulation. The boundaries of all closures are marked bythe familiar fiberglass (Carsonite) signs. Our flight followed theboundaries of the closed areas for the purpose of determining theextent of trespass which had, or had not, occurred. For me it wasfortunate that both the pilot and the BLM observer knew the areawell and could point out exactly where the boundaries were locat-ed. We looked both for vehicles and for their tracks within the

closed areas. From the stories and rumors which circulate widely, Ihad expected to find a scene right out of a Mad Max Road Warriormovie. In fact nothing even remotely resembling this was to beseen. I was surprised, impressed, and pleased.

In locations which had easy access to roads, the boundary signswere closely spaced and highly visible. There were hundreds andhundreds of dune buggies, four-wheel ATV's, and motorcyclescruising along the outside of the boundaries, but during the entireflight of one and one-half hours, we saw perhaps two vehicleswithin the closed areas, and even these were no more than 20 yardsin violation. Indeed, there were visible tracks entering the closedareas in a few places, but with perhaps two exceptions these trackswent no more than 100 yards. There had been no significantwinds to disturb the sands for several weeks, and so it was not pos-sible to judge whether the tracks were recent or quite old. In viewof the fact that this flight was held on Saturday of the three-dayMartin Luther King holiday, the degree of compliance was rathersatisfying. All of this was included in a report sent to the Center

of Biological Diversity a few days later.

As for the flight itself, this was a mixed experience.We were about 1000 feet above the ground withgood weather and good views of both scenery andof the riders. The pilot and biologist were knowl-edgeable and glad to answer questions and explaintheir jobs. While we were in the air I was takingnotes as rapidly and carefully as possible on all thatwe saw. The principal difficulty of the flightoccurred at the corners of the closures. Here thepilot would tip the plane entirely on its side andmake the sharpest corner I can imagine. It was amiracle of will-power that my breakfast remained inits proper place instead of decorating the sandbelow. With a bit of practice I mastered thismaneuver, and the fact is that I truly enjoyed theflight.

Opportunities to participate in these flights areavailable from the persons indicated above. Theexperience is both a pleasure and a chance to be of

OHV tracks in the sand

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service. Perhaps this represents another way to enjoy the desert.Of course the goal of the desert-wide lawsuit, the Dunes over-flights, and the monitoring is that someday the value and integrityof the dunes will be respected by all parties, and the need for mon-itoring, either from the air or on the ground, will then recede.Meanwhile, the weekly flights will continue until the BLM ElCentro, working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comes outwith a Final Management Plan for the Dunes that meets Courtordered stipulations to protect the Peirson's Milkvetch and theAlgodones Dunes ecosystem for future generations. The date ofthe release of the final management plan is unknown at this time.

[Editor�s Note: Photos were kindly supplied by Tom Budlong from a simi-

lar flight on November 15th, 2003.]

Report from the Algodones Dunes

By Kelly Fuller, Alpine, CA

One of the showiest rituals of desert politics is the yearlygrudge match between off-roaders and environmentalists,squaring off over the Algodones Dunes. About half of

the dunes are open to off-roading. Keeping the other half free ofmotor vehicles is an ongoing battle, lately marked by lawsuits onboth sides. Impressed by the legal furor, I decided to see what allthe fuss is about.

In mid-April, I joined a hike through the Algodones Dunes thatwas sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity. We back-packed seven miles from west to east, crossing an area that is tem-porarily closed to motor vehicles because of an endangered plantspecies, Peirson�s milk vetch.

We were dropped off and picked up by van, which got us out ofpaying the BLM $25 per vehicle to park. Last October the weeklypermit fee was raised to this level and extended to the entire dunesarea, including the official wilderness north of highway 78. There

is no day pass rate. Some desert hikers say we shouldpay the fee�for which we get no services and no repre-sentation on the Technical Review Team that advises theBLM on dunes management�and write protest letters.Others insist we should refuse to pay and then go tocourt if we get citations.

Hiking ConditionsThe closed area is magnificent, with towers of sandreaching far over head. It took a while before I becamesecure in the silence and could trust that no vehicleswere going to come roaring over the dune tops. Oncewe got a third of the way in, the only sounds of otherhumans we could hear were the occasional jets over-head. Closer to the other side, we could hear the far-offrumble of the train. We saw almost no trash.

It wasn�t as hard to hike up the dunes as I thought itwould be. The effort was comparable to what I�ve doneon Desert Survivors car camps with a moderate rating.As long as we walked on the backs of the dunes, the

sand was firm. Going down a steep dune face was a differentstory. Then we buried our boots in sand. Luckily, most of thesand stayed out if I kept my bootlaces tied tightly. One hiker hadmilitary surplus desert boots that admitted none of the tiny gran-ules at all; he said gun shows were the best source for these. I did-n�t ask what he was doing at a gun show!

Conditions changed in mid afternoon when the wind came up. Atfirst it was enjoyable, like watching the movie Lawrence of Arabiacome to life. But when we had to cross the wind to stay on a duneridgeline and the sand blew in from the side, it was not so fun. �Ifonly,� sighed one of the hikers, �I had the eyelashes of a camel.�Eventually we found shelter under three enormous palo verdetrees, where we spent the night. The wind didn�t die until dawn.

The Living DunesThe dunes aren�t just sand. The closed area also contains hardpanwashes and a scrubby woodland encircled by dunes. There areflowering plants all over the place in the closed area, as well lizards,beetles, and birds. The dunes act like a giant sponge, holding waterfor plants. Because there had been a big rain two weeks earlier, thesand was still damp under the surface.

We looked for Peirson�s milk vetch, but we didn�t find very much.Some of it was growing in exposed places without protection fromthe wind, which was blowing the sand off its roots, causing it todry out. The group�s botanists thought those plants were likely todie. A few plants had seed pods from an earlier flowering, butmany had not set flowers and were not likely to this spring becausehigh temperatures would be here soon.

The weather was no obstacle to the glori-ous, blooming specimens of theAlgodones Dunes sunflower. The finehairs on its leaves dissipate heat, allowingthe plant to survive in the desert. BotanistLesly Hess told us that hikers sometimeshold the leaves to their foreheads in orderto cool themselves down a degree or two.

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We also saw sand food in bloom. It looked like a large mushroomwith a ring of tiny lavender flowers on top. Some NativeAmericans eat its stalk. A friend of mine has heard complaintsthat it doesn�t taste as good as it did before all the vehicles came tothe dunes.

Many scarab beetles scurried past us on mysterious bug journeys.Their tracks in the sand were delicate and beautiful. I found adead Andrews dune scarab beetle, a rare species that conservation-ists have been trying to put on the federal endangered species list.

During the hike, Daniel Patterson of the Center for BiologicalDiversity explained that several dunes species are on the stateendangered species list, but not on the federal list. Because theAlgodones Dunes are federally owned rather than state owned,only the less-inclusive federal list applies. Closing this part of thedunes to vehicles also protects those state-listed species.

The closure protects dune life in another, less obvious way. Ithelps to keep invasive species out. Unfortunately, we found a largepopulation of Sahara mustard, a non-native plant, in the centralwooded area. Old vehicle tracks were not far off. We pulled upwhat we could, but didn�t have the people or the time to makemuch of an impact. Where the mustard grew, the native plantsdidn�t.

What�s NextThe fate of the closed area is still unknown. The BLM has beenconducting a count of the Peirson�s milk vetch, which dependingon the results, might be used in an attempt to have the plantremoved from the federal endangered species list. This wouldmake it easier to let the off-roaders back in. Last summer, DesertSurvivors and several other conservation groups filed suit to stopthe BLM�s proposed management plan, which would allow about500 vehicles a day into the closed area. Despite the legal wran-gling, the area could be re-opened in October when the next ridingseason begins. Expect to see more about the Algodones Dunes inthe news as the year goes on.

Desert Survivors Joins �Give ItBack!� Campaign to Restore theIntegrity of Joshua Tree NationalPark

By Dave Halligan, Berkeley, CA

Joshua Tree National Park was originally envisioned as a desertwilderness stretching all the way from the Little SanBernardino Mountains to the Colorado River. Although the

early proponents of Joshua Tree were unable to achieve this grandvision, what these early desert activists of the 1930�s were able toaccomplish is still inspiring; a national monument of nearly onemillion acres. But, in the 1950�s, Congress removed 265,000 acresfrom the southeastern corner of the Monument to allow develop-ment of the massive Eagle Mountain Open Pit Mines by KaiserSteel.

The Act that removed this land from the protection of theMonument is known as Public Law (PL) 837. As a �compromise�for this Act, Congress stipulated that, if the land was not used forthe purposes of mining, it was to be returned to the Monument.Although the Eagle Mountain Mine effectively ceased operationtwenty years ago, the reversion provisions of PL 837 have still notyet been fully implemented. Now, Desert Survivor�s has joinedwith 25 other local and national environmental organizations to seethe intent of PL 837 fulfilled. This effort is called the �Give ItBack!� campaign. It is being spearheaded by two ChuckwallaValley Residents, Donna and Larry Charpied, and their organiza-tion, Citizens for the Chuckwalla Valley.

Desert Survivors has been involved the �Eagle Mountain Issue�since the early 1990�s when we first learned of the proposal to turnthe huge abandoned pits of the Eagle Mountain Mine into LACounty�s garbage dumps. Since then, the project has moved for-ward with the blessing of the BLM and the County of Riverside.It has only been through the efforts of environmentalists, spear-headed by Citizens for the Chuckwalla Valley, that the dump hasstalled. The environmental damage to Joshua Tree that wouldoccur, should the garbage dump begin operation, would be devas-tating. It would pollute the air with diesel smog, degrade the localwater table, destroy the night sky with ambient light, fill the PintoBasin with blowing garbage, and result in the demise of localdesert tortoise populations. To prevent this from ever happening,the grass-roots �Give It Back!� campaign has started. To under-stand the nature of this campaign, it is necessary to understandmore of the history of how we got to where we are today.

So, to continue our story, we now skip forward to the 1990�s. In1994 the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA) is passed byCongress, which upgrades Joshua Tree from a National Monumentto a National Park and restores much of the land removed by PL837, but not all of it. With the passage of the CDPA, Congressdid not return to Joshua Tree nearly 30,000 acres of land associat-ed with the Eagle Mountain Mine. The purpose, stated or not, wasto facilitate the conversion of the abandoned open mining pits into

Location of proposed historical landmark


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giant garbage dumps.

Clearly the intent of the Congress in the 1950�s was to ultimately�restore� Joshua Tree to its original size. This intent is not onlyplainly stated in PL 837 but also in subsequent enabling legislationpassed in 1952, specifically, in a piece of legislation called PrivateLaw (PL) 790. This law specifically granted the Kaiser SteelCorporation rights-of-way across federal lands to operate a mill siteand railroad for the sole and specific purpose of supporting min-ing operations.

Similar to the stated intent of Public Law 837, Private Law 790required the rights-of-way to expire if the mine became inoperativefor a continuous period of seven years. Well, folks, the EagleMountain Mine, for all practical purposes, ceased operating as amine twenty years ago. But, contrary to the specific requirementsof the law, these rights-of-way are still being asserted by thoseseeking to cram thousands of tons of LA�s garbage into the oldabandoned pits. Sadly, the BLM not only fails to seek enforcementof PL 837 and PL 790, but the courts have ruled that the BLM hasthe discretion to determine whether or not, and when, it would beappropriate to enforce the intent of Congress with regard to the29,775 acres that have not yet been returned to the Park.

The �Give It Back!� Campaign is a grass-roots campaign, startedlate last year by Donna and Larry Charpied, to protect the last29,775 acres from further destruction and degradation by agarbage dump. Desert Survivors has joined with Donna and Larryin this effort. The Charpied�s idea is to have the 29,775 remainingacres designated by Congress as a National Historic Landmark.

National Historic Landmark Status is probably the best we canhope for. The ultimate dream of having the mine reclaimed isprobably only that, just a dream. Although Kaiser Steel dumpedtons of spoils onto public lands without permission during thethirty years of operating the mine, Kaiser Steel is bankrupt. Thereis simply no money available to fund a reclamation process.Returning the lands to the Park, as originally intended, would placein the hands of the Park three huge open pits and a semi-function-al town-site, which are not the kind of resources the Park is well-

equipped to manage. However, creation of a National HistoricLandmark would likely come with additional funding to manageand maintain the Landmark. Thus, no additional burden on thePark would be created.

National Landmark Status has the advantage of keeping the landfrom being used for a garbage dump, allows for tourist-relateddevelopment compatible with the historical nature of the minesite, and keeps our options open for the future. This campaign isjust getting started, and Desert Survivors is proud to support thiscampaign. If you want to know more about this issue or want tocontribute your time or money to this effort, please contactDonna and Larry Charpied, Citizens for the Chuckwalla Valleyat 760-392-4722. You may also contact me [email protected]. The following websites are another greatsource of information on this issue.www.ccaej.org/projects/desert_protection/action_alerts2.htmlwww.ccaej.org/projects/desert_protection/desertprot.html

Military's Robot Cars Break DownIn The Desert$13 Million DARPA Race Is A Laughable Joke

By Steve Tabor

I'm not a plagiarist so I had to make up my own title for thisstory, but my moral code was strongly taxed when I saw theAssociated Press headline: "$1 Million (sic) Pentagon-

Sponsored Robot Race Ends as All Entries Break Down". Thatjust about says it all. The U.S. Defense (War) Department reallyWAS running a race for robots through the desert! And YOUwere paying for it!

The 150-mile event known as the "Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Agency Grand Challenge" ("DARPA" for short), tookplace on March 13. While I was leading a group of Survivorsdown Sheep Canyon in Death Valley, U.S. Army contractors weretracking computer-controlled dune buggies through the desert,

Eagle Mountain Mine townsite and abandoned railroad tracks, October, 1997

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hoping their entries wouldn't break, crash or fall over. While wewere testing our flat feet and wobbly knees, Pentagon researchers'vehicles were doing exactly that: breaking down, crashing andfalling over. It was a bad start for military buffs determined totake over the world with over-large robot toys. But I'm resistingthe temptation to laugh; they just might succeed someday.

With this DARPA Race, the Pentagon was trying to perfect theunmanned tank and unmanned HumVee, to go along with theirunmanned Predator and Global Hawk attack planes. Independentinventors and universities were encouraged to create their ownvehicles with their own guidance systems reading terrain and fol-lowing GPS signals. All they had to do was stay on a 150-milecourse across the desert and do the whole thing in under tenhours. The prize? $1,000,000 of taxpayers' money. Some of thecontestants, Carnegie-Mellon University for example, spent consid-erably more than that to develop their entries. Apparently it's notan easy task to give up the wheel to microcircuits and sensors.

The race had stirred up considerable controversy. When they firstheard of it, activists were reminded of the 400-mile Barstow-to-Las Vegas off-road race that we'd shut down in the 1990s afterconsiderable struggle. "DARPA" would go over much the sameturf. When I found out where it was going, all I could think ofwas the power lines I'd seen on part of the course. Activists werealso concerned about the military's security obsession. Preventingus from getting near the course would interfere with our ability tomonitor environmental damage. But the military prevailed and wehad to sit tight and hope nothing drastic would occur.

There's no real reason to run the race through the desert, exceptto use it as a publicity stunt, to build a constituency for militarybudget and gadgets. The race could have been run in secret onany one of a hundred military bases, in or out of the desert, butthe military needed a high-profile and lots of public interest.

As it is, they may wish they hadn't had the publicity. All fifteen ofthe finalists suffered breakdowns, some quite embarrassing. Twovehicles went fifteen miles before conking out; none of the restwent more than a mile. Many more vehicles didn't make the initialcut after trials earlier in the week. It doesn't look good for thefuture robot army..

The U.S. Army spent $13 million on the race and estimates thatthose working on the vehicles spent four or five times that. That'schump change for the military, but it's enough to build and outfit agood-sized medical clinic or a Third-World hospital. Much of themoney was put up by corporate sponsors. Military procurement isbig business, even when you're dealing with toys. They'll be back,no doubt about it.

The next race is scheduled for 2006. This time the tow trucks out-numbered the contestants. Next time it may be the other wayaround. We may have to go out and protect the desert yet onemore time. There's always something new to get active aboutwhen you're in the desert protection business. Efforts to defendthe land are never-ending.

In April there was a conference on how to transform the desertsof Mars to make them fertile. That may be the next big fight.

By Paul Brickett

Resul ts summary for DARPAGrand Chal lenge race in which norobot f in ished more than 10% ofthe 150-mi le deser t course.

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The Desert�s LivingCrustBy Mike Faden, San Francisco, CA

You�ve probably seen biological soil crusts in the Californiadeserts or Great Basin, maybe without realizing what theywere. They often look like a rash of blackish bumps cov-

ering the desert surface.

They�re living carpets � but not to be stepped on, if you can help it� and they prevent erosion, make the soil more fertile, and retainprecious water. Biological soil crusts, also known as cryptogamicor microbiotic crusts, can cover 70% or more of bare ground indeserts, forming a layer that�s often just a fraction of an inch thick.They�re a complex mixture of soil and tiny living things. Thesediverse organisms have colonized over many years as the crustdeveloped from bare sand or soil.

Often the most common crust inhabitants are cyanobacteria, for-merly known as blue-green algae. Despite their name, they�re oftenblackish in color. They grow as microscopic filaments that threadtheir way between sand grains. As they grow, they secrete a sheathof protective sticky material that acts as a glue holding together thesurface of the desert, and preventing erosion.

Crust denizens like cyanobacteria are admirably suited to desertlife. When it�s dry, they dry up too and become dormant; with ahint of rain, though, they wake up almost immediately � some startto metabolize in less than three minutes. Cyanobacteria swell likesponges to several times their size when wet, then gradually shrinkas they release the water back to their surroundings.

Other crust-dwellers are usually larger, and sometimes they movein only after cyanobacteria have become established and stabilizedthe surface. They include algae, fungi and several types of lichens� some flat, others with a jelly-like structure.

Giants of this world, the soil-crust equivalent of the statelyconifers of western forests, include mosses and branching lichens,which dominate this tiny world from a height of an inch or more.When wet, these can add green, yellow or orange tints to crusts.

As crusts develop over many years, they create their own mini-landscape. Dense concentrations of organisms and the materialsthey deposit often create an uneven, bumpy surface texture. Frosttextures the surface too, by heaving up the soil crust as waterfreezes into ice. As a result, soil crusts can smooth and flat inwarm deserts that rarely see frost such as the Sonoran, bumpy likeminiature foothills in cooler deserts like the Great Basin, andminiature ranges of craggy pinnacles up to four inches high on thecold Colorado plateau.

The organisms in the crust need light, which is why they flourishin open areas where they�re not shaded out by vegetation. Theyuse the light for photosynthesis, a process that creates much of theorganic matter in the soil. Some of them also enrich impoverisheddesert soils by capturing nitrogen from the air. Partly because of

this, soil crusts help desert plants to grow.

Because many of the living organisms in soil crusts are concentrat-ed into the top eighth of an inch, crusts are easily damaged byimpact. Hiking damages soil crusts, and the USGS suggests stay-ing on trails, slickrock or in washes where crusts don�t have time todevelop.

Other threats may be more widespread, though. In westerndeserts, native plants such as bunchgrasses and sagebrush are usu-ally interspersed with areas of bare ground where soil crusts candevelop. But vast tracts have been invaded by non-native cheat-grass and other species. Cheatgrass can swiftly spread over largeareas of previously unvegetated soil surface, leaving few gaps. Itmay shade out soil crust organisms in the process. By summer,cheatgrass dries out and becomes highly flammable, so when firesoccur they tend to spread widely, killing the shrubs and remainingbiological crust in the process.

Another impact is more directly man-made. Tires rip up the crustso the soil can be easily blown away by wind in a dust-bowl effect,and recovery is slow. A thin layer of cyanobacteria can form in asfew as five years, but some think full recovery can take up to 250years with no further disturbance. A recent study resulted in aneven more pessimistic estimate. Researchers examined areas usedabout 55 years ago for military training during the World War IIera. In the still-visible vehicle tracks, soil crust cyanobacteria hadrecovered by half or more, but lichens had not. Return of themost sensitive species in the crust, it was estimated, could takeclose to 2000 years.

For more information and references see www.soilcrust.org.

Editor�s note: For additional information concerning the effects of

off-road vehicles on biological crust see the feature story in this

issue starting on page 6.

Prose Selection

Submitted by member Kelly Fuller.

From "The Land ," by Mary Austin, published in 1909 inAustin's short-story collection called Lost Borders. The quotation isone paragraph from a six-page essay.

If the desert were a woman, I know well what like she wouldbe: deep-breasted, broad in the hips, tawny, with tawny hair,great masses of it lying smooth along her perfect curves, full

lipped like a sphinx, but not heavy-lidded like one, eyes sane andsteady as the polished jewel of her skies, such a countenance asshould make men serve without desiring her, such a largeness toher mind as should make their sins of no account, passionate, butnot necessitious, patient--and you could not move her, no, not ifyou had all the earth to give, so much as one tawny hair's-breadthbeyond her own desires.

32 The Survivor SPRING 2004

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