Environment
WildEarth Guardians sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in federal court for information on its attempt to “consider designating more desert federal public lands in Southern California for energy development.”
Read moredesert
Money for Texas’ Ailing Parks System Is Up to Voters
Most summers in far west Texas, the small farming community of Balmorhea transforms into a tourist hot spot as travelers flock across the sprawling Chihuahuan Desert to one of the state’s most beloved spring-fed swimming holes. But in 2018, the summer season was canceled.
Read more
California Asked to Protect Joshua Trees as Threatened Species
Between climate change and the Trump administration’s denial of federal protection this year, things look bleak for the iconic Joshua trees of the Mojave Desert. That’s why an environmental advocacy group on Tuesday asked California to step in and shield the species under state law.
Read moreSuit Claims Feds Are Allowing Protected Desert to Be Trashed
Environmental groups are attempting to stop the government from opening up 90% of a federally protected desert monument to target shooting in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Arizona.
Read more
Atacama Desert Microbes May Hold Clues to Life on Mars
The winds on Mars could be transporting life via dust, given how microbial life moves across the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
Read more
California Grabs Oversight of Mojave Water Pipeline Project
A business hoping to cash in on an untapped aquifer beneath the Mojave Desert will have to clear extra environmental reviews before it can sell the water, under legislation signed late Wednesday by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Read more
Feds Can’t Duck Claims of Shoddy Review for Desert Water Pipeline
A federal judge indicated Thursday he will advance conservation groups’ claims that a proposed 43-mile groundwater pipeline in a Southern California desert was approved abruptly and without proper environmental review by a federal agency.
Read moreEU Warned to Do More on Desertification
The growing threat of desertification and its effects on European land, especially in the Mediterranean regions, are being poorly monitored and prepared for by the European Commission, according a new audit by an EU watchdog agency.
Read moreLA County Sued for Records on Desert Housing Project
A conservation group sued Los Angeles County on Tuesday seeking emails, text messages and other documents exchanged with the developer behind a 12,000-acre planned community on the edge of the Mojave Desert.
Read moreDispatches From the Road: The Nevada Desert
In his latest dispatch, Courthouse News’ western bureau chief follows the same trail through the Nevada desert as travelers of old.
Read moreMojave Desert Housing Project Advances
A Los Angeles County commission approved a 12,000-acre housing project to be built on the edge of the Mojave Desert in the undeveloped wilderness Wednesday, much to the dismay of environmental advocates who say the project’s footprint on the ecosystem will change the face of the region.
Read moreEnvironmentalists Sue to Stop Water Pipeline in Mojave Desert
Environmental groups sued the Trump administration in federal court on Tuesday, claiming its approval of a project that aims to pump billions of gallons from desert aquifers in California’s Mojave Desert to supply thirsty coastal cities is illegal.
Read more
BLM OKs Mojave Desert Water Pipeline, Reversing Obama-Era Policy
The Trump administration has given the go-ahead for a project to siphon millions of gallons of water from an underground aquifer in the Mojave Desert and sell it to Southern California water districts.
Read moreLocals Fight for Ironwood Forest in Face of Trump Review
The majestic saguaro cactus may be Arizona’s best-known desert plant, but at the Ironwood Forest National Monument, it is a gnarled, hardy tree that commands attention.
Read moreLocals Urge Trump to Keep Sand to Snow Monument Off Chopping Block
Southern California is known for its diverse landscape, including the tallest mountain peaks in the state down to the desert, which has been teeming with life since experiencing a super bloom after an unusually wet winter. But when the area connecting the two different landscapes was left unprotected from development – particularly by the energy sector – despite having support from varied groups including environmentalists and off-road enthusiasts, it took an executive order by former President Barack Obama to do what locals say Congress failed to: create the Sand to Snow National Monument.
Read more
Decoded Genome May Help Tortoise Win Survival Race
A “slow and steady” adaptation to evolving hazards will not save the Mojave Desert tortoise from extinction, and to save the endangered iconic species researchers have decoded the tortoise’s genome to identify specific genes that will guide conservation efforts and improve its likelihood of survival.
Read moreSonoran Desert Lovers Fight Possible Delisting of Arizona Monument
President Bill Clinton created the Sonoran Desert National Monument by executive order in 2001 to serve as an example of what the Sonoran Desert could look like if untouched by the fast-growing urban sprawl of Phoenix. Nearly two decades later, the monument’s creation has been called into question by the Trump administration.
Read moreWinter Rains Bring ‘Super Bloom’ to Calif. Deserts
Winter storms that drenched the Golden State have brought a blanket of wildflowers which cloaked the Anza-Borrego Desert in a “super bloom” not seen for decades.
Read more
Would You Spring for a Tortoise This Year?
The arrival of spring nudges the desert tortoises at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum out of their hibernation burrows, and that means they are ready for a new home. Each year, the Desert Museum puts up for adoption as many as 90 rescue tortoises.
Read moreGobi Desert Dust Nourishing California Sequoias
Dust from the Gobi Desert in Asia is crucial to the survival of the giant sequoias in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, half a world away.
Read more