Entries by admin

Defending delicate landscapes

If there’s one thing that unites the residents and visitors of this area; it’s an intense interest in the future of our desert. The second would be a desire to keep this place intact – no matter who I ask “What do you want this area to look like half a century from now,” the […]

Juniper Flats above Apple Valley deserves improved protection

Like many veterans, I feel a great amount of patriotism when exploring public lands. Just as it is our duty to protect our country and its people, I and other veterans see it as our patriotic duty to safeguard special places like those in the California Desert. Our nation’s public lands are a key reflection […]

Community celebrates public lands at Juniper Flats event

Local veterans, their families and members of the High Desert community came together Nov. 3 at Juniper Flats to celebrate the gift of their local desert lands. The event participants came away both as graduates of a wilderness survival course, and as advocates on the issues affecting public lands in the California desert. The event, […]

Update on mining at Conglomerate Mesa

Press release Friends of the Inyo and the Sierra Club LONE PINE, CA — Conglomerate Mesa, a unique and valuable part of our Eastern Sierra public lands that lies adjacent to Death Valley National Park, remains under threat from the prospect of industrial-scale open pit cyanide heap leach mining. Earlier this year, after much public […]

Protect the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan

My fascination with the stories of our ancestors began long before I arrived in the California Desert. A descendant of the Choctaw Indian tribe, I spent my childhood in western Mississippi listening to my grandfather’s stories of generations long before us. And while the Desert is not my own ancestral homeland, I represented many folks […]

Re-evaluating DRECP is waste of taxpayer money

Los Angeles can be an overwhelming place to live, especially for veterans. I often feel as if I’m surrounded by people who cannot relate to my experiences as a soldier in the United States Army. Luckily, I found my refuge and solace just a couple hours away in the California desert. Being in the desert […]

Love the outdoors? That’s why we must conserve our public lands

As the owner and operator of the original and largest outdoor adventure and eco-tour company in the California desert, I understand and value the many discoveries that await every guest who boards one of our Desert Adventure Red Jeeps. The excited and awe-struck reaction from my tour guests always brings me back to the main […]

Community Voices: Betty Yee

In my 30 years in public service, one of the most challenging and most rewarding activities was participating in the years-long collaborative effort that resulted in the historic Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP). The State Lands Commission, which I chair, took part in conversations at hundreds of public meetings about how to balance protection […]