Introduction

Hardly a year goes by without an organization declaring one or more of our California desert parks in danger. While the list of “Top 10” endangered parks  is really a mechanism to draw public attention to the often embattled state of our national—and state—parks, most do face significant, and sometimes dramatic, challenges in fulfilling their mission of preserving our nation’s natural, historical, and cultural heritage for future generations.  We now face a future where Joshua Tree National Park may one day offer visitors no living examples of its namesake tree.

An odd irony is that the challenges and threats our desert parks face eminate from the same source as the funding to protect the parks—the people for which the parks are held in trust. Nearly all of the threats facing our desert parks are either directly caused or exacerbated by people. On the other hand, it’s people who are studying and addressing those threats—trying to find methods to assess them and solutions to resolve them.

I have been writing about desert environmental issues as they relate to our parks and preserves for a number of years, and several issues continue to come to the forefront: The perception of the desert as a large area of nothing of value, suitable for dumping on and destroying for profit and recreation; park funding often tends to be a fairly low priority with federal and state government; park personnel is both dedicated and highly creative in addressing funding matters; and ignorance remains the parks’ worst enemy.

I believe the need to educate the American public as to the lasting value of our national (and state) parks should be one of our top priorities as citizens, parents, and caretakers.  Through teaching the hows and whys of respecting and valuing these public lands that are our nation’s crown jewels, we teach many topics: respect, stewardship, analysis, natural systems, science, history, geography, the arts, cause and effect, fiscal management, prioritization, observation, and more.  The time for this teaching is now.  Challenges and threats to our parks that will alter our experience as visitors, as well as their vitality and health as habitat for the multitude of species they host, are on the increase in both number and magnitude.

These are public lands, and we, therefore, are their caretakers. How—and even if—they will remain for generations to come, will be to a large extent up to us. We must make some hard choices along the way about what is more important to us.  High density housing developments, or wildlife corridors?  Brightly lit commercial districts, or a spectacular night sky? Sitting in traffic, or climbing a deserted hillside in silence?  The world’s largest dump, or the sighting of a lone cougar in the rocks?  The roar of the highway below, and the flight paths above, or the unexpected call of the coyote in the distance as you nod off to sleep?  Which will we choose?

Death Valley National Park

In Death Valley National Park, one of the main challenges the park faces is a common misunderstanding about the desert, according to Chief of Interpretation Terry Baldino.

 “Being in a desert environment, one of the biggest issues we face is the misconception that there’s nothing out here,” Baldino explained. “Folks think they can do whatever they want because there’s nothing to harm. That’s one of the biggest things we have to deal with. With our current superintendent (J.T. Reynolds), one of his comments is that we want it to be as well known as Yellowstone National Park is.  That’s a huge learning curve. A lot of folks don’t picture Death Valley as a national park. In their mind, the first thing that comes to mind is Yellowstone or Yosemite. We have beautiful vistas, but they’re stark and barren—at least from a distance—and it takes a little different tack to understand that the desert environment is just as valuable as the mountainous environment.”

 Where this misconception tends to manifest itself, Baldino noted, is with a problem of off-road vehicle use by recreational riders from the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas.

 “Most of the time we see the results, we don’t actually see them doing it,” he said.  The size of the park plays a role in misunderstandings too, he added.  “I pulled over once to talk with some people. I had seen them loading rocks into their vehicle and when I told them they can’t take rocks out of the park, one reaction is, ‘Are we in the park?  I thought we left an hour ago.’”

 Death Valley National Park is immense, with five valleys and four mountain ranges within its boundaries. But it is the future of a tiny fish in a small enclave of the park in Nevada that is causing the most concern.

 “The largest environmental issue we’re facing, and it’s just going to become a bigger issue, is water,” Baldino said. “We don’t see a lot of precipitation—less than two inches a year—but the evaporation rate off the valley floor is equivalent to about 150 inches a year. The two don’t add up, but it gives you a sense of how much water loss occurs here. And we do have a tremendous amount of life tied to natural springs.”

 The springs of Death Valley are fed by an undergound acquifer originating in Nevada.  But an increasing amount of water is drawn from this acquifer for Las Vegas and Pahrump.

 “If the aquifer continues to lower, we’ll see a decline in the natural springs,” Baldino noted. “And right now, we’ve got a bit of an educational campaign going on with the Devil’s Hole Pupfish that live in a cave in a detached unit of the park in Nevada. It’s actually a cave where the ceiling of the cave collapsed, and one lone species of pupfish has survived there for hundreds or thousands of years.

 “Their survival is dependent on the water level,” he added, noting that the National Park Service won a case in the 1970s that preserves water rights for the park to maintain the water level for the protection of resources such as the pupfish.  With the pupfish on the eastern side of the park’s aquifer, what transpires in Devil’s Hole may be a precursor for what may occur further on down the line inside the park.  “It’s kind of a canary in a coal mine situation. The pupfish are a key species. If we lose it, then that may be the tip of what we’re going to lose down the line. The pupfish are at the extreme lowest level we’ve ever had.”

 Deborah DeMeo, California Desert Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, agrees that water is the major threat facing Death Valley National Park.

 “The Southern Nevada Water Authority is seeking out ways to provide water to the growing areas outside Las Vegas,” DeMeo explained. “You hear people talk about places like Pahrump growing. It’s not just the confines of Las Vegas within the city limits, but the greater suburban area.

 Death Valley is the ultimate discharge area for groundwater from the mountain regions, an area totaling 15,800 square miles to the east and northeast of the park in Nevada, De Meo noted.  That groundwater has been identified as the only source of water in the region, and it is discharged throughout the park at more than 400 seeps and springs that provide the water needed to sustain wildlife.

 “These seeps and springs may be unimpressive, not an abundant gushing flow of water, but they’re enough water to offer respite for wildlife,” DeMeo said.  “When you impact the groundwater and dry up some springs and seeps, you can imagine what will occur.”

 And the species likely to be an indicator of water problems is the tiny Devil’s Hole pupfish. There is a spring pupfish count and open house planned at Devil’s Hole for April 14.  It will be an important gathering.

 “The last couple of springs have been extremely low,” Baldino said. “The threat of extinction is very real.”

 The cause and effect of the decline that took place from a drop in water level was more easy to understand, he noted. But the cause for the current drop in population is more difficult to diagnose.

 “Keeping in mind that the largest population was around 500 pupfish in the pool in the late 1980s, in the 1990s we started seeing a decline.  It was the kind of a decline that was slow enough so that at first no alarm bells went off until we noticed it was becoming a trend,” he explained.  “Unfortunately, four to five years ago, it took another dip rather precipitously. With this decline, we can’t point our finger to a particular problem, and it’s still continuing to drop. It’s got to be something else (other than a drop in water level)—the quality of the water. We have to assume it’s something environmental, but what are the triggers?”

 A lack of long-term data on the pupfish hampers the understanding of the agencies pledged to the species’ survival, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Nevada Fish and Wildlife.

 “As an endangered species, there has been no real long-term monitoring plan established for them, until recently when their numbers started to decline,” Baldino explained. “We’ve brought in outside experts and scientists into the fold.”

 Add to the pressures of development in Nevada on the water supply for the park the uncertainties of global warming (referred to as “climate change” by park personnel, who under the current federal administration are not encouraged to sound like Al Gore).

 “How will it impact us?” Baldino asked.  “Will we be the last place in the desert to have the only viable population of Joshua trees? That issue is one hanging out there that needs to be addressed.”

 Baldino uses an example of a plant that needs a certain type of insect to pollinate, and then if that plant is no longer found because the climate of its own ecosystem has changed, the future of not only the insect that helped pollinate that plant species, but the other insects and animals that may, in turn, feed on the insect, or inter-relate to it in some way, also face an uncertain future.

 “Will they disappear or move on?  It’s a complicated web we’re starting to unravel,” he noted. “So many folks think the desert is a barren landscape they can do anything they want on, but they don’t realize until they take a close look at how interconnected it is to their life and level of enjoyment.”

 That web of life may be nowhere more evident in the park than up Surprise Canyon, located on the west side of the park running into the Panamint Mountains.

 “The mouth of the canyon and first half are on BLM lands, and eventually it goes into National Park land.” Baldino explained. The canyon reaches an old silver mining boom town, Panamint City. The old road going to the mining town, though demolished from floods, was still considered to be open, and became a popular place for extreme four wheeling. The canyon was closed about five years ago after the BLM was sued for not managing its resources correctly, as Surprise Canyon had been designated an area of environmental concern.

 “It’s amazing how much has recovered [since the canyon’s closure],” Baldino said. “Hiking it is fabulous.”

 Desert ecologist Daniel Patterson agreed.

 “There are some unique species in Surprise Canyon, which is the most productive riparian stream in the Mojave Desert,” he said.  “It is closed [to off road vehicles], and it is an incredible, awesome place.  The offroaders would cut down the cottonwoods and chainsaw and winch their way up the canyon.”

Patterson said the canyon has already played a role in the recovery of one endangered species, the Inyo Towhee.

 “The Inyo Towhee only lived in the Great Falls Basin north of Trona, but [after the canyon was closed to vehicle traffic] it decided to fly across to live in Surprise Canyon, which is great,” he noted. “This shows endangered species will come back.  The canyon is helping them to recover. Here’s this beautiful river flowing out of Death Valley.  It’s insane for the BLM to even say they’re considering offroad use there. The damage cannot be mitigated, and the harm would be collosal.”

 A joint environmental impact statement from the BLM and National Park Service is being developed for Surprise Canyon, and Baldino said they hope to have a draft of the EIS available for public review within the next few months

 “No matter what decision we make, one group or another is going to sue,” he noted.

Mojave National Preserve

As with Death Valley National Park, the most direct threat to the Mojave National Preserve doesn’t begin in    California. Instead, it is the unbridled international success of Las Vegas that stands to impact this desert treasure the most.

 “The airport is really going to change the Mojave National Preserve if it happens,” said Park Ranger Linda Slater, talking about the Ivanpah Airport, proposed by Clark County, Nevada, for a site on the Ivanpah Dry Lake, near the border town of Primm.  Already, Slater noted, the impacts of Las Vegas have begun to encroach upon the Preserve.

 “It’s going to tug Las Vegas in our direction,” she said. “There’s another interstate planned, there will be more light, and from everywhere in the Preserve you can see Vegas—that Luxor beam of light?  You can see that out in the Preserve. It does have an impact.”

 Deborah DeMeo from the National Parks Conservation Association said the airport presents a potential threat to the Preserve on a number of levels.

 “The airport is visualized at capacity to carry 35 million passengers annually, and right now, Clark County is envisioning being able to accommodate the largest jumbo jets being developed,” DeMeo noted.  “They want a runway that’s going to be able to be hospitable to international travel.

 “Why this could be a threat to the Preserve depends on how it is designed, sited, and constructed,” she explained. “There could be dramatic changes to the natural quiet in the Preserve, to the night sky, scenic views, and potentially there could be impacts on wildlife. The bighorn sheep on Clark Mountain often move down and lamb in a valley area close to where a lot of road traffic serving the airport would be.”

 DeMeo said the potential for induced development could be significant, with the construction of the airport leading to related growth in the nearby area.

 “When you build such an airport, you’re going to stimulate economic development,” she said. “One casino already said they’re going to turn some land they own in that area into residential development.”

 Slater noted that the Preserve has some protection written into its enabling legislation, by preventing new overflights.  That isn’t going to solve the problem, she added.

 “The downside is that the planes are going to have to make a quick sharp turn coming up to the boundary, with the sound going to sweep up the Ivanpah Valley and into the mountains,” she explained.  “It’s definitely going to be something people will hear.  My understanding is, at least in theory, they’re considering other areas, but they’re going ahead with an     Environmental Impact Statement on this site.  They’ve already acquired the property.”

 “Clark County seems very keen on siting the airport there,” DeMeo noted.  “Although the EIS is meant to evaluate multiple sites and whether they can support increased air traffic, Clark County has made it very clear and spent abundant funds to show this is the preferred site.”

 DeMeo said questions remain as to whether the EIS is going to be administered in a full manner that addresses potential impacts from the airport, and if it is sited there, will it address mitigation to help the Preserve? The NPCA, she noted, is working toward ensuring the concerns of the Preserve are considered.

 The Mojave National Preserve faces other issues concerning the mule deer population and whether or not they require artificial water sources, such as those formerly used by ranchers in the Preserve, or can survive on natural sources of water. A study is being conducted by the University of Nevada, Reno, to try and provide insight into that question.

 The threatened desert tortoise continues to be a species of concern in the Preserve.  Slater said the Preserve may follow the lead of Fort Irwin in “head starting” young tortoises.

 “They take the tortoise eggs, and when they hatch they are put in a cage,” she explained. “The babies are protected for the first five years of life until their shells harden.  The Mojave National Preserve is considering seeking funding to do that here.  The contention is that their reproduction rate is so low that every tortoise counts.  Most tortoise mortality occurs in the first five years, so this may help them have a chance to make it to reproduce. Tortoises are very difficult, even knowing the population levels. They’re really hard to count in burrows.”

 Another problem that involves both the tortoise and Las Vegas, is through-traffic.  Driving through the Preserve is a popular back road to Vegas.

 “Commercial trucks are not allowed to go through, but one of the biggest problems with our traffic is speeding,” Slater noted. “There have been a lot of single car rollovers. What we’ve done about it is to put more park rangers out there writing speeding tickets.  Two years ago I think we had six fatalities from single car rollovers. I don’t think we’ve had any this year.”

 Desert ecologist Daniel Patterson agrees that traffic is a problem—for tortoises who end up as road kill, as well as for humans.

 “There needs to be reasonable speed limits, and something to protect the character of the Preserve,” he said. “This is critical habitat for tortoise and there’s no tortoise fencing. I would think that would be happening.”

 Patterson is highly concerned over the fate of this symbol of the Mojave Desert.

 “I honestly don’t know if the desert tortoise is going to survive,” Patterson said. “Every year that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service chooses not to implement its recovery act it becomes more difficult.  The tortoise has already become extirpated from a huge amount of its range. Anytime you see that happening, that’s a big threat.  The track record, especially on federal agencies, has been very poor. The Mojave National Preserve has not done nearly enough for the tortoise.

 “The tortoise is a symbol of the Mojave Desert,” Patterson added. “It would be an incredible failure of humanity if the tortoise went extinct.”

 While wildlife management remains problematic in the Preserve, visitor management has taken a turn for the better, Slater noted.

 “One of our big successes is the Kelso Depot visitor center,” she said. “Visitation is high—200 a day, 300 on some days. We’re happy to have the visitation, but the Mojave National Preserve is still a great place to go to get away from it all. Even with all the people coming into the depot, there is still a sense of remoteness and we’re pleased people are enjoying it.”

Joshua Tree National Park

Perhaps the desert park where you can find the most striking examples of nearly every potential threat that exists is Joshua Tree National Park. From air pollution and global warming to boundary pressures by development, exotic non-native vegetation, wildfire, groundwater depletion and contamination, off-road vehicle incursion, night sky issues, noise, increasing ecological isolation—this park has all the standard threats, and then a few more.

 Toss into the mix a giant unused mine on its southern border where Los Angeles would like to situate the world’s largest garbage dump—and then have an international security training and operations company conduct training for the U.S. Marines on that site—and you begin to get the picture. This stunningly impressive park has equally stunning challenges to overcome.

 “I can give you our top three problems,” said Curt Sauer, Superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park.  “Population, population, population.”

 Sauer’s right, of course. All the Park’s problems either stem from, or are added to, by population growth, surrounding the Park and throughout Southern California. But he doesn’t stop there.

 “For years you’ve got the Eagle Mountain landfill,” he noted. “It is currently in the 9th Circuit Court being appealed.  That’s a concern for us because of the potential impacts to the Coxcomb Mountains, eutrification, bighorn sheep, probable increased raven populations, and more. It’s a continuing ongoing issue.

 ‘The second one, and these aren’t necessarily in order, is the fire regime that effects every park and BLM land in the desert,” Sauer continued. “In this Park we have evidence exotic grasses are moving in and competing with native grasses. This is happening not just in the parks or in the desert.”

 Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey regional environmental center in San Diego are studying fire behavior as it relates to grasses and climate change, Sauer noted, adding that 54 years later, the desert around Joshua Tree is not quite as dry, but is warmer. Climate change combines with air pollution and in turn effects changes in how fires spread in the desert, part of an immensely complex interrelationship and balance that has implications for Park management.

 A changing climate in the desert threatens the signature species of the Park—the Joshua tree. Scientific speculation indicates the large Dr. Seussish lily the Park is named for, may vanish from within Park borders within the next century.  But the Joshua tree isn’t the only plant species whose future is in question.

 “Global climate change coupled with the nitrification of the soils in the western third of this Park are contributing to the invasion of exotic grasses that form more of a blanket and a continuity [of vegetation] in the fields, so when they burn, they burn larger,” he said.  “None of these [native desert plants] have fire as part of their life system.  We have lost up to 25 percent of our Joshua trees in the western third of the Park, and a similar percentage of pinyon and juniper from fires in the past 20 years.  If that rate continues, in about 60 years there won’t be any juniper in the Park.”

 As cooler, wetter air from the LA basin and Inland Empire get sucked through the Banning Pass in the late afternoon, part of the Coachella Valley falls into shadow and begins to cool, while the southern slopes of the Little San Bernardino Mountains are still warm from the sun. The polluted air forced through the pass rises and later settles over much of the western third of Joshua Tree National Park. This leaves the Park with the distinction of being in the top three of national parks with the worst air quality. As the pollution settles, it adds nitrogen to the soil, which native plants cannot metabolize as effectively as the non-native exotic grasses and plants.

 “That nitrification appears to be changing the plant distribution and appears to be changing the fire regime,” Sauer explained, noting there are serious implications for areas that suffer repeated fires.  “If an area that has burned doesn’t burn for 20 to 30 years, it will go back [to the same habitat as before] pretty much.  But if it burns again in 10 years, the grasses take over, and if it burns again in 10 years, it’s a grasslands and it’s not going to revert back.  Every time we have a fire go through here, we risk the loss of that habitat type. If we can keep fires out of an area for 25, 30 or 40 years, then that habitat type will come back.”

 “Climate change and air quality—they’re so large,” said Deborah DeMeo of the National Parks Conservation Association. “The threat is created not only by our own sources of pollution locally, but also from sources we have no control over. Depending on how power generation and Salton Sea reclamation and other large scale projects are managed, we could see a continued decline in air quality and the potential loss of the Park’s signature species, based on the climate change modeling done by a USGS scientist with a great deal of expertise in this area.  It’s a very real possibility. We’re beginning to see the early signs—the proliferation of invasive grasses and weeds, an increase in open range fires that previously had not been a characteristic of the desert landscape.”

 DeMeo said that the issue of air quality and climate change are the primary threats to the Park, even though there are many others to face.

 “Because even though adjacent development and growth of residential and commercial populations around the boundaries of the Park are very significant, they’re a more manageable threat and people can take action now. People are working on how to create wildlife corridors from the Park to other areas.  If that doesn’t continue, we will see serious ramifications and managing the Park will become much more difficult.  We have an opportunity as a growing community to consider how we might better plan transportation, and take action locally to have more solar and wind-powered facilities.  We have the opportunity to participate in responsible choices for a sustainable community and a Park that’s less at risk.  Beyond that, we need to be aware of how to support legislation, both state and national, to help reduce carbon emissions.”

 Desert ecologist Daniel Patterson agreed that the proliferation of exotic non-native plants, with its implications for fire, is a major threat.

 “Often, the ecosystem has not evolved with these kinds of fires,” he noted. “But though the fires are daunting, it’s not only the risk of fire. What was a diverse part of the Mojave Desert may turn into a weed field which has very little biodiversity. Biologists are talking about this all over the Southwest.”

 As for the related threat of air pollution, Patterson said it is challenging, but he would like to see something done in a situation many think can’t be changed.

 “National parks are supposed to have higher air quality,” he noted. “There are way too many days when Joshua Tree does not. It’s a challenging issue, but it would be refreshing to see the Park Service assert its responsibility to pressure authorities to get cleaner air. A lot of the factors are problematic, and it is downwind from the LA basin, but if they don’t have good air quality, the federal government is supposed to work to change that. I don’t believe the federal government is doing that.  Curt [Sauer] can’t do that, but the federal government can.”

 For Sauer though, the threats to the Park keep coming back to population.

 “It took 60 years for this country to get from 200 to 300 million people,” he explained. “At the current rate, by 2035, we will have reached 400 million people.  That’s a third again as large. If the greater LA metropolitan area is 21 million, and it grows a third again, where are they going to go? All over the place.  The Coachella Valley, now at 300-350,000, is projected in the next 30 years to be at 600-650,000, and by 2050 to be at one million.  Where are they going to go?

 After the defeat of the proposed community at Joshua Hills on the southern border of the Park, a new city that would have brought up to 40,000 new residents between the Park and the Coachella Valley Preserve, there was a short reprieve from large scale developments on that side of the Park. Not any more.

 “Now we have the Shaver Valley, Glorious Land Company wanting to build a town of 40,000 on both sides of the interstate,” Sauer said.  “As the population down here burgeons, they’re going to have to go somewhere. If they build down the I-10 corridor it’s going to affect the Park.  There are already 12,000 proposed homes in Desert Hot Springs and they’re going to come up the Morongo grade and come into here [the Morongo Basin].”

 Sauer said while he had been under the impression that there had been no formal plan put forth for the Shaver Valley development, he has now been apprised that a draft Environmental Impact Report is in the works. He noted that Riverside County has the authority to approve or not approve what essentially will become a new city, but the Park will continue to voice its concerns about development directly along its borders, alongside wilderness lands. With two sizeable high density developments planned near the Park, one on the eastern end of Yucca Valley off La Contenta Road, and the other just outside the eastern boundary of Yucca Valley on the south side of Highway 62, there are more challenges for the Park awaiting.

 “About 450-odd acres is the Century Vintage Homes project, that I think is currently zoned at one house per 2.5 acres, but they want something like 12 houses per acre,” he said.  “If they do that and it’s a walled community, it basically becomes a plug in any wildlife connectivity corridor, and also brings 5,000 residents with their pet cats, dogs, motorcycles, etc., and this road would have to be paved, which allows easier access to the Park, into various areas of the Park with their escaped cats, dogs, motorcycles and fire threats.”

 With the other proposed development also bringing about 5,000 more people into the area, there are serious implications for wildlife, Sauer noted.  He offered an example.

 “There’s no way that the animals will ever be able to use this [corridor] again, so you lose that connectivity,” he said.  “There are wildlife connectivity corridors that show deer come from the San Bernardinos across into this area, and we know that deer are primary food habitat for mountain lion. As you build this out and you build that out, the deer no longer come and the mountain lion goes away. When the mountain lion goes away, that changes the coyote population, the rabbit population—it changes everything.”

 There are other issues, such as serious declines in populations of tree frogs at the Fortynine Palms Oasis, as well as mountain quail in some areas of the Park.

 “Unfortunately, they don’t have the money to conduct the natural resource surveys that they’re obligated to do as managers and protectors of these national parks,” DeMeo said, adding that without studies, it is difficult for Park management to know the nature of these declines and how to address them.

 But there is hope on the funding level. The president’s proposed budget includes $100 million per year for the 10 years leading up to the National Park’s centennial. And there’s more.

 “I’m excited by the president’s proposed 2008 budget,” Sauer said.  “It’s a record increase for the national parks— $258 million. For years the Park Service has not even received enough money to offset the fixed increased costs of personnel, so the existing budget had to shrink, so over time you’d lose positions.  The fixed costs for all the Department of Interior departments are in this budget, which is excellent news. 

 “In addition to that, the president’s Centennial Challenge, has two parts.  In preparation for our 100th anniversary, he’s proposing we add $100 million per year in base allocations over 10 years to the National Parks program—almost a 50 percent increase in funding for our national parks.  In addition to that $100 million, he’s asked Congress to approve another $100 million that would be basically matching funds.  We would be able to stop losing positions and we would be able to take care of the parks.  The increased funding allows us to return our parks to their rightful place.”

 Another effort Sauer supports is the Mojave Desert Land Trust’s drive to purchase the one square mile Nolina Peak property.  With the purchase of that property comes the likely addition of three other miles of BLM-managed land that could be transferred to the Park—a four for the price of one deal.

 “I think it’s an excellent idea,” Sauer noted.  “Deer come this way and that fully protects their habitat.”

 He added that the communities of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and Twentynine Palms all have indicated they want to maintain some degree of geographic separation between their communities, and these land transfers will help all of them achieve that goal.  But he noted that without the Nolina Peak purchase, all that could change.

 “The folks that own the [Nolina Peak] property are interested in having it preserved, but if that can’t happen, they’re interested in selling to the highest bidder,” Sauer said.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Often overlooked when talking about desert parks is the crown jewel of state parks, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  This 600,000-acre refuge is diverse in its geology, flora and fauna—as well as the opportunities it offers visitors.

 With the population of San Diego County on the rise, Anza-Borrego faces nearly every challenge a park can imagine, and has its share of successes.  One seems to be with its federally listed endangered—and namesake—bighorn sheep population.

 “The bighorn sheep are actually doing pretty well the last few years,” said Anza-Borrego Superintendent Mark Jorgensen.  “From the mid-90s when they were at an all-time low, they’ve gone up until this year they’ve probably tripled range-wide, and about doubled in the park. We’re feeling cautiously optimistic about their ongoing recovery.”

 The Park works with other agencies and organizations, including the Bighorn Institute, in ongoing research and monitoring of the progress of the bighorn sheep in its recovery.

 “The key to that, under the federal Endangered Species Act, is the designation of critical habitat, so the threat to that program is the current federal political administration that is working to weaken the ESA and has issued new guidelines that I understand would weaken the critical habitat element,” Jorgensen said.

 Jorgensen said the park is having some success with another endangered species, the Least Bell’s vireo, a bird that nests in desert riparian areas within the park.

 “We have four or five times the numbers of 20 years ago, so preserving riparian areas and acquiring them and rehabilitating them has been high on our list,” Jorgensen noted. He added that in one area, Vallecito Ranch, the Park found 51 nesting territories on that property alone.  The Park has plans to remove non-native tamarisk trees from the property, which will enhance the riparian area by returning it to its natural native plant community.  “The diversity of plant and animal species will be greatly increased and there will be a much healthier natural system in Vallecito Creek.  The threat to the vireos is habitat destruction.  In California, 90 to 95 percent of all riparian habitat is gone.”

 The vireo faces another threat from non-native brown-headed cowbirds that prey on their nests and lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The Park has just begun its 2007 trapping season, and Jorgensen explained that with the female cowbirds able to lay up to 40 eggs, any removed from vireo habitat helps ease the pressure on the endangered bird.

 Habitat preservation and acquisition is a focus for the Park and its supporters, and it has benefits for more than endangered species.

 “One of our big goals is to put fragmented habitat back together,” Jorgensen said.  “When we work on recovery, those [the endangered species] are the flagships of the project. It actually enhances that larger habitat for all species.  The best results that are happening out of these projects is that it does effect multiple species. If it is protecting the bighorn, then it’s also doing good things for golden eagles, peregrine falcons, rare plant species, etc.  We try to restore the natural processes.”

 Jorgensen noted that most of the Park’s law enforcement efforts are focused on protecting Anza-Borrego from off road vehicle use, with most problems taking place along boundary areas (there is an 85,000-acre state off-road vehicle area that borders the Park).

 “I’d say most off roaders attempt to be responsible users and comply with the laws,” he said.  “There is a certain percentage who are not and who ruin it for the rest of their sport and cause us a lot of law enforcement issues.  It’s a huge threat, and I think it is getting larger.  Of course with 37 million people in California, most threats are increasing.  With land values going up it has created more incentive for people to subdivide and develop adjacent to parks.”

 With the southern reaches of Anza-Borrego near the California-Mexico border, illegal immigration has had its impact on the Park and adjacent BLM lands as well.

 “It has probably been curtailed somewhat in the last year, it goes in pulses,” Jorgensen explained. “In many canyon areas that act as corridors coming north, the sign in the washes is pretty profound. It would have to start having an impact on wildlife, especially around water sources. From the air, doing sheep surveys, it’s pretty amazing.  Almost every sandy wash bottom is almost wall-to-wall with tracks coming northbound. It gets to be a pretty sensitive political and social issue, and I think the patrol and apprehension and border security has its own impact on the Park.  I’ve met many times with the Border Patrol to ask them to comply with the laws as far as respecting Park regulations and staying on the roads and using roads that exist to patrol smarter, rather than driving cross-country.  And that has been having pretty good effect.”

 Jorgensen noted that human waste may be an issue, and trash is apparent, with discarded food containers and clothing evident.  There is little the Park can do to mitigate this with current funding levels.

 “We’re not out picking up all their trash,” he added. “We have one ranger for every 60-80,000 acres out here.  A lot of our parks depend heavily on seasonal budgets and employees to help us address high seasons and maintenance. Our seasonal budget in the last five or six years has probably been cut in half.  That has an impact on the level of service and maintenance we can provide.”

 Anza-Borrego itself comprises half the state park system in geographic territory, yet has only 10 ranger positions, a ranger pilot, and six maintenance employees with two additional seasonal maintenance staff, and three or four seasonal employees in visitor services.  With low staffing levels, the Park is dependent on volunteers.  About 150 to 180 volunteers help with visitor services, while 40 to 50 are involved with paleontology in the Park, and another 30 in archaeology. Both rangers and volunteers are dedicated, and Jorgensen noted that most rangers on staff have been with the Park for 10 to 20 years.

 One volunteer organization that the Park depends upon is the Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute, which has helped acquire around 35,000 acres of land to add to the Park. It also can take the lead in speaking out on threats to the park, holding forums and providing education.  Linda Carson is the Foundation’s executive director.

 “The Sunrise Powerlink that San Diego Gas & Electric wants to run through the Park is a major issue,” Carson said. This 500 kilovolt line is going through a scoping and environmental review process.  “The preferred route is to follow along a current easement corridor in the Park. Right now it is 100 feet wide in most places and has a 69 kv line, like the kind on telephone poles.  Now huge lattice towers, 120 to 140 feet high are supposed to go right by the Tamarisk Grove Campground, and make that campground a non-destination by going within several hundred yards of it, and they want to widen the easement to 150 feet.”

 But beyond the erection of a line of large power line towers through the Park lies another issue. With the easement passing through designated state wilderness lands, there would have to be a non-designation of wilderness for the project to proceed. That could have profound implications for other state wilderness lands.

 “It is estimated if the lattice towers went up they would be in the viewshed of about 90,000 acres of wilderness,” Carson noted. “It makes you wonder what wilderness areas are all about. Are parks forever or what?”

 Carson noted that when a meeting was held in February, 500 people showed up, with 98 percent strongly opposed to the Powerlink proposal.  A coalition of conservation and community groups has formed to oppose the project.

 “This would just slice the Park right in half,” Carson added, noting that the issue takes up roughly a quarter of her time.  “What choice do you have? You get into trouble when you start putting a dollar value on wilderness. How do you value wilderness?  Where you connected with nature is a defining moment for many people.  We had a fifth grade camp out here from Camp Pendleton, so the kids were from a stressful environment. They came out here and got off the buses and you could see their little bodies rigid. By the end of the first day they had smiles, their shoulders came down relaxed, and they were playing, hiking, and splashing in the water.  That’s the importance of these natural places. And when they’re gone, they’re gone.”

 Another challenge to Anza-Borrego is a familiar one—funding, or rather the lack of funding.

 “There is over a billion dollar backlog in deferred maintenance [for California State Parks],” Carson pointed out. “One of the major challenges facing state parks is a good portion of their funding comes from the general fund, subject to the whims of the budget.  The whole mechanism of how the parks are funded is probably not in the best interest of the parks. 

 “We accept where we are in state government,” Jorgensen said, noting the Park’s reliance on its volunteers.  “We’re moving along.  We’re proud of our interpretive programs and natural resource programs.  We do the best we can and we work hard.”

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