Volcanic Tablelands - Bishop, California
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ISSUE 711 - FEBRUARY 11, 2016 |
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- Planning 2.0
- Discover the Desert
- Discover the Coast
- Headlines and Highlights
- BLM and DOI Highlights
- Wildlife Question of the Week
- Upcoming Events
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PLANNING 2.0 |
Today the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced proposed revisions to its process for determining the multiple uses and sustained yield on 245 million acres of public lands
the agency oversees. The new approach will make future land-use planning more collaborative, transparent, and effective. The changes will increase opportunities for early engagement by state and local government, Tribes and other stakeholders in BLM’s land-use decision-making while adopting a
broader landscape-scale approach to managing public lands and incorporate modern technology into the agency’s planning process. (BLM Website)
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Secretary Jewell encourages you to participate in the BLM’s management planning process. Learn more at Planning 2.0 (DOI YoTube)
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a proposed rule to improve the resource management planning process. The proposed rule would revise existing regulations which
describe how the BLM conducts its planning activity. The proposed regulations are part of the BLM’s ongoing Planning 2.0 initiative, an effort that strives to rethink the resource management plans that provide the framework for the management of public lands. (BLM’s Proposed Planning Rule Fact Sheet)
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DISCOVER THE DESERT |
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Thousands of off-road extreme enthusiasts from around the world descended upon the BLM Johnson Valley Recreation Area for the 10th Annual King of the Hammers International off-road event held from January 29 to February 6. Over the span of a week, international race teams representing different classes of vehicles, raced on the 80 mile desert course that consists of open desert and
several areas of severe uphill terrain that tests the endurance of man and machine. (BLM Newsbytes)
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Mojave Maxine, the desert tortoise, has emerged!
Did you predict the date? (BLM Facebook)
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Route 66 mural work in progress & looking Good! Great job David Brockhurst, Ray Valles & Juliette Tison!
(Desert Discovery Center Facebook)
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Be sure to join us Wednesday evening for a fascinating presentation by Colonel Alva Matheson “NAVIGATION & THE OLD
SPANISH TRAIL”, 7pm-8pm. He will be explaining Celestial Navigation techniques & its application for personal use. Colonel
Matheson is a Master Navigator & Senior Space Operations Officers with a decorated career in the Air Force. A noted speaker & lecturer & Utah Director of the Old Spanish Trail. FREE PUBLIC EVENT, sure
to fascinate & inspire! (Desert Discovery Center Facebook)
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The Orange County Register, 2/5/2016
From the moment our car climbed over the rust-colored mountains and descended into boulder-studded valleys, a sense of peaceful solitude was the tone for our weekend in Death Valley National Park. Only five hours from the coast, the barren landscape and dearth of cars outside our caravan of
three added to the feeling that we were a world apart from bustling Southern California, away from civilization altogether, pioneers exploring virgin land. Read full story
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DISCOVER THE COAST |
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The beauty of the California Coastal National Monument never disappoints! In celebration of nearby Superbowl 50,
we’re sharing a few of our favorite monument photos by BLMer Bob Wick. The California Coastal National Monument comprises more than 20,000 rocks, islands, exposed reefs, and pinnacles along the 1,100 miles of California’s coast. (BLM Tumblr)
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Reserve your space for the Peek at the Past, Piedras Blancas Light Station, 141st Birthday Celebration Tour on February
13. See fees and tour description at Piedras Blancas Light Station (BLM Facebook)
Related: Piedras Blancas
Living History Tour Feb. 13 at Light Station
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HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS |
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The recreational trail network in and around Redding is growing again, this time thanks to the hard work and dedication
of a crew from the Americorps National Civilian Community Corps Team. The crew has attracted the attention of the Redding area reporters and TV crews, who are always willing to share news about expanding recreational opportunities in the northstate. (BLM Newsbytes)
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Record Searchlight, 2/6/2016
Before arriving in California last month, Dylan Hayes had never been to Redding, nor had she used a chain saw. The 18-year-old New York City native is getting to do both of those things in the hills west of Redding as part of an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team. Having Hayes
and the rest of her crew in Redding was just part of a “perfect storm” of events to get work going on a trail that has been on planning maps for some 20 years, said Bill Kuntz, a recreation engineering supervisor with the Redding Field Office of the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management. Read full
story
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Would you like to explore the Volcanic Tablelands with an archeologist? This is your chance. Join Friends of the Inyo and the Bishop BLM for an
outing! We will explore the spectacular Volcanic Tablelands just North of the city of Bishop. We will see the spectacular high desert environment and discuss both the natural and human history of the area. (BLM Facebook)
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The Great Backyard Bird Count, February 12-15. Participate in citizen science! Register at: The Great Backyard Bird Count
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to burn piles in the Wofford Heights and Wagy Flat areas near Lake Isabella starting this week. Operations are scheduled to begin on a
project next to Sawmill and Wagy Flat roads above Wofford Heights. Piles created from fuel reduction projects will be burned to dispose of fuels along roadsides and constructed fuel breaks. The BLM also may burn piles around Wagy Flat later in the season. Smoke may be visible in the area.
(BLM News Release)
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Imperial Valley News, 2/9/2016
Today, Congressman Juan Vargas (CA-51) released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Interior announced $3 million for the rehabilitation of the Salton Sea. “I’m excited that my efforts have led to the U.S. Department of Interior allocating funds for this vital
rehabilitation,” said Rep. Vargas. “Funding the Salton Sea Research Project is the first step in investing in our constituent’s health and in the future of the Salton Sea.” The Salton Sea is the largest inland body of water in California and one of the few remaining
large-scale wetland habitats in the state. Read full story
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The Desert Sun, 2/5/2016
If you’ve never explored the Mojave Desert, the Castle Mountains wouldn’t be a bad place to start. Getting there isn’t easy. From the Coachella Valley, the shortest route winds through the High Desert, east on Highway 62 and north through the Mojave National Preserve (the
so-called “Las Vegas shortcut”), then east again past Nipton, a tiny railroad boomtown that’s currently being sold for $5 million. The l ast leg of the trip runs through Nevada, crossing the state line near Searchlight before cutting back into California, via a series of rugged
dirt roads that culminate in the Castle Mountains. Read full story
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Sun Herald, 2/9/2016
California has a lot to chew over in the Obama administration’s final budget proposal, from money for a downtown Sacramento streetcar line to expansion of public lands in the Sierra Nevada mountains. . . . The administration likewise is reviving long-standing, politically inert
proposals for charging new fees and royalties for hard-rock mining on federal lands. In California, the federal Bureau of Land Management reports having about 21,000 hard-rock mining claims, with operational plans covering about 24,000 acres. Read full story
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Topics affecting natural resources on public lands in northeast California and far northwest Nevada will be discussed, when the Modoc-Washoe Experimental Stewardship Steering
Committee meets Thursday, Feb. 25, at the Bureau of Land Management Surprise Field Station , 602 Cressler St., in Cedarville. (BLM News Release)
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BLM AND DOI HIGHLIGHTS |
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President Obama today requested $1.3 billion for the Bureau of Land Management for Fiscal Year 2017. The proposal positions the agency for success by restoring the health of the
West’s 65 million acres of sage-steppe ecosystem and ensuring responsible development of energy resources on the public lands. It also invests in the agency’s National Conservation Lands — including many of the Nation’s most precious and wildest areas — and seeks
new tools to address a rapidly growing and unsustainable wild horse and burro population. (BLM
Tumblr)
Related: President Proposes $1.3 Billion Budget for BLM in Fiscal Year 2017 (BLM News Release)
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The Hill, 2/19/2016
President Obama is looking to pump billions of dollars into clean energy policies as part of his final budget in office. In the budget document released Tuesday morning, the White House said Obama hopes to invest in a “climate-smart economy” this year, a plan that would help
secure his environmental legacy. “We have made great strides to foster a robust clean energy industry and move our economy away from energy sources that fuel climate change,” Obama wrote in the introduction to his budget message to Congress. Read full story
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The Seattle Times, 2/9/2016
President Barack Obama proposed a record $4.1 trillion budget on Tuesday. Here’s a look at the proposed budget for Interior: The budget would double— to $900 million — spending for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that allows governments at all levels to
buy land for parks and recreation and protect public lands, historic sites and battlefields. The budget calls for spending on the conservation fund to be mandatory starting in the budget year that begins in October 2017. The president’s plan is likely to face opposition from congressional
Republicans who have long argued that the federal government struggles to adequately maintain land it already owns. Read full story
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Oregon Live, 2/11/2016
Get out your hiking shoes and prepare to tackle the great outdoors in honor of the American presidents who helped make our most scenic lands a public preserve (I’m looking at you, Teddy). Federal agencies – the National Park Service not included – are waiving day-use fees
on public lands this Presidents Day weekend, giving access to the forests, beaches, wetlands and mountains that define our great American landscape. Read full story
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The Oregonian, 2/10/2016
Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who touched off one armed showdown with federal authorities and applauded another started in Oregon by his sons, was arrested late
Wednesday at Portland International Airport and faces federal charges related to the 2014 standoff at his ranch. Read full story
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The Oregonian, 2/11/2016
At approximately 9:40 am on Thursday, February 11, 2016, the FBI brought three of the remaining Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers into custody without incident. At approximately 11:00 am, agents brought the fourth into custody without incident. Read full story
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WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK |
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In the Desert, bats:
(a.) can’t find insects, so they rely on Joshua Tree needles for food
(b.) are the only flying animal to make noises
(c.) are the main predators of salamanders
(d.) are more likely to fly around during the day, than in other environments
(e.) are the main pollinators of giant cacti
(f.) commonly jam the navigation equipment of UFOs with their “bat sonar,” and are widely believed responsible for one of their more well-known UFO crashes in Roswell,
New Mexico
Keep reading for answer
below |
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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 NewsRelease)
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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. Piedras Blancas Light Station (BLM Website)
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The Bureau of Land Management invites youth, partner organizations, government agencies, and others interested in helping youth to “Lead the Way Outdoors”
to participate in the upcoming Youth Summit. (BLM Website)
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Would you like to explore the Volcanic Tablelands with an archeologist? This is your chance. Join Friends of the Inyo and the Bishop BLM for an outing! We will explore
the spectacular Volcanic Tablelands just North of the city of Bishop. We will see the spectacular high desert environment and discuss both the natural and human history of the area. (BLM Facebook)
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold a town hall meeting in Taft to discuss management of public lands in the Temblor Mountain Range west of Taft. The meeting on the
Temblor Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA) will be held Friday, March 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the West Side Recreation and Park District Community Center auditorium, 500 Cascade Place. (BLM News Release)
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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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More than 20 wild horses, including animals gentled and trained to ride, will be offered for adoption Saturday andSunday, March 19 and 20, at the Calaveras County
Fairgrounds, 101 Frogtown Rd. in Angels Camp. The Bureau of Land Management will offer 18 wild horses, two 3-year-old geldings gentled under a trainer incentive program, and three 5-year-old geldings trained by Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center inmates to saddle and
ride. Eight burros also will be offered. (BLM News Release)
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WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWER |
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In the desert, bats:
(e.) are the main pollinators of giant cacti
Bats are natural
predators of the insects that are considered to be agricultural pests. Without bats, farmers would be forced to increase their use of chemical pesticides, which could increase the price of our produce and cause negative effects on other wildlife that live in and around agricultural areas. In desert
habitats, bats are the primary pollinators of giant cacti.
SOURCE: “Big Brown Bat – Eptesicus fuscus” (BLM California wildlife database)
In desert habitats, bats are the primary pollinators of giant cacti.
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