Mojave Desert Blog

An agenda has been announced for the April 8-11 2010 Western Wilderness Conference, to be held in Berkeley California.  The conference discussions and speakers will address an array of issues regarding efforts to manage and conserve wilderness throughout the Western US, but there will be a workshop focused on the "Campaign for the California Desert: Then and Now."  You can get more information on the Western Wilderness website .

The California Energy Commission (CEC) indicated in early February that it sought to release it's Staff Assessment--which is usually accompanied by the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)--for the Abengoa Solar project in March 2010.   The Abengoa Solar project would be built north of Helendale and west of Barstow.  You can read more about the Abengoa Solar project in one of my previous posts , but ultimately this project's primary vulnerability is its cooling system, which will require millions of gallons of water a year.  According to the CEC, it is still waiting on more information from Abengoa Solar to complete its analysis of the soil and water impacts.

That's right folks, if you are special enough to have access to ample capital, financing and real estate in the Mojave you can lay claim to thousands of acre-feet of water (1 acre foot = 325,851 gallons) deposited underneath the Mojave Desert, and earn $50 million dollars per year for as long as the water lasts, according to a Business Week article.  Unfortunately, this treasure hunt can impact the wildlife and people of the Southwest long after the treasure is spent.   Cadiz Inc, which has been growing lemons and raisins on some of its Mojave land as it conducted studies to ascertain the volume of subterranean water it could sell, is planning to pump that water as soon as it can manage the paper work.  The Cadiz funded study, conducted by CH2M Hill, suggests there is enough water for up to 400,000 people in the aquifer.  Although Feinstein has voiced opposition to the pumping, the political forces in California are likely to swamp the Senator's clout. So what's the big d

The California Public Utilities Commission ( CPUC ) approved of Southern California Edison's (SCE) proposal to develop up to 500 megawatts of energy using distributed solar generation, which would largely consist of contracting with "Independent Power Producers" to install roof-top photovoltaic solar panels.  As SCE, and possible Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)--which is also considering distributed solar generation--standardize the process for distributed solar generation the benefits of this model may take root and alleviate some of the pressure on the Mojave Desert. Distributed generation can take the form of up to 1 or 2 megawatts of generation from panels placed on top of large commercial buildings, raised over parking lots, etc.  Compared to the vast "utility-scale" projects being proposed in pristine Mojave Desert habitat, distributed generation will bring considerable savings since it will not require a large transmission network, it takes advant

A recent study published by the US Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center indicates that wind turbines kill certain species of bats possibly through direct impact but also because of significant changes in air pressure caused by the rotating blades.  This is an additional factor that needs to be considered in when assessing the impact of wind energy projects in the Mojave, such as the Granite Mountain site near Apple Valley.  Researchers are still studying what factors may be drawing the bats to wind turbines, and which species are the most vulnerable, but the study estimates that some sites may be responsible for the deaths of thousands of bats each year.  An increase in wind energy farms in the Mojave could significantly impact a key pollinator and insect predator.   Ideally research will be able to identify what is causing the deaths and inform the siting and design of wind energy farms so that this renewable energy source can be tapped.  Bird and bat deaths aside, wind

In my post on 1 February, Phantoms of Mojave Desert Transportation Projects , I noted the relatively quiet state of two major transportation projects that would impact the Mojave Desert, to include the high speed rail line titled the "Desert Xpress".  In the post, I surmised that since Federal funds were allocated for the LA-San Francisco line that may have doomed the prospects of the Desert Xpress, which would connect Victorville with Las Vegas.  In the past couple of weeks developments seem to have given new life to both the Desert Xpress and a Mag-Lev train concept, despite the diversion of Federal funds to the LA-SF line. Even though some political opponents termed the project the "Sin City Express" and derided the use of funds as wasteful. Although the wasteful spending claims create political reluctance, the project actually would have some political traction otherwise because Nevada Democrat Harry Reid and California Republicans Jerry Lewis and others would

There is a lot of hype for this Spring's Mojave Desert wildflower bloom, and admittedly I feed into that hype.  Being anxious to see how it turns out but unable to fast-forward time, I decided to rewind and review past blooms, although admittedly the two photos below were taken in early January 2008, so no quite spring.

With all of the East Coast-centric press reporting on Punxsutawney Phil and his weather predictions, I have to give an obligatory shout-out to Mojave Max the Desert Tortoise.  Actually, that's tortoises (plural) because there are two Mojave Max (talk about identity theft), one residing at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area outside of Las Vegas and another in Palm Desert, CA.  I would personally dispute the Palm Desert tortoise's claim to the Mojave title since I believe the exhibit technically falls within the Colorado Desert (as does part of Joshua Tree National Park), but that would ruin it for the kids.  So let's hope that both Mojave Max in California and Nevada will enjoy a spring season with bountiful wildflowers!  You can read more on Mojave Max at the Desert Tortoise Recovery Office website .