The newsletter of the Desert Protective Council

Fall / Winter 2013 Number 217

Presidents Letter
by Janet Anderson

hy is the Desert Protective Council (DPC) interested in preserving and protecting the desert? When you look at the literature addressing this question, there are many different answers. One example is Lawrence Hogues All the Wild and Lonely Places, Journeys in a Desert Landscape in which he takes the entire book to answer the question. Some authors emphasize the plants and animals specific to the desert, or the geology and paleontology. Other authors focus on the landscapes and characteristics typical of desert climate, as well as the life style that desert weather enhances.

Camp Borrego Fifth Grade Tent Camp Photos Palm Canyon hike - Spring 2011

DPC continues to focus on the preservation of desert plants and animals, many of the geological characteristics of the desert, as well as sacred places of the Native Americans. The pervasive sunshine in the desert is being exploited as a ready energy resource. Recent and planned industrial-scale solar projects usurp tens of

thousands of acres of public land with only lip service to the impacts on migrating birds, sensitive desert species, desert soils and habitat, and with little consideration of the devastation of the view shed. These project planners also dismiss the erosion in quality of life for local economies and resident humans. The use of wind turbines to capture wind energy is dangerous to the passage of migrating birds and to local birds. Wind projects, with their noisy turbines, invade the peace and quiet of nearby human residents. Native American sacred landscapes are ruined during the process of erecting the monstrous turbines and the roads required to build and maintain the facilities. One of DPCs approaches toward solving the problems of inappropriate desert usage is the education of young people in understanding the values of the desert. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP), in partnership with the AnzaBorrego Foundation, has developed several programs to introduce the wonder and ecology of the desert to young people. Since 2004, Anza-Borrego Foundation has conducted an overnight camping program in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for fifth graders from San Diego and Imperial Counties. DPC has been, and continues to be, the most consistent and largest funder of this Camp Borrego Program. California State Parks also educates children across the state with the Parks Online For Teachers and Students (PORTS). These are live programs, broadcasted from various state parks, and beamed as interactive television programs into individual classrooms. Anza-Borrego Foundation and the Desert Protective Council support and help fund this project in ABDSP. Another program, which we continue to support, is the Tubb Canyon Desert

Conservation Corner
by Terry Weiner

Photo by Janine Blaeloch

appy Fall into Winter! I have exciting news to share with you in this issue. You know that for the past few years DPC has been working diligently to expose the myriad destructive impacts already affecting the desert, and slow down the federal rush to scrape hundreds of thousands of acres of southwest desert public lands for the use of remote largescale energy development. DPC has worked closely with other grass-roots organizations to raise public awareness of this renewable energy juggernaut in the desert and to recruit public support for an approach that prioritizes renewable energy development on rooftops in the built environment, and on abandoned mine sites, brown fields or irreparably degraded land close to cities. Despite the best efforts of DPC, other local desert conservation organizations and
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P.O. Box 3635, San Diego, CA 92163-1635 (619) 342-5524 http://www.protectdeserts.org

Presidents Letter... from page 1

Conservancys (TCDC) project to research various methods of extirpating invasive Sahara mustard from Tubb Canyon in Borrego Springs. TCDC works in partnership with Anza-Borrego to combat the exotic mustard where it has taken hold throughout the Park and threatens native plants. In another contribution to education about the desert and environmental justice impacts on human communities, DPC continues to be a sponsor of the important
Conservation Corner from page 1

annual Imperial Valley Environmental Health Leadership Summit. As you will read in our conservation coordinators column, the DPC Board is also supporting and promoting an exciting and important educational project in the form of a desert documentary film for TV. We are in the process of raising seed money for Backcountry Pictures for the research and development of a film about the wonders and importance of our desert lands. Backcountry Pictures are meeting with the award-winning filmmakers at Backcountry Pictures http://backcountrypictures.com/ to discuss the need for a documentary TV film project that would bring the truth about our magnificent deserts to the American public. How the fateful June meeting with Backcountry Pictures came to pass: I had just viewed the extraordinary documentary called California Forever produced by Sally Kaplan and David Vassar, the film makers at Backcountry Pictures. California Forever focuses on the history of and current challenges posed to Californias State Parks. It aired on PBS nationally in 2012 with amazing audience saturation and great reviews. It is beautifully done, informative, and inspiring. I was so impressed with the segments on CA desert state parks, that I called up the filmmakers and asked them if they would consider doing an educational documentary about the wonder, beauty and importance of the unprotected and imminently threatened areas of California Desert. They shared that they had been contemplating the idea of doing just such a desert documentary. Thus the lunch meeting and the launching of the desert documentary film project. I agreed to be instrumental in seeking seed money for the film in the amount of $25,000. The seed money will pay for conducting research, scouting a number of desert locations with experts in the field, writing a detailed Creative Treatment describing the stories to be presented, and developing a written presentation with a preview clip for use in the major fundraising campaign for the actual program production.

film producers with a wonderful track record of creating nature and historical documentaries. In 2014 we will celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Desert Protective Council. We are planning a celebration for Fall 2014. During this gathering we will celebrate many of the successes DPC has achieved over the past 60 years and renew our goals for the future. Janet Anderson, President

The Desert Protective Council kicked off the fund-raising with a $5,000 donation and the CA/Nevada Regional Desert Committee of the Sierra Club followed with a $5,000 contribution. The Anza-Borrego Foundation pitched in $1,000.00 and we have received various individual donations. As of November 23, 2013 we have accrued $21,000 with $4,000 needed by years end. Background on the filmmakers: Founded by David Vassar and Sally Kaplan in 2001, Backcountry Pictures (BCP) has established an award-winning track record making movies that move people. With their previous projects, Backcountry Pictures has demonstrated the ability and the sensibility to create a film that could have a tremendous impact on public perception of these fragile ecosystems and the need to preserve them. Check out the links to Backcountry Pictures video clips, bios, press and other here: http:// backcountrypictures.com/ and see http:// cal4ever.com/ to view the CA State Parks Documentary. I hope our member and friends, in addition to renewing your memberships

Snow Creek area, at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains and west of Palm Springs, threatened by wind turbine development. Photo by Terry Weiner

Solar Done Right, and despite the increasing media coverage of the benefits of rooftop solar and local distributed generation, we are not making the headway needed to prevent massive fragmentation of functioning desert habitat and devastation to sensitive desert species. We most likely would all agree that one of the obstacles to public understanding of the importance of this issue is the widely held, mistaken belief that the desert is a vast empty wasteland, devoid of life or complexity. Why not fill these vast empty spaces with industrial development? we hear people say. Given the widespread damage occurring across our deserts, it is urgent that we take whatever opportunities we can to educate a wider audience about the desert and inspire them to wish to preserve it, as we do. Just such an opportunity has come our way! In June of this year, as DPCs Conservation Coordinator, I arranged a lunch

Desert Five-spot in bloom, nestled in a dead Ocotillo. Photo by Terry Weiner

El Paisano, the newsletter of the Desert Protective Council

In Memoriam:

Dr. Robert C. Stebbins

His pursuit of education, outreach and advocacy in the name of reptiles and amphibians, helped nurture the field of western herpetology into a respected field of science, encouraged future naturalists, and made the field accessible to the weekend naturalist hiking with his field guide in hand. As a scientist, he didnt shy away from using his knowledge to argue forcefully against allowing off-road vehicles to run roughshod over desert lands in California. In fact, he played a large role in lobbying California Senators to set aside the Mojave Desert as a preserve. He also spearheaded the efforts to turn the open space, Strawberry Canyon at UC Berkeley, into an ecological reserve, thus protecting natural habitat near the campus. In his later years, Dr. Stebbins turned his passion toward an educational outreach to schoolchildren, hoping to spark an interest in nature. He made two educational films and wrote several science books for elementary school students. His most recent book, Connecting with Nature: A Naturalists Perspective, is a mix of personal stories, hands-on activities for children, with reinforcements for studying ecology as a way to connect with nature. Robert Cyril Stebbins was born March 31, 1915, in Chico, Calif., not far from his familys 15-acre ranch and orchard. The oldest of seven children, Stebbins moved Anza-Borrego: A Photographic Journey by Ernie Cowan with his family in 1922 to San Francisco, where his father created agricultural films and worked as a UC Berkeley instructor in plant breeding and genetics. The family eventually moved to the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, where Stebbins attended North Hollywood High School. He studied at UCLA, graduating with an undergraduate degree in zoology in 1940 and a Ph.D. in zoology in 1943. A fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, Stebbins was awarded in 1978 the Berkeley Citation, the highest honor given to UC Berkeley faculty. In 2004, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Desert Protective Council, Dr. Stebbins sent our organization a letter containing an excerpt from his exquisitely detailed observations of a desert tortoise, garnered from two days in the field near California City, CA in October 1975. He enclosed his field notes in a card with his painting of Mojave Yucca on the cover. The DPC is proud to have published Dr. Stebbins paper: Off-Road Vehicles- A Biologists Perspective as an Educational Bulletin in our Fall 2009 El Paisano. We are grateful to have known Robert Stebbins and honor him for his lifetime of dedication to teaching others about the wonder, beauty and importance of our reptilian and amphibian friends, as well as his advocacy for protecting desert ecosystems.

Robert C. Stebbins in his Kensington, California, studio in 2004. Photo by Charles Brown/Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Archives.

he Desert Protective Council mourns the passing of Dr. Robert C. Stebbins on September 23, 2013 at the age of 98. Dr. Stebbins, the preeminent expert of western North American reptiles and amphibians, was a long-term supporter of the Desert Protective Council and an esteemed member of our DPC Science Advisory Panel. He is perhaps best known for writing and illustrating A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, still in print after nearly fifty years of its first printing. As emeritus professor of zoology at UC Berkeley, and curator emeritus in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Dr. Stebbins was passionate not only about the snakes, reptiles, frogs and salamanders he studied as a herpetologist, but equally protective about the diverse and endangered habitats these creatures call home.

for 2014, will consider supporting this important project with a contribution toward the seed funding and/or a donation toward completion of the film. You are welcome to contact me about this project at (619) 342-5524 or email me at terryweiner@ sbcglobal.net. Donations to the desert documentary should be made out the Desert Protective Council with the memo: Desert film project. Thank you for continuing to support the Desert Protective Council and our work in 2014. Cheers, be well and Happy Holidays! Terry Weiner terryweiner@sbcglobal.net

rnie Cowan began his love affair with the desert as a young reporter for the San Diego Evening Tribune, covering Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Over the decades, hes captured thousands of images of the deserts unique beauty, which have been used in state park brochures, greeting cards, and numerous publications. In this second edition of Anza-Borrego: A Photographic Journey, Cowan captures the California state park through breathtaking images that impress the viewer with the sheer scope of size, moods, and seasonal variations found within AnzaBorrego Desert State Park. This arm-chair adventure into Californias largest state park leaves the reader wanting to make the journey to Anza-Borrego, and experience the wonders of this park in person.

http://www.protectdeserts.org

Ivanpah Valley: Desert Conservation Issues in a Nutshell

By Laura Cunningham rected upwards to bounce sunlight towards the tower top and focus solar energy onto a boiler. The solar flux created in a 2,000-foot radius around the tower can have extreme temperatures up to 1,000 degrees C next to the boiler that has already begun killing birds and insects. Agencies responsible for overseeing and regulating the power plant have still not decided how to mitigate or compensate bird mortality at these large power towers. US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has suggested solar companies place funds into foundations and stakeholder groups such as the Sonoran Joint Venture that will work toward improving bird habitat. But these measures may not be local to the project. The problem with protecting birds under the federal Migratory Bird Treat Act is that no mechanism yet exists for allowing a project to legally kill birds incidentally, as the original law was written to stop the harvest of birds for the feather trade when that was fashionable in the early 20th Century. FWS has struggled with how to avoid the killing of birds when take permits cannot be issued for species such as warblers and swallows that fly into the solar flux and perish. Golden eagles have been seen soaring through Ivanpah Valley and nesting in the surrounding mountains. They are protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, in which the FWS can seek to issue take permits for incidental deaths. The agency has recently been gearing up to issue such permits for wind projects that have already killed eagles. Recent discussions by FWS biologists point to the potential need to issue take permits for these solar power tower projects as well. If this is not enough of a threat to Ivanpah Valley, two other solar projects are nearing the end of environmental review by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM): the Stateline Solar Farm project in California adjacent to ISEGS, and the Silver State South Solar Farm on the Nevada side of the border in eastern Ivanpah Valley. Both are to be built by First Solar and would mean the grading of almost 5,000 acres for photovoltaic panels. This is renewable energy that should go in urban areas on rooftops and infill structures, not on diverse Mojave Desert scrub with a dense tortoise population. FWS has recommended against the removal of this habitat and blockage of genetic connectivity for tortoises between the southern Ivanpah Valley (within Mojave National Preserve) and northern areas of protected habitat, areas which currently allow genetic flow between various Desert Wildlife Management Area units set aside for tortoises. Isolating the southern Ivanpah tortoises could spell doom eventually for this population. Desert Protective Council, Basin & Range Watch, and the Desert Tortoise Council nominated a new 31,859-acre Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)

The solar flux visible around the solar power tower in Ivanpah Valley. Photo by Kevin Emmerich

arge-scale solar and wind projects continue to invade desert wildlands in California and Nevada, as well as new transmission line proposals. Despite the planning effort of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), conservation efforts for desert tortoises, burrowing owls, kit foxes, desert-dwelling birds, and rare plants continue to be piecemeal. Those of us who grew up exploring, hiking in, and simply wondering at the vastness, beauty, and solitude of the desert (including the many past and present Desert Protective Council members) continue to work towards better alternatives for renewable energy such as urban rooftop solar projects, the distributed generation option. In the case of solar power towers, disturbed brownfield locations need to be seriously considered, instead of thriving deserts full of life. Of course we would prefer all renewable energy be constructed at the point of use so that long transmission lines do not tear through the backcountry. Regardless of which technology is used, the cumulative impacts to the desert are growing. Most famously, Ivanpah Valley is ground zero for solar development on a huge scale. The three solar power towers of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) built by BrightSource Energy and owned by NRG, is in the testing stage and may be in full operation by early next year. When driving the I-15 south of Vegas, one cannot help but notice the brilliant sun-like glare from atop the towers as hundreds of thousands of garage-door-sized mirrors are di-

Ivanpah Valley in 2010, before the solar projects began construction, as seen from the foothills of Clark Mountain in Mojave National Preserve. Photo by Laura Cunningham

El Paisano, the newsletter of the Desert Protective Council

Ivanpah Valley from page 4

alternative with the BLM, which would protect the alluvial fan full of yuccas, creosote and tortoises over paving the area with solar panels. This would also protect the connectivity corridor in the valley for tortoises to maintain genetic flow. The agency may, however, designate the ACEC but still approve the Silver State South project as a cut-out. On November 12, 2013, Defenders of Wildlife announced a lawsuit over these issues, naming BLM, FWS, and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell for inappropriate review of the Stateline and Silver State projects. All this controversy in Ivanpah Valley has illuminated many problems with ill-planned renewable energy projects throughout the Southwest. In Chuckwalla Valley to the south in California, BrightSource has a proposal under review to build another solar power tower project, two towers taller than at Ivanpah, at 750 feet each. Agencies and environmental groups are scrambling to decide how to protect bird life if the towers are built. The massive Desert Sunlight Solar Farm and Genesis Solar Energy Project nearby are already under construction, and dead birds have been found at each. A federally Endangered Yuma clapper rail was found at the Desert Sunlight project near Desert Center, possibly attracted to the lake effect of the sky-blue reflective surfaces of the photovoltaic panels. Many water birds may use the valley as a flight corridor between the Salton Sea and Colorado River, thus raising another bird mortality issue for solar projects out in wildlands. Near Tonopah, Nevada, the company Solar Reserve is constructing its single 600-foot tall solar power tower out in the midst of a Great Basin desert landscape, and again the mirrors at a distance appear like water. With so many large power plants going into wild desert, many conservationists are asking agencies to stop approving these projects until more study can be done about the impacts to birds and other wildlife. Policymakers still drag their feet with looking at urban distributed generation alternatives which would save so much remote, wild habitat and decrease the need for transmission lines.

Marshal South Rides Again: His Anza-Borrego Novels

By Diana Lindsay regularly visited while he lived on Ghost Mountain that will be familiar to those who hike in this desert. In Flame of Terrible Valley, the Vallecito Stage Station is described as a sinister, crumbling ruin, which is said to be haunted. The story, according to the original London publisher, deals with the dogged vengeance of a Chinese Tong and the quest for stolen gold. The inspiration for this story came from two sources. One of which was Tanyas experience of camping at the old stage station ruins in the 1920s when she felt the presence of ghostly apparitions. The other inspiration came from stories about his neighbor to the north in Earthquake Valley who was rumored to have been involved in smuggling Chinese into the United States from Mexico. In Robbery Range the historic Wahrenbrocks Book House on Broadway in downtown San Diego was the inspiration for the beginning of this story. The early legends surrounding the Vallecito Stage Station were woven into the story. Some of the local homesteads, cattle ranches, and cattlemen of the area were used as models for characters he described. Robbery Range reflects more of Marshals thoughts about the deserts mysteries and his spiritual beliefs than the previous book. Desert solitude and silence became vehicles that led to questioning the meaning of life and death and of the existence of other-worldly possibilities. The new printing of the two Anza-Borrego novels was made possible through the Marshal South estate via his eldest son, Rider South. It is Riders wish that readers rediscover his fathers writing talent and that they have fun reading these western cliffhangers that have been compared to those written by Louis LAmour and Zane Grey. Marshal South Rides Again: His AnzaBorrego Novels includes both Flame of Terrible Valley and Robbery Range. The book has been combined with a bonus written by Lucile Iverson South that tells the rest of the story of what happened to Rider South after he left Ghost Mountain. The duo-pack, with a retail cost of $18.95, is available from Sunbelt Publications: www.sunbeltbooks.com. Sunbelt Publications also published Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles in 2005.

he enigmatic Marshal South of the AnzaBorrego desert region remains a controversial character to this day, and perhaps that is what makes him so interesting. He was a prolific writer of poetry and prose. The list of published materials includes more than 90 poems; about 90 newspaper and magazine articles; 97 Desert Magazine articles; and 8 novels. His earlier life as a writer was overshadowed by his controversial lifestyle and his experiment in primitive living during the 1930s and 1940s that were featured in his Desert Magazine articles written between 1939 and 1948. It is the latter years that have colored his history. Images of his family living on a waterless mountaintop left a lasting impression. Many of Souths desert writings inspired a generation of readers to learn more about what the desert has to offer peace, solitude, health, inspiration, mystery and lore. He was passionate about the desert and advocated discovering the real desert. South began concentrating on the publication of his novels when he was already living on Ghost Mountain. He wrote eight novels, two of which have a setting in the Anza-Borrego desert. His Anza-Borrego novels include areas that Marshal South

http://www.protectdeserts.org

The Desert Protective Council needs your support in 2014!

By Terry Weiner The Desert Protective Council occupies an important and unique niche in desert conservation: DPC is one of the very few conservation organizations in this country devoted exclusively to protecting and preserving our southwest deserts. Many of the large national conservation organizations seem to include desert protection as an afterthought, while other small desert grassroots groups only have the resources to focus on a single issue at a time. The part of DPCs mission to educate children and adults to a better understanding of the deserts has never been more important if we are to save our desert ecosystem. We need your generous support to continue and expand this part of our mission. In DPCs early years, our members focused on participating in desert land-useplanning and in educating local and federal policy makers about the importance of the desert. During the past two decades, congressional decision-makers have zeroed-in on millions of acres of our western public lands as the solution to our need for more energy. As people have increased their time in front of computer screens and TVs, our nations lack of connection with nature has been exacerbated. In our communities, we are losing contact with and concern for nature, in part due to fewer and fewer local wild edges (undeveloped woods and meadows in contrast to developed parks with recreation equipment). As we indulge less and less in leisurely outdoor exploration, we are losing our individual and collective ability to expand our imaginations, develop our curiosity and deepen our appreciation and caring for the nature immediately around us. This puts us in danger of losing our nations interest in fighting to protect valuable natural environments and resources. DPCs advocacy through participating in land management planning, and in protest and litigation, is important but unless we are able to help create or re-create interest, appreciation and sympathy for our wild deserts, we are fighting a losing battle. Never has protection of public land wwwwoccurred in this country without the publics understanding and vigorous support. We know you understand the value of our desert and want to preserve it. We would be honored and grateful to have your year-end support so your DPC can continue the pressure on our decision makers through our letters, while organizing and inspiring our fellow grassroots groups. In 2014, we especially want to focus on projects and programs to educate a broader public about the wonder and importance of the desert. You can read about these various programs in the Presidents Letter on the front page. This is the time of year to reflect upon all of the wonderful personal experiences camping, hiking and auto-touring youve enjoyed throughout our diverse southwest deserts. As you look forward to the New Year, planning your goals and dreams for 2014, we ask that for the sake of the desert, please consider making an end of year additional tax-deductible donation to the DPC. Only with your generous support can we be successful in implementing all aspects of our mission.

Whitewater River Canyon Coachella Valley. The wild scenic beauty of this Canyon is threatened from ridgetop encroachment by wind turbines. Photo by Terry Weiner

ot long ago, we received a postcard from Zion National Park in Utah, from a dear friend and DPC member. The photo captured a weirdly beautiful, isolated and little-known geological feature of Zion, a system of subterranean tubes called the Subway. In his message, our friend stated that although he would never be able to visit that area of Zion, just knowing that this remarkable geologic feature exists and is protected by the national park, evoked in him a sense of wonder and deep peace. Do you too feel that sense of peace when you ponder the vast wild beauty of our public lands? How would you feel if your childrens children would not be able to experience journeying through the California desert, taking in the vast landscapes, uncluttered by human development and infrastructure? Imagine a world where there are fewer and fewer places to camp and hike in the middle of nowhere hearing nothing but the sounds of nature. Through El Paisano, our web site, and DPC Face Book page, youve learned about the ongoing onslaught of industrial-scale solar and wind development throughout our southwest deserts. In this issue of El Paisano, wildlife biologist/ artist Laura Cunningham poignantly summarizes the devastation currently occurring on many thousands of acres of our remote, beautiful, functioning desert habitats. Future generations are at risk of being cheated out of the experience of uncluttered desert view sheds, dark skies and desert silence.

DPC Turns 60!

an you believe that in 2014, the Desert Protective Council will turn 60? In November 1954, a hundred or so dedicated desert lovers gathered around a campfire at the mouth of beautiful Deep Canyon, at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains in Palm Desert California, to strategize about saving Joshua Tree National Monument from uranium prospecting. From that small, successful campaign, the Desert Protective Council was born and has been involved in dozens of desert preservation campaigns since. The DPC plans to organize a celebration of our history, our members and our advisory panel, past and present Board members, and the desert activists and scientists who have contributed significantly to desert education and desert protection. We plan to put on a party toward the end of 2014. We need your support and ideas for possible venues, for speakers and your presence at this anniversary party. We will keep you posted. Look for updates in spring 2014!

El Paisano, the newsletter of the Desert Protective Council

Thank you to our members and donors for your 2013 donations
Alfred Runte Allan Schoenherr Ann Harvey Anza-Borrego Foundation Art Montana Barbara Hill & Violet Steele Betty and Steve Ball Bill James Brett Stearns C.R. and Barbara B Fowler Carol Jahnkow Cindy Burrascano Community ORV Watch Craig Deutsche Daniel L Fischer Darrell & Ima Jean Walker Dave Voss Dave Wells David Garmon David McMullen Delores Lukina Dene Barrett & Patricia Gaspers Diana & Lowell Lindsay Edward Pushich Fleet Palmer Francis Boschiero George Wuerthner Helen Huffman Howard Wilshire Indy & Michael Quillen Ingrid Gordon Jack Megas James Andre Jan Emming Janet Anderson Janet Westbrook Jared Fuller Desert Protective Council Website: http://protectdeserts.org Twitter: @protectdeserts Facebook: facebook.com/ DesertProtectiveCouncil Janet Anderson, President Pauline Jimenez, Secretary Larry Klaasen, Treasurer Terry Weiner Imperial Projects & Conservation terryweiner@sbcglobal.net (619) 342-5524 Indy Quillen Communications Coordinator indy@dpcinc.org Joe & Donna Hopkins John & Stephanie Mood John Hiatt John Peterson Julie and Stephen Webber Karen Schambach Kathy and Jim Dice Kristine and Brian Tower Larry Hendrickson Larry Klaasen Lawrence Maxwell Leslie and Steven Hartman Leslie Morgan Letty & Courtney Manker LuAnn Thompson Marie & Glenna Barrett Martha Dickes Mesonika Piecuch Michael and Sally Noack Michael Frome Michael Howard Pam Nelson Pat Scully Paul A Mitchell Paul Smith Pauline Jimenez Peggy Whitehead Philip Leitner Philip Pryde Ralph Singer Rick Ryan Robert Fischer Shannon Dougherty & David Lagarda Sheila Bowers Sierra Club, CA/NV Desert Cmt Stacy Goss Terry Frewin Terry R Weiner Tom Budlong Vicky Hoover Wen Chang Wes and Celeste Cater

Desert Protective Council New and Renewal Membership Form

Enclosed is my remittance of $_______ New Membership Gift Membership Renewal

Name_________________________________________ Address_______________________________________ City, State, Zip________________________________ Phone_________________________________________ Email_________________________________________ Please make checks payable to: DPC Mail to P.O. Box 3635, San Diego, CA 92163-1635 Dues and all donations are tax-deductible. MEMBERSHIP LEVELS (please check) Life Sustaining Membership Regular Membership Joint Membership Senior/Student/Retired Additional Gift of $_________ $300.00 one time $50.00 annually $25.00 annually $35.00 annually $15.00 annually

For donations of $50.00 or more, we will send you a copy of California Desert Miracle by Frank Wheat. If you would like to receive our newsletter electronically, rather than in the mail, please send an e-mail message stating subscribe electronically to: indy@dpcinc.org.

http://www.protectdeserts.org

El Paisano #217 Fall / Winter 2013

Inside:
3 In Memoriam: Dr. Stebbins 4 Ivanpah Valley Issues 5 Book Review 6 DPC Needs Your Support in 2014

Desert Protective Council

Since 1954 protectdeserts.org

P.O. Box 3635 San Diego, CA 92163-1635

One of my favorite places in the desert is south of Searchlight Nevada, where you can watch the sun and Spirit Mountain interact in color, and see across the Piute Valley to the Mojave National Preserve. Unfortunately, the view captured in this photo would be shattered by the approved Searchlight Wind Energy project, if it is built. Photo by Shaun Gonzales

The newsletter of the Desert Protective Council