BLM California Issue 705

Title: Untitled Document

Conway Summit
ISSUE 705 - DECEMBER 17, 2015
- Happy Holidays  - Famous Films on Public Lands - Headlines and Highlights - Wildlife Question of the Week - Upcoming Events
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
	Top BLM CA Stories of 2015 BLM California has had a busy year, here is a list of the top 10 stories of 2015 (BLM Newsbytes)
FAMOUS FILMS ON PUBLIC LANDS
	In Honor of the Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Premiere For years, Star Wars enthusiasts have ventured to the BLM’s Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area to visit the filming location of the opening scenes of Return of the Jedi. The Imperial Sand Dunes are the largest dune mass in California. Formed by windblown sands of ancient Lake Cahuilla, the dunes create an out-of-this-world landscape ideal for Hollywood film backdrops and are known as an off-roading mecca. (BLM Tumblr)
	Top 15 Film Locations on National Conservation Lands Coming at number 10. California Coastal National Monument Point Arena, CA. this spectacular coastal landscape capped by California’s tallest lighthouse provided a dramatic setting for the ending scenes of Forever Young starring Mel Gibson (1992) and Need for Speed (2014). For the full list visit: BLM Tumblr
	Out of this World Adventure at Trona Pinnacles Trona Pinnacles, with its giant tufa (calcium carbonate) formations, has featured prominently in a long list of films and television programs due to its alien-appearing landscape.  Most notably, Star Trek V (1989) with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy  and Planet of the Apes (2001) with Mark Wahlberg included scenes from the area.  Battlestar Gallactica and Lost in Space were among the TV programs filmed here. (BLM Tumblr)
	Public Lands in Film For more than 100 years, Hollywood filmmakers have sought out the most compelling, unique landscapes in the U.S. to use as settings for their movies, from Westerns to sci-fi to horror. Today’s takeover features locations where movies were filmed, in part or in their entirety, within the National Conservation Lands.  (BLM Tumblr)
HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS
	From Fall to Winter Fall can turn into winter quickly at Conway Summit Area of Critical Environmental Concern in California. The dramatic landscape includes spectacular mountains, valleys, lakes, streams and scenery that will take your breath away. Photo by Bob Wick (BLM Tumblr)
	Abandoned Gold Mining Town Gets A Makeover The Bureau of Land Management, El Centro Field Office, held its National Public Lands Day (NPLD) event last week at the Tumco Historic Townsite in eastern Imperial County.  Due to the desert heat in September, the El Centro Field Office is often forced to reschedule NPLD events to the cooler months of the year. (BLM Newsbytes)
	The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Most Popular Instagram Photos of 2015 The Weather Channel, 12/11/2015 #22 Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument. A lunar eclipse was captured at this California conservation area, and the image was liked more than 33,900 times. Read full story
Bureaucratic Gauntlet Stalls Renewable Energy Development on BLM Land Denver Post, 12/13/2015 When Bill Miller first met with officials from the Bureau of Land Management to talk about his company’s vision of building a 1,000-turbine wind farm on a checkerboard expanse of public and private land in Wyoming, President George W. Bush was in the White House. When agency officials warned Miller it could take five years for such a gigantic project to wade through environmental reviews, he told them: “That’s the craziest thing I ever heard.” So it was music to Miller's ears when President Barack Obama's first Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, in 2009 announced as a top objective turning Western federal lands into hotbeds of renewable energy to deliver on two of the new president's pledges — creating jobs and transitioning to clean energy. Read full story
Calif. Public Lands Stockpiled by Oil Companies Public News Service, 12/15/2015 Oil and gas companies are stockpiling leases on public land in California, sometimes for many years, without developing it – or paying rent on it – according to a report out today from the Wilderness Society. Read full story
Preserving Public Lands a Matter of Patriotism San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/16/2015 As a member of the United States Armed Forces, I take great pride in my contribution to the defense of our great nation. It is an honor that words fail to express; protecting the land I love is invaluable. When traveling aboard, this feeling is intensified by foreigners’ expressed desire to visit America and in particular, our national parks and monuments.This reminds me of two important things: the incomparable power of nature to bring people together and the fact that my duty to protect America includes standing up for its public lands. That’s why I believe we must preserve places like Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains by giving them the national monument designations they deserve."   Read full story
2015 now USA’s Costliest Wildfire Season on Record USA Today, 12/17/2015 The 2015 wildfire season is now the costliest on record, with $1.71 billion spent to fight the blazes, the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday. The previous record of $1.67 billion, adjusted for inflation, was set in fiscal year 2002, U.S. Department of Agriculture communications director Matt Herrick said. Read full story
	BLM Lands Play Role in PBS Paleontology Series PBS TV aired a three-part series in November titled Making North America, an exploration of the geologic history, prehistoric life, and human experience on the North American continent. The series is hosted by Dr. Kirk Johnson, Director of the National Museum of Natural History (smithsonian). Resources from the BLM Montana/Dakotas are featured in the series, and one place managed by the BLM demonstrates part of this sweeping story better than anywhere else – the story of dinosaur extinction. (BLM Tumblr)
WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK
	What do Reindeer eat? a) Chicken b) Lichen c) Fish Keep reading for answer below
UPCOMING EVENTS
Jan 6 and Feb 3: La Quinta Doggie Hikes Join the friends of Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument group for a doggie hike on your public lands.
WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWER
What do Reindeer eat?  Answer: b) Lichen Lichen, especially one commonly known as “reindeer moss” (Cladonia rangiferina). And reindeer chew their cud, basically semi-chewed, swallowed and burped-up plant material; yummy! Lichens are organisms that are made of a combined fungus and an algae or other photosynthetic organism. The photosynthetic partner in lichen makes nutrients from sunlight, and the fungus lives off of it. Reindeer, caribou, and other herbivores that eat lichens survive on this very low-energy food that manages to exist in a very harsh arctic environment. Source: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute