Alabama Hills
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ISSUE 708 - January 22, 2015 |
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- Discover the Desert
- National Conservation Lands
- Headlines and Highlights
- BLM and DOI Highlights
- Wildlife Question of the Week
- Upcoming Events
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DISCOVER THE DESERT |
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A thousand thanks to everyone who took time out on a beautiful, fee-free day in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area
to give something back and set a fine example for our youngest dunes visitors. Along
with the United Desert Gateway and our other partners and sponsors, you guys are awesome! (BLM Facebook)
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Imperial Valley Press, 1/21/2016
To try to get local resident to become more familiar with the Valley, the desert and its history the Bureau of land Management, the United Desert Gateway and the Imperial County Film Commission have partnered to host the first Discover the Desert Day at the Buttercup Ranger Station in the
Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area on Saturday. Read full story
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Victorville Daily Press, 1/18/2016
Russ and Lori would like to thank our readers for their questions and requests. We answer every one so don’t be shy. Winter camping still seems to be the most requested question that we get these days. The words “free camping” come up often as well. Many folks still want to
travel north from the High Desert, yet don’t want the concerns of snow or ice to deal with in their RV travels. It’s hard to have it all, but with this next location we are getting as close as we can to it all. Read full story
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Remembering the many that saddled-up in the Alabama Hills of Lone Pine. (Lone Pine Film Festival Facebook)
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Friends of the Desert Mountains
Mark your calendars now for our 9th Annual Coachella Valley Wildflower Festival on March 5! (Friends of the Desert Mountains Facebook)
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NATIONAL CONSERVATION LANDS |
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Ending today with starry skies over BLM California’ Slinkard Wilderness Study Area by BLMer Bob Wick! The Slinkard WSA is located in northern Mono County and northeastern Alpine County and includes approximately 6,268 acres. This WSA lies at the extreme eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada, consists of
mountain ranges and canyons and has an elevation ranging from 6,800 feet to 8,938 feet. (BLM Vine)
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On this day in 2001, Carrizo Plain (CA), Sonoran Desert (AZ), Pompeys Pillar (MT), Upper Missouri River Breaks (MT) and Kasha-Katuwe (NM) National
Monuments were designated by Presidential Proclamation. (BLM Tumblr)
Related: Carrizo Plain National Monument
(BLM Website)
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HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS |
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Team Rubicon veterans fought a different foe last summer: wildland fire. More vets joining this weekend in Apple Valley,
CA. (BLM Facebook)
Related: From the Front Line to the Fireline Veterans Train
to Become Wildland Firefighters (BLM News Release)
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The story of Team Rubicon was written by a team of eight who travelled to Haiti to provide aid immediately after the
2010 earthquake. Today that story is continued through the service of over 16,000 strong. The phrase “burn the boat” refers to the general, who upon landing on the enemy’s shore, orders his men to burn the boats so that there is no path other than forward toward
victory.(Team Rubicon YouTube)
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More than 200 runners braved a driving rain and cool temperatures to participate in the Redding Marathon Saturday, Jan.
17. (BLM Newsbytes)
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Seymour Antelope brought his message about the outdoors and and distributed some gifts, when he visited the Bureau of
Land Management’s Applegate Field Office in the northeast corner of California Thursday, Jan. 14. (BLM Newsbytes)
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The City of Galt’s 9th Annual Winter Bird Festival is this weekend and features outings at Cosumnes River Preserve! (BLM Facebook)
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As part of ongoing rehabilitation and stabilization efforts by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its partners to stabilize areas burned during the 2015 Butte Fire, wood
shred material will be delivered in areas of Calaveras County beginning Jan. 25. Over the course of two weeks, nearly 300 truckloads of material will be delivered to a staging area along Jesus Maria Road and other roads in the area. The BLM is working with Calaveras County to minimize travel
disruptions as much as possible, however residents should anticipate heavy traffic. (BLM News
Release)
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BLM AND DOI HIGHLIGHTS |
This Week at Interior: saving natural gas, fighting wildlife trafficking in Africa and the return of a favorite DC tradition. (DOI. gov)
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Reuters, 1/22/2016
The proposal by the Interior department’s Bureau of Land Management would require oil and gas producers to use currently available technology to limit flaring at oil wells on federal land. It would also require
operators to regularly check for natural gas leaks and replace outdated equipment that allows large quantities of gas and methane to escape into the air. Read full story
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As part of the Interior Department’s reform agenda for a cleaner, more secure energy future, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today proposed to update 30 year-old
regulations in order to reduce the wasteful release of natural gas into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations on public and American Indian lands. The proposed rule on venting, flaring and leaking will help curb waste of our nation’s natural gas supplies, reduce harmful methane emissions
and provide a fair return on public resources for federal taxpayers, Tribes, and States. (DOI
News Release)
Related: Proposed Rule Fact Sheet (BLM Website)
Related: Proposed Rule (BLM Website)
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The Washington Post, 1/17/2016
As scandalous as it is that federal employees have been kept from their workplaces because armed intruders have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, now those staffers are being warned they might be victimized by “paper terrorism.” An email sent to agency
leaders Friday warned that self-appointed judges associated with the right-wing sovereign citizen movement might “try to issue indictments, serve papers, or arrest local officials and/or federal
employees.” Read full story
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The Guardian, 1/20/2016
The armed militiamen occupying a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon have faced the most
intense opposition yet at a community meeting where local residents shouted down protest leader Ammon Bundy in person. Bundy and several other high-profile militia members left the Malheur national wildlife refuge to attend a public forum in the small town of Burns, located 30 miles away from
the occupation. Read
full story
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The Vegas Sun, 1/19/2016
Siding with the government in a decades-old battle over grazing rights, a federal appeals court overturned a lower-court ruling in favor of a Nevada rancher and strongly admonished a judge in Reno for abusing his power and exhibiting personal bias against U.S. land managers. In a pair
of decisions issued on Friday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the late Wayne Hage of Tonopah and his family were guilty of trespassing cattle on federal land illegally without a grazing permit and should be subject to fines. Read full story
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WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK |
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One of the birds you might see flying overhead in the Headwaters Forest Reserve is Marbled murrelet. What might it be doing there?
(a.) Flying low, on the lookout for rotting tree trunks that might
contain its favorite delicacy, termites.
(b.) Looking for a fork in a tree branch where it can build its nest with mud and sticks.
(c.) Flying among the trees looking for dead tree branches to carry back to the coast, to build nests.
(d.) Commuting up to 50 miles away to the sea to dive for fish and bring them back to their young, nesting in the trees.
(e.) Auditioning for “America’s Next Top Murrelet” on the All Birds All The Time cable network.
Keep reading for answer
below |
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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Join us at the Buttercup Ranger Station in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area for a screening of Star Wars, tours to the film site, an art show and family friendly activities from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00
p.m. (BLM News Release and BLM ISDRA Facebook)
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The Inyo National Forest and the Bishop Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold an open house Feb. 11 to gather ideas from the public for requesting off-highway vehicle grant funds. The informal open house
will run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Forest Service/BLM office, 351 Pacu Lane, Bishop. (BLM News
Release)
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The Piedras Blancas Light Station will celebrate its 141st birthday Feb. 13 with a living history tour, “Peek at the Past.”Guides in period attire and enactors will
portray life at the light station in the 1890s during this special event.
Details: PiedrasBlancasTours@xxxxxxxxx
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February
5-7: Wild Horse &Burro Adoption in Pomona
Six to ten gentled horses and six gentled burros will be available for adoption by oral bid auction. (BLM News Release)
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WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWER |
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One of the birds you might see flying overhead in the Headwaters Forest Reserve is the marbled murrelet. What might it be doing there?
Answer: (d.) Commuting up to 50 miles away to the sea to dive for fish and bring them back to their
young, nesting in the trees.
SOURCE: “Marbled
Murrelet – Brachyramphus marmoratus“ (BLM California wildlife database)
Murrelets have a unique nesting strategy that requires them to commute tens of miles inland … Nests have been found inland from the coast up to a distance of 50 miles in Washington State … During incubation of the egg, one adult sits on the nest while the other forages at sea.
Every 24 hours at dawn they exchange incubation duties. Once hatched, the parents commute to the ocean, often several times per day, carrying back fish for their chick. But after only a month of doting, the chick is left to find its own way to sea.
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