Saharan Dust Storm Sails to Texas Gulf Coast
Ahh, the first week of summer — a time for a backyard football or Wiffle ball game. Hold that thought if you live in the Southeast. Saharan sands are swirling in on their yearly sojourn.
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desert
Nevada Water Order Kills Real Estate Project
Nevada restricted groundwater pumping Tuesday in an area north of Las Vegas, potentially killing a real estate project that threatens an endangered fish clinging to existence in a handful of spring-fed desert pools, the Center for Biological Diversity said.
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California Looks at Protections for Iconic Joshua Tree
Conservationists say climate change and urban sprawl could erase the Joshua tree from California’s deserts by the end of the century.
Read moreEnvironment
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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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