The Sun Runner's 2012 Desert Ecology Issue

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The Sun Runner The Magazine of the Real California Desert April/May 2012—Vol. 18, No. 1 The Sun Runner Magazine PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252 (760)820-1222 • www.thesunrunner.com Publisher/Executive Editor:Steve Brown publisher@thesunrunner.com Founding Editor Emeritus: Vickie Waite Asst. Publisher, in memoriam: Barbara Buckland Theatre/Film Editors: Jack & Jeannette Lyons Literary Editor: Delphine Lucas Music Editor: Judy Wishart Calendar Editor: Lynelle White

The Sun Runner The Magazine of the Real California Desert

April/May 2012 – The Desert Ecology Issue

Inside this Issue:

Dry Heat, by Steve Brown ... 11 The Tortoise Telegraph, News gathered from around the desert – at our own pace ... 12 Our Top Desert Threats List ... 13 Mr. McChesney Goes to Washington ... 16 Robin Maxwell’s JANE ... 17 Honoring a Desert Treasure: Elden Hughes, by Paul Smith ... 18 Contributing Writers A Toast to Arizona’s Centennial ... 20 Lorraine Blair • Philip Bonafede Steve Brown • Tom Budlong Leonard Knight & Salvation Mountain ... 24 Death Valley Jim Valley on Fire: Ivanpah, by David Lamfrom ... 25 Pat Flanagan • Carlos Gallinger Lou Gerhardt • Frazier Haney • Jennie Kelly Reaching the Turning Point, by Frazier Haney and Michelle Myers ... 27 David Lamfrom • Jack Lyons • Michelle The Ocotillo Forest and YIMBYism, by Tom Budlong ... 29 Myers • Paul Smith • Judy Wishart The Patterns of Water, by Pat Flanagan ... 31 Contributing Photographers & Artists: The New Headquarters of the Salton Sea History Museum Don Barrie • Lorraine Blair and Rancho Dos Palmas, by Jennie Kelly ... 33 Philip Bonafede • Steve Brown Tom Budlong • Death Valley Jim Gold Prospecting, Meteorites, and Fulgurites, by Philip Bonafede ... 34 Carlos Gallinger • Michael Lipsitz The Ways of Things—Coyote Hold, by Carlos Gallinger ... 35 Karin Mayer • Judy Wishart Ramblings From Randsburg, On the Trail of Some Ecology of Early RandsAdvertising Sales: burg... Swept, Raked & Garnished, by Lorraine Blair ... 36 John Cucchiara, Senior Sales Manager Death Valley Jim’s Desert Adventures: Trona, by Death Valley Jim ... 37 Sun Runner Team Support: Desert Theatre Beat, by Jack Lyons ... 38 Christina Dooley • Steve Hall • Isha Jones Film Talk, by Jack Lyons ... 39 The Sun Runner Magazine features desert Hi-Desert Music News, by Judy Wishart ... 40 news, desert issues and commentary, arts & All Hail Khaira Arby The Queen of the Desert ... 42 entertainment, natural and cultural history, Positive Living: Frieda Burdette, by Lou Gerhardt ... 43 columns, poetry, stories by desert writers, and more, for the enormous California desert The Best Places to Dine in the Real Desert ... 46 The Best Places to Stay in the Real Desert ... 48 region. Published bimonthly.

MAGAZINE DEADLINE: May 26 for the June/July issue, for advertising & editorial.

To list a desert event free of charge in The Sun Runner’s online desert events calendar, please send your complete press release and event information (preferably with photos) to calendar@thesunrunner.com, or mail to: Calendar, c/o: The Sun Runner Magazine, PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252. Please include all relevant information in text format. Notices submitted without complete information or in an annoying format may not be posted. Event information absolutely will not be taken over the telephone or telepathically (it hurts!).

SUBMISSIONS: By mail to the address above; by email: publisher@thesunrunner. com, or stop us when we’re at the Kelso Depot like everybody else does.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $22/year U.S.A. ($38/ year International, $38 trillion Intergalactic) Copyright © 2011 The Sun Runner. Permission for reproduction of any part of this publication must be obtained from the publisher. The opinions of our contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the magazine. Honest. We have made some effort to be accurate, but we are a desert publication after all, and we are not responsible for errors or omissions in material submitted to us, nor claims by advertisers.

Advertising, press releases, and public service announcements are accepted at the mysterious discretion of the all-seeing publisher.

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Cover Art — Naomi Burning Sage, by Don Barrie

Our cover photo by Don Barrie won first place in the “People Enjoying the Desert” category of the Anza-Borrego Foundation’s 2012 Photo Contest Cover artist Don Barrie is a desert photographer and geology professor. He chairs the physical science department at San Diego Mesa College. He and his wife, Naomi, divide their time between San Diego and Borrego Springs. Exploring dry lands is their passion.

From the barren slopes of the Mauna Kea shield volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, to Monument Valley, Utah, to the Anza-Borrego Desert they call home, Don and Naomi seek artistic expression in diverse settings. Don’s recent photo credits include a two-page spread in Diana Lindsay’s recently published book, Ricardo Breceda: Accidental Artist (Sunbelt Publications) and assorted pieces in Bones, Feathers, and Pottery Shards: Stories of the Anza-Borrego Desert (D’Nomi Press), written by his wife, Naomi. Don’s recent work can be viewed at http://digitalexpressions.shutterfly.com. To purchase full-resolution prints, please contact Don at dbarriegeo@gmail.com.

Want up-to-date advertising information about The Sun Runner Magazine, The Stumps Monthly, the new Sun Runner website, and our specialty publications? Call Senior Sales Manager John Cucchiara at (760)992-0838 or (760)808-3297 for our media kit and current advertising specials.

“The other Desert—the real Desert—is not for the eyes of the superficial observer, or the fearful soul or the cynic. It is a land, the character of which is hidden except to those who come with friendliness and understanding. To these the Desert offers rare gifts: health-giving sunshine—a sky that is studded with diamonds—a breeze that bears no poison—a landscape of pastel colors such as no artist can duplicate—thorn-covered plants which during countless ages have clung tenaciously to life through heat and drought and wind and the depredations of thirsty animals, and yet each season send forth blossoms of exquisite coloring as a symbol of courage that has triumped over terrifying obstacles.”

– Randall Henderson and J. Wilson McKenney There Are Two Deserts, Desert magazine, Volume 1, Number 1, November, 1937

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early a decade ago, I wrote a detailed story on threats to Joshua Tree National Park that was comprehensive enough to be used in the park’s curriculum for high school students. There were numerous threats to the ecological integrity of this invaluable desert park then, and ten years on, I am sad to say, there are even more.

Our other desert parks are in similar, dire circumstances, and the ecological connections that keep ecosystems functional and resilient, are being frayed and sometimes, destroyed.

Some of the folks who were once thought of as watchdogs, the Sierra Club (the national level, not our wonderful local chapters), the Natural Resources Defense Council, and even the California Wilderness Coalition, disappoint greatly as they fall into the green trap—the pit into which you slide when you are willing to sacrifice the desert’s ecology for the mistaken belief that you’re saving the planet by joining a game that really isn’t about green energy at all, but rather about what always makes the world go ‘round—politics and, of course, money.

It is now accepted fact that industrial wind and solar energy projects frequently cause significant environmental harm.

Whether it’s scraping miles of habitat bare of all life to install solar (countless burrowing owls and other desert creatures have been buried alive or slaughtered by these projects), or slicing and dicing eagles, hawks, migratory songbirds, or bats with wind turbines taller than the Statue of Liberty, these “green” projects will irrevocably damage the ecosystem of the desert.

Of course, since all of our ecosystems are linked, the effects of desert wind farms slaughtering migratory songbirds, for example, will have direct impacts outside the desert.

Not too long ago, I was threatened by a radical environmental fanatic who believes the desert may need to be sacrificed to save the planet (this is a simplification of his argument, to be fair, but I’ll save you his extensive rhetoric and run with his core assertion). He said he would call me out as a “climate villain,” and implied I could possibly even lose my magazine

as a result. This nationally published writer, who has recommended in previous stories, to bury climate villains up to their necks and then use their mouths as toilets, argued that anyone who disagreed with his extreme position was being paid by the oil companies to defeat green, renewable energy.

The man, clearly a fool and a bully, is not that uncommon a creature to encounter these days. I agree, humanity’s excesses and indulgences are creating a very serious threat to our existence (there are countless examples pertaining to this coming in at an alarming rate from nearly every ecosystem, whether it’s the U.S. Navy Warfare Testing Program that is estimated to “take”—kill—nearly 12 million marine mammals in five years, or the now acceptable slaughter of previously protected golden eagles by wind energy farms), but where I differ from those who, on the verge of panic, are ready to see the desert tortoise go extinct, and the desert to be ecologically devestated, is that I don’t believe it’s that simple.

I don’t believe you can sacrifice one large regional ecosystem and have the other ecosystems safely remain intact. I think nature is more intertwined than that, and the push for industrial solar and wind power projects a hundred miles from the urban areas that will use the power, is motivated by the desire to profer privilege on politically powerful international corporations for political purposes, not environmental. I love Tom Budlong’s call for YIMBYism—put the solar on my rooftop, but stop scraping miles of pristine desert clear so you can siphon billions of taxpayer dollars to corporations. I know they’re people too, but even corporate people cannot thrive in a world where plants, animals, and finally, human beings, are endangered.

On a personal level, I worry about friends (and desert heroes) like Donna and Larry Charpied, who have fought the Eagle Mountain dump for two and a half decades, only to have their organic jojoba farm surrounded by six square miles of industrial solar development (and the dump still isn’t dead).

If you care about the desert, it takes a toll on you to see it die. April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 11

Little Desert Town, Big Challenges Our home base in the unincorporated town of Joshua Tree has been finding itself faced with troublesome development issues as of late.

First, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, who operate the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella, and who had previously announced in 2007 they would be constructing a casino, RV park/campground, restaurant, and motel on their 160-acre reservation in Twentynine Palms, announced they wanted to put their casino on land they owned in Joshua Tree near the new county offices, courthouse, and hospital, on the north side of Twentynine Palms Highway.

Then, Dollar General, a national discount retailer based in Tennessee with nearly 10,000 stores in 38 states (and growing), announced plans for a 9,100 square foot store on the corner of Twentynine Palms Highway and Sunburst Avenue, on the eastern end of downtown Joshua Tree.

While the tribe is well within its sovereign rights to pursue construction of a casino on its reservation lands, placing one on non-reservation lands is a more complicated process. Offreservation casinos can be built in California only if they are approved by the governor’s office and the U.S. Department of the Interior. As we reported in December, 2011, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry, have come out publicly against the Joshua Tree casino proposal, as have local community groups such as the Joshua Tree Community Association, and gambling-related organiza12 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

tions such as Stand Up for California!.

“Off-reservation casinos are in direct violation of the promises made to voters that Indian gaming would remain on Indian lands,” said Stand Up for California’s Executive Director, Cheryl Schmit. “If off-reservation gaming is allowed, a dangerous precedent will be set, opening the floodgates for tribes across California to shop around for the most profitable locations to build casinos, with complete disregard for how our local communities are impacted.”

But while the proposed casino has met with strong resistance in Joshua Tree, the question of whether it would be better to site the casino along the highway here, or on reservation lands that directly border Joshua Tree National Park wilderness, in desert tortoise habitat, remains. And some locals argue for the casino, noting the jobs and revenue they could bring to the area.

Meanwhile, Dollar General is meeting with strong resistance to its proposed Joshua Tree store, while neighboring Yucca Valley has already approved a store for the west end of town.

It seems the real issues in Joshua Tree stem from the need for some kind of unified vision for the unincorporated town.

Development may need to occur to meet the needs of the local population, and the 1.4 million visitors to Joshua Tree National Park, but how much development, and what it should look like, are important questions that should be addressed by the County of San Bernardino with significant, ongoing input from local residents (they are addressed through the general plan, but with no governing body for Joshua Tree, other than the county, it is difficult to enforce any vision for development within the community).

Other communities have fought Dollar General and have similar complaints—architectural design that is inconsistent with the vision for the community, inappropriate locations that could encourage additional undesireable development, possible damage to locally owned businesses, low levels of job growth when compared to local businesses, and the generic corporate influence on a community’s identity and image.

In our opinion, Joshua Tree’s sights should be set on something higher than the lowest common denominator, which is well represented by Dollar General. The risk of additional sprawl, from the development of either Dollar General or the casino project, is significant. Large swaths of highway frontage from Yucca Valley to Joshua Tree could fill in with additional inappropriately designed and planned development, greeting

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locals and visitors alike with a generic version of any small town U.S.A. Joshua Tree should, whenever addressing and reviewing proposed development, work toward placing it within the context of the community and the image and identity the town wants to put forth to the world.

There are practical issues to be considered at the same time—the rights of property owners, as one example, but those rights need to be framed within the vision the community has for itself. Joshua Tree has a great asset being located at the entrance to a major national park. It has a reputation as an artistic community, and it has a history with popular music that should be built on, not destroyed. Just as Twentynine Palms should safeguard its artistic history and build on that legacy and its pedestrian-friendly downtown district, Joshua Tree’s assets, not fully developed, should be protected, and encouraged to succeed.

We do not want to see the unique, locally owned businesses that are truly the heart of our communities pushed out or overshadowed by absentee-owned corporate chains that don’t re-invest in the community, and have no real ties to it. We don’t need to sell out our local business community in order to bring in a store that looks like 10,000 other stores around the country, and employs few people at low wages, so we can get more cheap Chinese junk. Instead, let’s encourage more local small businesses to fill in the downtown district, and let’s work to create a system of more unified oversight for development in Joshua Tree.

Racing For Loved Ones, and Against Leukemia & Lymphoma Angela Boswell of Twentynine Palms is a member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. The LLS has as its mission to cure Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and Myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Angela is racing in the Bass Lake Classic Triathlon on June 2 to honor her friend Carl. Her fundraising page is: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ocie/basstri12/ angieboswell.

Angela met Carl in the summer of 2005 while attending the Customs and Border Protection Academy in Georgia. Carl was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma this past December during an examination required after an incident during his work as a Customs and Border Protection Officer. The diagnosis came as a glow to the 34 year-old, married with two small children.

Carl isn’t giving up, and neither is Angela. She’s lost a number of relatives to cancers that have taken their toll on her family, and taken family members far too early in life.

In addition to her fundraiser, there is a LLS fundraiser at the Palm Desert California Pizza Kitchen on Wednesday, April 25, all day.

We’re supporting Angela’s efforts in memory of our good friend and Sun Runner supporter, Howard Gordon, whom we lost in July, 2007, and for all those like Howard who left this world far too early from these horrific diseases.

Time to Chill Out—Joshua Tree Style Maybe it was dealing with everybody else’s problems and needing the ultimate outlet for happiness that led to Dr. Ron Amos delving into his cool new passion.

Maybe it’s his inherent creative streak, or the kid that lives on in him. Whatever it is, we’re glad to see “Indy” has successfully launched what looks to be the desert’s first and only homegrown ice cream company, Joshua Treets.

Made in a licensed commercial facility in Joshua Tree, Joshua Treets is changing the way the desert is chilling with flavors ranging from Cactus Coconut, made with locally sourced hand-picked local Prickly Pear cactus juice, Thai coconut milk, and raw agave nectar for sweetener—an all natural, vegan, raw, gluten free, locally made delight, to the best Mango Sorbet we’ve ever enjoyed, bursting with fruity flavor from mango, natural can sugar, and a splash of lemon juice—another vegan, gluten free, raw, treet. Our favorite still is the Salted Caramel Crunch, loaded with cashews. Delicious!

Chocolate lovers won’t go wrong with Joshua Treets’ dark chocolate varieties, with or without chunks of giant fudge walnut brownies in a French chocolate base. Yeah, Joshua Treets costs more than the big commercial brands, but that’s because it’s made in small artisinal batches with truly high quality ingredients.

Currently you can find Joshua Treets ice cream for dessert at restaurants like the 29 Palms Inn and The Red Lotus, as well as at shops like Joshua Tree Health Foods, and Sam’s Market in Joshua Tree. Festival fans can chill with Joshua Treets at the upcoming Joshua Tree Music Festival as it will be served at Java GoGo. Find Joshua Treets on Facebook, and we’ll keep you up to date on the best way to chill in the desert online at www.thesunrunner.com.

Facebook Environmental Threat Poll The Sun Runner recently ran a survey on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ thesunrunner), asking what our readers think are the greatest environmental threats to the California deserts. Over-development came in first, followed by off-roading, industrial solar projects and transmission, industrial wind power projects, high voltage power corridors, water “mining” of desert aquifers, human over population, all water issues, and simply, “people” (the root of all the other problems, but also, quite possibly, the solution to some of them).

Of course, being social media, we got a few responses like that of Cliff Trudeau, who listed “eco-nuts and artists” as his choice for the greatest environmental threat to the desert, while others listed politicians, complacency, and littering.

The survey was a non-scientific poll, but gives a good overview of some of the issues the desert region faces, and the growing awareness that “green” energy, as planned and promoted by the federal government, comes with a large environmental price tag, and that there may be better ways to produce renewable energy with less ecological harm.

Our thanks to all who participated in the survey.

Sun Runner Positions & Endorsements We thought our readers may be interested in knowing where we stand on environmental issues impacting the California deserts. Though for regular readers some of this may be old news, we thought that we should note we endorse the California Desert Protection Act of 2011, that would protect additional wilderness, and establish two new national monuments in the desert region.

The Sun Runner opposes commercial water mining in the Cadiz area; inappropriate development, examples of which include the former proposed city of Joshua Hills, the vanquished Katz development in Joshua Tree, and the proposed Dollar General Store in Joshua Tree; and large scale industrial solar and wind proejcts that are destroying vast swaths of desert habitat, along with Native American cultural resources.

This magazine opposes proposed industrial wind energy projects in the Pioneertown/Pipes Canyon area, those that may locate along the border of Joshua Tree National Park, and the Ocotillo wind energy project along the border of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We support the preservation of the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area for offroading recreation.

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hotographer/author David Jesse McChesney of Joshua Tree began his “Send the Mojave to Washington” campaign March 26 by mailing 25 copies of his latest book The Mojave Desert: Miles of Wonder to members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, President Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis. His intent is to help provide legislators and administration officials with a better understanding of the Mojave Desert as consideration of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s legislation (S.138, The California Desert Protection Act of 2011/12) progresses.

At the direction of Feinstein’s office and their designees at several desert conservation and nature organizations, McChesney sent the 540-image book to each member of the CENR’s subcommittees on National Parks and Public Lands and Forests.

Currently the book is available at national parklands, museums, travel and visitor centers and libraries across the Mojave.

McChesney is the advanced photography instructor for the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park and has photographed much of the western hemisphere including 53 American national parks.

He authored Muir

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uthor and cultural treasure of the California deserts, Robin Maxwell, featured in our Desert Treasures Issue earlier this year, pals around with one of the Burroughs’ great granddaughters’ boyfriends and desert treasure Max Thomas, Robin’s husband, and creative dynamo, at the home of Danton Burroughs’ widow, the first night of the Tarzan Centennial convention, Robin’s groundbreaking new book, JANE: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan, will be released September 18, and is available now for pre-order on Amazon. com and through Barnes & Noble.

We’ll have all the news on JANE and the adventures of Robin and Max on our website at www.thesunrunner.com.

The release of The Sun Runner’s annual Desert Writers Issue (August/ September) will culminate with our Desert Writers Celebration, 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday, September 29. The Desert Writers Celebration this year will have a jungle theme in honor of the release of Robin Maxwell’s JANE: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan, during Tarzan’s centennial year.

The celebration is part of the international 100 Thousand Poets for Change international literary event. Desert writers and poets are invited to read their work, and to sign and sell books at the event. Those interested should contact us at publisher@thesunrunner.com.

The Desert Writers Issue is accepting submissions through July 4.

Short fiction, poetry, essays by desert writers or about the desert are accepted Send to: publisher@thesunrunner.com

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Since October, McChesney has given dozens of Mojave presentations for nature preserves, conservation organizations, historical societies, libraries, art associations and photography clubs throughout the desert. He is scheduled to hold numerous events for the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Springs Preserve, Sierra Club, and Clark County (NV) and San Bernardino County Library Districts.

In late September, McChesney plans a cross-country trip to Washington, D.C., which will include talks and Mojave Desert visual presentations in 16 states. In early October he plans to meet with key legislators and distribute additional Miles of Wonder books to Senate and House members while extolling the benefits of establishing two new national monu-

ments and protecting valuable desert wilderness areas in the Mojave.

We wish David luck with his expedition. These days, it doesn’t seem as if Washington cares much about the desert, other than to hand it out for taxpayerfunded industrial power projects that destroy our habitat, mangle our views (and in turn, this mangles our tourism industry), and destroy Native American cultural resources, all the while energetically ignoring our concerns.

This magazine has been read in a number of offices of representatives and senators, and reportedly made its way past the Secret Service into the White House, but we’ve received no subscriptions or fan mail from Washington, D.C., as of yet. The current president receives mixed reviews from environmental organizations.

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he Minerva Hoyt Award is presented annually by the Joshua Tree National Park Association to commemorate the conservation leadership of Minerva Hoyt. Minerva was a wealthy South Pasadena socialite and activist. In the 1920s and 1930s she witnessed the degradation of native plants in the California Desert and had the intelligent and passionate dedication to make it her personal mission to save the Joshua Tree National Park region from the wholesale theft of plant resources for backyard gardens of the Southwest.

In the late 1920’s Minerva used her passion and wealth to create traveling exhibits of desert plant life. These living displays won numerous major awards and were shown in New York, Boston and London. One of these exhibits is still on display in England, more than 80 years later. They were beautiful, interesting, and most importantly, persuasive.

Here is what Minerva Hoyt had to say in 1929 about problems of commercial exploitation in the California Desert.

It should sound familiar: “Over thirty years ago I spent my first night in the Mojave desert of California and was entranced by the magnificence of the Joshua grove in which we were camping and which was thickly sown with desert juniper and many rare forms of desert plant life. A month ago, when we were forming the Desert Conservation League, I visited that spot again. As a conservation officer interested in prospective desert parks, imagine the surprise and shock of finding a barren acreage with scarcely a Joshua left standing and the whole face of the landscape a desolate waste, denuded of its growth for commercialization.

“A spur of the old trail made in those early days by the gold-seekers found its way out through Horse Thief Canyon into a wagon road which has since become one of our national highways . . . . This highway likewise, I found, makes easy of access the road for the commercial collector, one of the great despoilers of the desert, taking from this arid region, as he does, 18 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

truckloads of rare plant life to satisfy commercial greed. An arid growth is slow growth, hence the irreparable loss which only immediate conservation can check.”

Minerva organized the International Deserts Conservation League and was its first president. She campaigned in Washington, D.C. to save the desert with the help of wellknown ecologists and botanists, and created a desert portfolio of photographs by famed photographer Stephen H. Willard.

It was not an easy task. She faced opposition from powerful mining interests and even from certain influential figures in the Department of Interior. But she succeeded. Her personal lobbying, knowledgeable and confident, persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt to set aside Joshua Tree National Monument for protection by the National Park Service in 1936.

Despite the creation of Joshua Tree National Monument, the work was not over. New challenges to the pristine and fragile desert environment would be faced from powerful politicians; irresponsible off-road vehicle use which inflicted massive permanent damage to fragile desert soils and biodiversity; continuing influential mining interests; massive land grabs of pristine desert by large industrial solar, wind, and water interests, as well as commercial and residential developers; and, entrenched government bureaucracies resistant to change.

Leading the fight to meet these challenges was Elden Hughes. Like Hoyt, Elden was an inspirational leader of a new generation of desert activists who fought these threats.

Starting in the 1970s, he worked with fellow activists, Senator Alan Cranston, and later with Senator Dianne Feinstein, to pass legislation protecting the California desert. Elden and his wife Patty visited Washington, D.C. repeatedly over many years and forcefully presented the case for wilderness areas and national parks in a desert which had been treated as a wasteland.

After a long and arduous campaign, The Desert Protection Act was passed and signed into law in 1994. It created over 60 new Wilderness areas, elevated Death Valley and Joshua Tree to national park status, and created the Mojave National Preserve under the management of the National Park Service.

But, the challenges continued. Working with Senator Feinstein and the Wildlands Conservancy, Elden was a key figure in helping the Conservancy acquire over 620,000 acres of desert wildlands for permanent protection. The largest nonprofit acquisition in United States history, it was completed in 2003. As Senator Feinstein noted, when there is a challenge in the desert, Elden Hughes is the man to call.

And still, the challenges continued‑—the Desert Protection Act of 1994 left some unfinished business. Feinstein introduced the Desert Protection Act of 2011 and Elden was a prominent supporter. The Act will augment the goals of the original Desert Protection Act of 1994 and will create new wilderness areas, make important additions to national parks and add two new national monuments, the Sand to Snow, and the Mojave Trails national monuments.

After his death late last year, Feinstein made this tribute: “Hughes dedicated his life to the protection and revival of our great Mojave Desert and its tortoises. I’ll never forget when he brought a couple of tortoises to a large constituent breakfast and the amazed and glowing faces of youngsters when he told them they live for decades. Elden led a huge citizen effort in 1993 to support my Desert Protection Act. We will pass the second Desert Protection Act, now pending in committee, in his honor. He will be greatly missed.”

The Joshua Tree National Park Association presented the Minerva Hoyt Conservation Award recently to Elden’s widow, and conservation partner, Patty Hughes. The Sun Runner counts Elden Hughes as a true Desert Treasure.

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he town of Felicity, California, recently held a commemoration of Arizona’s Centennial, with a formal ceremony in the town’s church, followed by a toast. One of the attractions at Felicity, one of our favorite desert places to visit, is The Museum of History in Granite, an incredible ongoing project that is engraving a concise, authoritative, and inclusive history of the world, the U.S., and, the full history of neighboring Arizona, among other topics.

Felicity’s Mayor Jacques-Andre Istel, a scholar and visionary, known as the “godfather of civilian skydiving,” and his wife Felicia, a writer and the town’s namesake, were on hand for a gathering of dignitaries, including nearby Yuma’s Mayor Alan Krieger, and Arizona State Senator Don Shooter, along with a Marine Corps color guard.

Felicity, a lot closer to Yuma, Arizona, than it is to most places in California, enjoys a special cross-border (and river) relationship with Arizona. California’s historic wall at the museum has only two panels engraved so far (though the rest is in the works). There were a few California jokes tossed about during the ceremonies, but all in good humor, it being difficult to think of a bigger joke in our state than our own government.

This highly recommended museum is open seasonally, from October to Easter, though work is continuing at this time.

Put it on your “must see” list for the desert this fall.

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Felicity’s Mayor Jacques Andre Istel speaks at the Arizona Centennial commemoration, left, with the Marine Corps color guard behind, along the wall commemorating Arizona’s history at The Museum of History in Granite.

The incomplete California history panels already offer a little tonguein-cheek political commentary on the “Golden State,” as seen in the quote above from Benjamin Disraeli, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, perjury and statistics.” Eureka, indeed!

Arizona’s 100th birthday cake is displayed by Arizona State Senator Don Shooter, left, and Yuma Mayor Alan Krieger, right, as Felicity’s namesake, Felicia, looks on in the photo below. The Sun Runner considers Jacques Andre Istel and Felicia, along with their musuem in Felicity as cultural treasures of the California deserts.

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e are driving east, on a rugged powerline road in Clark Mountain’s shadow. The 8,000 foot peak is covered in snow. Pinyon-juniper forest commands the windshield view, with Joshua tree woodland in the rearview.

As we negotiate the rocky pass with its perilous drop-off, we see the shimmering dry lakebed of Ivanpah Valley encircled by tall peaks.

We get out of the truck. From this viewpoint, all I can see is Mojave National Preserve and three wilderness areas. My passenger is a botanist by training, who marvels at the diversity of cacti: beavertail, barrel, calico, cotton-top, foxtail, fishhook, and mound, until she finds a unique agave with a limited range in California. Botanists are excited by these things. I know this plant as well, one of the smallest agaves. June hikes in the Clark Mountains feature the explosion of their 10-foot flowering stalks, which are attended by a range of insects and hummingbirds, and serve as lookout towers for desert spiny lizards. This experience contrasts with the intention of my first trip here. I came to the Clarks in 2008 to understand the visual impacts of the proposed Ivanpah Solar project to Mojave National Preserve. This valley is at an ecological crossroad, intersected by a political crossroad. We will decide this valley’s eternal fate in the next few years.

The Ivanpah Valley is a biologically-diverse region and home to important desert tortoise migration corridors connecting populations in Southern Nevada with those in California’s Mojave National Preserve. Unfortunately, it is also ground zero for our nascent solar energy industry. Industrial-scale solar projects are being built and more are proposed for those precise Bureau of Land Management areas. Projects currently underway include Ivanpah Solar (3,400 acres) and Silver State

North (600 acres). Projects proposed for construction include Silver State South (2,900 acres) and Stateline (2,000 acres).

Approval and construction of these proposed projects will result in severing migration corridors for the federally threatened desert tortoise.

Coupled with other proposed projects such as the upgrade of the El Dorado transmission line, development of a high speed rail line, an agricultural check station, and the Ivanpah International Airport, these projects will completely build out the valley. Such development puts its immense scenery, iconic species such as the desert tortoise, and biological values at risk.

The National Parks Conservation Association is speaking out against further development in this valley—but is only as strong as the sum of its supporters—and needs your help.

These proposed actions should be weighed cumulatively, in terms of their impact to species, scenic vistas, water resources, recreation, tourism, and their cost to taxpayers who will subsidize grants, loans, and tax incentives for industry, while footing the bill to recover the threatened species harmed by such development. Species that forage and migrate within the Ivanpah Valley will also be affected. Unmitigated impacts will continue to Mojave National Preserve, the third largest National Park Service unit in the lower 48 states, which receives more than 600,000 recreational visits per year and contributes more than $12 million in annual visitor spending to local economies.

Viewscapes, reported as one of the top visitor attractions at the preserve, will also be marred, from the mountaintop views throughout the northern Preserve and Clark Mountain Wilderness which stands above Ivanpah Solar.

Despite the dark picture painted, the desert sun burns brightly with opportunity for citizen action, comment, and input April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 25

Photos of desert life in the Ivanpah Valley by David Lamfrom, the Senior California Desert Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Key Contacts

in defense of this important desertscape. Advocates have fiercely defended the Ivanpah Valley, and local, regional, and national groups including the National Parks Conservation Association continue to speak out, to save the valley.

Various opportunities are available for you to take action. Becoming involved with the public process and submitting written comments are one of the best ways to share your voice with decision makers.

Currently, an Ivanpah Valley Area of Critical Environmental Concern has been proposed as an alternative to further renewable energy development in Ivanpah Valley. Contacting California and Nevada BLM offices to share your position on this action is a good way to influence policy. Another action is to contact the elected officials whose districts are represented.

The BLM is working on its Resource Management Plan in Southern Nevada. Calls can be made and letters can be sent related to proposed projects, comments on species and habitat protection, comments on impacts to cultural resources and viewshed, etc.

California BLM (Moreno Valley or Sacramento) can be contacted with comments similar to those listed above for Nevada BLM. Attend and give public comment at the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan meeting (drecp.org). This forum is sparsely attended by advocates and seeks input from the public, desert counties, the state, and the federal government.

Contact the Secretary of the Interior via phone call or email to voice your opinion about protections for national parks and preserves.

Cross-pollinate by developing written comments and forwarding them to your county supervisor, state elected officials, the California, Nevada, and national BLM offices, to the California Energy Commission, to the DRECP, and to any local or national environmental groups you support through membership, volunteering, or taking action.

For more information visit the Solar Energy Development Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for solar energy development in six Southwestern states at: www.solareis.anl.gov.

Agency

Contact Information

Brad Mitzelfelt, Neil Derry, Josie Gonzalez

San Bernardino County Supervisors (1st District, 3rd District, Chair)

909-387-4830 909-387-4855 909-387-4565

Greg Helseth

Clark County, NV, BLM

702-515-5173

Teri Rahml, Jeffrey Childers

California Desert District, BLM (Director and Planner)

951-697-5200 jchilders@blm.gov

Ken Salazar

Secretary of the Interior

feedback@ios.doi.gov

Vicky Campbell, Scott Flint

BLM (DRECP Program Manager), CEC (DRECP Program Manager)

916-978-4320/vlcampbell@blm.gov 916-651-3774 sflint@energy.state.ca.us

Shannon Stewart

BLM-PEIS lead

202-912-7219 shannon_stewart@blm.gov

26 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

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e are without a doubt at a turning point in the debate on how best to achieve a clean energy future. Government, industry, and environmental groups are beginning to understand that solving our energy problem and creating clean, domestic energy is more complex than throwing money at it.

We view with dismay what has become the rubberstamping of ill-considered plans to exploit public land in the name of alternative energy. Too often we find an uncritical acceptance of anything “green” that fails to evaluate cost and benefit of industrial-scale energy projects, particularly the effects on the communities destined to play host to them. And nowhere is this more apparent than with wind energy.

At some point in the near future, the environmental community will be forced to divorce itself from the idea that wind energy is green. The giant wind turbines dotting the land will end up as monuments to an idea whose time has come and gone, along with all those other sources of electricity that have been judged to be too inefficient and too detrimental to the environment. We hope that “aha” light bulb switches itself on before too much irreversible damage has been done.

The wind turbines currently in use cause a great number of bird deaths, and are often sited in natural areas that serve as migration corridors or nesting areas. The damage to bird populations cannot be overstated, but is being willfully ignored, even when that flies in the face of federal law. Recently, the Fish and Wildlife Service accepted the first application for the “take” of a golden eagle by a wind farm in Oregon, meaning that the developer has the legal right to kill three golden eagles in the course of its operations. This is the first such action since the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act was passed in 1940.

Discussions are already beginning about a “take” permit for

California Condor. Both of these birds are federally protected, and are national icons.

Because of the remote and natural character of much of the land being considered for development, wind energy projects that threaten wildlife also threaten cultural resources with destruction that cannot be mitigated in any meaningful way.

With the rush to “fast-track” energy projects, desecration of cultural sites has already occurred at the Genesis project and the Blythe Solar Energy project. There should be great concern that more will occur as the state and federal governments spur more development in wild areas. California alone is predicting that close to a million acres of land could be needed by 2050 to meet renewable energy goals, and wind energy makes up roughly half of this predicted acreage.

Wind energy projects are also some of the most land intensive sources of power in the domestic portfolio, using about five to seven times as much acreage per megawatt as solar photovoltaics (only massive wind turbines don’t fit on top of houses), and roughly 50 times as many acres as a nuclear power plant. Much of the land being leased for wind projects is public, and is being locked away from public access by the placement of renewable energy projects.

That the management of these public lands must be in the national interest is beyond dispute. However, management of public lands for the monetary benefit of private corporations and to the detriment of local communities and the resources existing on the land itself is an unacceptable government action.

Even more unpalatable to those who are near these projects is the effect these projects have on nearby private homes.

Wind energy projects often negatively affect nearby residents’ property values simply through proximity to turbines, the threat of fire, and the nuisances of noise and flicker.

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 27

Save Our Desert, a grassroots organization fighting proposed industrial wind energy development along the ridgelines of Black Lava Butte and Flat Top Mesa, two buttes in the Pioneertown/Pipes Canyon area, has a photography competition underway until April 30. All photographs will be included in an exhibition at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace during the Save Our Desert Spring Fundraiser, Sunday, May 20, from noon to 3 p.m.

Photos should have a connection with Black Lava Butte and/or Flat Top Mesa, the two Pioneertown/Pipes Canyon area buttes where industrial wind energy development has been proposed. The competition is open for all ages, amateur and professional photographers.

For more information on the photography competition, the May fundraiser, and other Save Our Desert news, please visit www.saveourdesert.com.

Frazier Haney serves on the board of directors of Save Our Desert, a grassroots organization dedicated to the promotion of responsible alternative energy generation. Michelle Myers is secretary of Save Our Desert.

28 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

But all of the downside might be more palatable if wind energy were not also a fundamentally poor way to create energy by virtue of its intermittency, which makes wind one of the least dependable way to produce power. In fact, the wind energy industry can only exist on the scale that it does because of massive federal subsidies. Wind has failed again and again to stand on its own as a moneymaking source of energy without the Production Tax Credit, a massive subsidy created in 1992 to incentivize wind energy development, among other sources of energy. Lately, the Senate failed to renew the Production Tax Credit, and the industry is shaking in its shoes. In each of the previous instances that this federal credit has been cut, the wind industry has tanked, and is currently looking at an 85 percent reduction in the number of new projects for 2013 because of the lack of this subsidy. Like a 32 year old child that has never moved out, wind just can’t cut it out there on its own.

It is to be hoped that wind energy will be consigned to the dustbin of history, and sooner rather than later. Some in government have stated (over and over again) that to achieve energy independence, we need to take an “all of the above” approach to developing new sources of energy. We find puzzling this continued insistence (with no demonstrable basis in fact) that a grab bag mix of different energy sources somehow constitutes intrinsically sound planning.

Throwing everything into the hopper in fact invites the same destructive technologies and dubious business practices that we should have learned from this last financial crisis will have implications for generations to come.

In that regard, we find baffling the notion it is acceptable to desecrate our national treasures with acres of 400 foot high turbines. For all of the protestations of the wind industry that the gains will counterbalance the losses and that local protests are simply NIMBYism, the fact is this is not a zero sum game.

The choices we must now make will guarantee either catastrophe or a solid alternative energy future for the next generation.

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’m betting hardly anyone knows we have a forest in our desert. Most know what an Ocotillo is, but a forest of them?

So there it is, just north of Ocotillo, the little town that still is, in extreme eastern Imperial County.

(At one time Ocotillo had a local rule that residences could ONLY be trailer homes.) I stumbled onto this forest a few weeks ago when I was checking out the proposed wind turbine installation, Ocotillo Wind Express which will make a mess out of it and fence it various places. Photo No. 1482 is of two of my companions diving in. You can’t get lost. The Ocotillo Forest is on a classic desert bajada, so keep going downhill to get someplace where you can see out again.

And these plants are huge. In the forest they start looking ordinary, but get one out on its own. That photo above left, is me trying to size it up. This one chose to grow away from the others, without competition for water and nutrients.

Ocotillos have picked up interesting habits. They leaf out after a rain, any rain, any time of the year. That’s why they are green in the pictures—rain happened a month or so before.

But they flower each spring, independent of when rains came. The flowers are at the ends of the branches, bright red, tubular, and very noticeable. Through eons of evolution Ocotillos have figured out to make leaves, which make food, any time. But seeds from flowers only germinate in the spring when it’s not so hot, so they don’t waste time making flowers in other seasons.

A wind turbine developer has its eyes on this place. ‘This place’ is an island that had not yet been protected.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the western boundary. The Coyote Mountains Wilderness is the northern boundary. The Jacumba Wilderness is to the south, on the south side of Interstate 8 where the freeway starts its tortuous climb through In-Ko-Pah

Gorge and Devils Canyon. The Yuha ACEC (Area of Critical Environmental Concern) is to the southeast. The Plaster City Open Area, where the dirtbikes and dunebuggies are free to play, is to the northeast. So the wind energy company grabbed the part in the middle for making power to send to San Diego.

Logic says that all those bare rooftops in San Diego could do the job, but it’s not turning out that way.

County Highway S2 bisects the planned wind turbine array, on its way from Ocotillo to eastern San Diego County.

The turbines will stop right at the Anza-Borrego park boundary when the road enters the park.

So you should go see it now, quick, before this place that grabbed my heart and my imagination gets torn up. Here’s how. Highway S2 goes north at the Ocotillo exit from I-8 in eastern Imperial County. You go through the scattered town of Ocotillo. About two miles after leaving the freeway S-2 makes a 90-degree left turn to the west and starts angling northwest heading towards the State Park boundary. About four miles from this 90-degree turn look for a dirt road on the left (south side) marked route 109—one of the BLM’s route signs. Take it. A car with moderately good clearance can drive it—you don’t need four wheel drive or super high clearance.

Then again, don’t try it in your new Porsche. After about two miles this dirt road Ts into a road following the old abandoned

San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railroad line. Turn right. The Ocotillo Forest is on the right.

When I was there a met tower was near this corner. A April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 29

met tower—met is short for meteorological—is a skinny pole several hundred feet high with anemometers all the way up it.

An anemometer measures wind speed. They put this up for a year or more to determine if there is enough wind for a wind turbine. Since they have decided turbines are a good idea, the met tower will come down and may no longer be the landmark it was in late February. If the met tower is gone look for the disturbance at the site. Look for downed Ocotillos that were rooted up to put in the tower. Near the yellow guy wires in the background is a trimmed Ocotillo that apparently only needed a haircut. The Ocotillo Forest is behind.

When the turbines arrive, this disturbance will be trivial.

While you are out there, wander around the open desert.

(Have something a little better than street shoes.) You will find shallow gullies in the bajada with the healthy variety of desert plants and animals that fascinate almost everyone who spends time out there. The plants can’t run away, so you see more of them than animals. But this desert has the usual run of animal holes, holes in the sides of the gullies with pack-rat nests and room for burrowing owls, and narrow rodent trails leading between bushes. This place is alive.

People always marvel at the ability of plants to grow and thrive in such a hostile environment—not enough water from rain, hot as blazes in the summer. I like to take a different view.

Those plants and animals don’t consider their home ‘hostile’.

To them it’s normal, a comfortable home. In fact, they think where we come from is hostile. All that water, shivering cold.

It’s just a matter of perspective.

The turbines will dominate the desert. The towers alone are more than 250 feet high. The turbine blades are over 350 feet in diameter. The blade tips reach almost 500 feet off the ground.

Any birds lower than that are at risk. They will be visible for 15 miles east of Ocotillo, all the way up to Boulder Park west of Ocotillo, from the Coyote Mountains and a good part of the 30 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

Jacumba Wilderness.

The towers will cover the landscape on a 600-700 foot grid.

Each takes a huge base. The huge parts are brought in on huge trucks that must travel on smooth wide roads with wide turns.

They are erected with huge cranes from huge parts carried to the sites by more huge trucks. They assemble themselves, erect a tower, and go on to the next. If you do make it out to this site, conjure in your head a truck road through the Ocotillo Forest, and roads filling or crossing the desert washes. Well, at least a turbine field is not as bad as a solar energy field, where the entire site is scraped to bare dirt.

Can’t we be more clever?

I live in the city. I see bare rooftops all over. I want those rooftops to make renewable energy, instead of messing up our desert. I want rooftops in my back yard. Yes, In My Back Yard.

I’m a YIMBY. Nimby is dead.

Editor’s note: There is a public hearing on the Ocotillo Wind Energy Project on Tuesday, April 24, at 10:45 a.m. at the County Administration Office Building, second floor, at 940 Main Street, Suite 209, El Centro. The Imperial County Board of Supervisors will be discussing whether or not to approve the March 28 Planning Commission recommendation to grant a conditional use permit and height variance for the 425 foot turbines on 12,000 acres of desert habitat directly on the southern borders of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Letters may also be sent to The Planning Dept. at 801 Main St., El Centro, CA 92243, and to the BLM at 1669 S. 4th St., El Centro, CA 92243. Emailed letters may be sent to: SylviaBermudez@co.imperial.ca.us; JackTerrazas@ co.imperial.ca.us; angelinahavens@co.imperial.ca.us; mariascoville@co.imperial.ca.us, msteward@blm.gov; and cperry@blm.gov, even after the April 24 meeting.

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his learning of patterns is reinforced when I work with flatlander visitors from Florida and the Midwest. It has made me alert for other pattern recognition moments, or non-moments.

A non-moment is the desert watershed—a landform that captures water. Most of us have no concept of a watershed, much less what it looks like and its importance to our water supply and the health of the land.

A watershed is like a tilted bowl with a spout directing all the water within its boundaries into a specific river system.

The edge of the bowl, the highest elevation, is the divide. The divide separates one watershed from another.

In the desert, (this is critical to remember) the rivers and streams are generally dry and the end point an undrained basin or playa. In the arid west the numerous canyons along mountain fronts terminate in alluvial fans.

Before Europeans arrived, covering the continent with their mania for surveying miles-square, native peoples frequently chose watershed boundaries to delineate their home territories.

They knew from experience that to control their resources they needed to protect the land and their water sources. Fast forward to indoor plumbing and we spend little time wondering about the sources of our local water much less the role it plays in our dry streams and washes.

Do we need to care? We do.

I have lived in Twentynine Palms for 10 years and during that time have experienced major flooding events. I have been stranded on the edge of flooded roads, spent hours filling sand bags to redirect water around my property, mourned the death of travelers drowned by flood waters, and pitied inhabitants of muddied housing tracts in flood zones.

The floods that cause damage generally come with summer storms and we know to look for black storm clouds over Queen Mountain. In the lowlands we may never see a drop, or very few, but know that the dangerous waters come from higher up, within the national park. To the west, those living and working in the shadow of Quail Mountain have similar experiences To illustrate this article, Stephanie Weigel constructed a map of the Morongo Basin Watersheds with major drainages.

The Twentynine Palms watershed is a subbasin of the Dale Basin. The sub-basin is 178 square miles with 37 percent (67 square miles) within Joshua Tree National Park.

The Indian Cove drainage and the 100year floodplain each receive water spilling from top of Queen Mountain (elevation 5,680 feet). That jumble of naked boulders reaches high enough to capture storms; she is the major provider of flood waters to Twentynine Palms. True flood control is impossible but, was it to be perfectly constructed, would be a billion dollar expense. Far less costly is land use planning that puts housing out of harm’s way and allows the flood basins to do its job of absorbing water. This is one of nature’s free services and, for the most part, we take advantage of it.

Learning watershed patterns is a mapping exercise from on high. Understanding is a lesson in patience. The complex drainages connect across the landscape providing a network of services downstream.

Over time, the dry channels store eroded nutrients and sediments for release throughout the watershed during intermittent water flows.

Channels lined with vegetation dissipate stream energy during high water flows reducing erosion and improving water quality.

Water storage at the surface and sub-surface supports vegetation communities, and nutrient recycling. The stabilized stream banks provide wildlife with food, cover, nesting and dispersal sites, and movement corridors or linkages between mountain ranges. Air currents moving down slope distribute pollen and seeds and migrating birds. According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report the ephemeral and intermittent streams provide the same ecological and hydrological functions as perennial streams.

It takes a watershed-wide approach to manage the hydrological and ecological health of our environment. Local governments and active citizen participants engage in land use planning. Water districts provide and manage water for their customers. Since our desert groundwater water supplies are finite, water-wise use is actively encouraged. Water agencies have native and drought tolerant plant demonstration gardens and educational materials. The Morongo Basin Conservation Association, an all volunteer group incorporated in 1969, will complete its second successful Desert Wise Landscape Tour on Earth Day. The organization with a mission to operate across the landscape at the watershed level is the Mojave Desert Land Trust.

Their current Wildlife Linkage Campaign will acquire several parcels within the Joshua Tree North Wildlife Linkage, which connects the national park with Bartlett Mountain (Joshua Tree Basin) and the Twentynine Palms Marine base (Deadman Basin). Through purchase and management the integrity of this living landscape will be protected.

As it was for the early native peoples, our home is truly delineated by our watershed boundaries. In order to protect our quality-of-life we need to protect our water, the thirsty earth, and the creatures dependent on it. Part of the pattern of protection, is our active participation in government and community organizations and events.

Do we really need to care? We do.

Please see the watershed map next page.

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 31

A scene from Rancho Dos Palmas during its prime.

32 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

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hings are jumping again at the Salton Sea History Museum & Visitor Center! After an unexpected eight month closure, visitors to the Salton Sea are finally able to enjoy learning about the history of this wonderful and unique area again. We are determined that everyone ends their visit with an appreciation and understanding of the history and challenges faced by our beloved Salton Sea. In addition to our visitor center and gift shop, we are featuring two exhibits through the end of the season. Rancho Dos Palmas: An Endangered Treasure is a story that must be told if the historic site is to survive.

The first resident of Dos Palmas was Frank Coffee, who gave himself the title of Mayor of Dos Palmas. He lived in his prospector’s cabin from 1884 until the 1930’s. In the midthirties a German woman, Gertrude Voss Tenderich, acquired the ranch and set about to develop Rancho Dos Palmas, a top notch resort for its day complete with clay tennis courts and a “plunge” fed by 90˚ artesian water. Gertrude had previously founded the Tampax Corporation and used assets from the sale of her interest to fund the project. The first entries in her guest book were dated 1937.

Ray Morgan, Hollywood advertising executive, bought the rancho in 1943. Producer of many television and radio shows including Queen for a Day, the rancho served as a private retreat for the Morgan’s and their many notable friends. Included in the long list are James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Burt Lancaster and Charles Farrell. Others included Chet Huntley, Tom Harmon, Bob Mathias and Elroy Hirsch.

Currently the 1400 Rancho Dos Palmas Preserve is public lands primarily managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Unfortunately, BLM considers habitat development its only mission at Dos Palmas. The cultural resources that include the historic ranch house and bunk house are in imminent danger due to purposeful neglect by BLM. In 2008 the headquarters buildings were officially added to the historical designation for Dos Palmas after a two year battle between BLM and myself as museum director. Sadly, all of the other buildings, including the casitas, had already been demolished by BLM without the required legal notice. Visit the museum for more information on this endangered treasure, and visit the museum online at www.saltonseamuseum.org.

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 33

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hether you are gold prospecting or just out hiking in the desert, you can find some rather valuable specimens if you know what to look for. So let’s take a moment to explore our thinking process to learn a little about other valuable things that are found in nature, like meteorites and fulgurites.

Most people know a little bit about meteorites from watching the popular show on TV: Meteorite Men. There are hundreds of classifications of meteorites that can be found on this earth, from stony to iron meteorites. The most common and abundant type of meteorite classification are called Chondrites which stick firmly to a magnet as a result of their iron content.

A meteorite will look different from a regular earth rock yet many people confuse hematite, magnetite or what we simply call an iron rock for a meteorite. We call this a “meteor-wrong.”

A magnet will stick firmly to these meteor-wrong rocks also, so in order to familiarize yourself with the look of a meteorite it is recommended you look at a lot of meteorite photos on the Internet. Google has the best—just type in “meteorite photos.”

Awesome examples of many classifications!

A popular method of finding meteorites is by looking up historic records on the Internet of strewn fields which records where meteorites have entered the earth’s atmosphere and left a debris field along the path of their trajectory. A classic example is the meteor crater near Winslow, Arizona.

A simple Google search will instantly provide you with the information on known strewn fields in your area. Once you have found what you believe to be a meteorite there are resources in California for determining whether or not you do have a real meteorite. One option is by contacting your local university or go on line to: www.meteoritestudies.com/protected_FOUND. HTM, which is a wonderful resource for meteorite hunters and offers a directory of meteorite authentication facilities.

The equipment you need for finding meteorites includes a 34 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

powerful super magnet or neodymium magnet on a stick or a pick, a metal detector set to the “all metal” mode, some digging tools, gloves, plastic baggies and a classifier screen.

Another fascinating specimen you can find just about anywhere on earth, which many people have not even heard of, is a fulgurite. A fulgurite is sand which has been hit by a bolt of lightning and fused into a conglomerate, at a temperature of around 10,000 degrees, with about a one to two-inch diameter in most cases. The lightning fuses the sand into a glass-like conglomerate and if you find one they do stick out because of the cylindrical or abstract shape and occasionally unique crystalline features. The value is determined by how unique the fulgurite is, just like gold nuggets. If you find one be very careful as they are quite fragile. I found one in a wash about six years ago in the Dale Mining District east of Twentynine Palms. Fulgurites can be somewhat valuable.

So now we have covered two more fun things to look for while you are out gold prospecting!

Remember to be safe out in the open desert as the warmer temperatures arrive here in the Mojave Desert. A great resource and non-profit educational organization that provides safety tips on line is the First Class Miners, Inc. (www.firstclassminers. org). They are located in the hi-desert between Twentynine Palms and Morongo Valley.

Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to your questions and feedback! Next time more adventures in gold prospecting, gold nugget classifications and more gold nugget photos!

Philip Bonafede is a prospector and owner of Prospectors Depot, in Joshua Tree. You can reach Phil with your questions and comments at: info@prospectorsdepot.com, or (760)366-3333. We’re looking forward to doing some prospecting with Philip this coming year.

We’ve got Phil’s recommended links online at www.thesunrunner.com.

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his place name I have heard of more than once, and like so many place names this one has a story behind it. And of course this story is about the coyotes digging holes; so if one understands why they dig these holes in the desert, they will understand the coyote better, and this of course will lead to better understanding of the entire ecosystem. To start with, the coyote is one of the top predators of the Southwest and he is everywhere all the time, yet rarely seen because the coyotes can see, hear, and smell their way through the environment in ways that make them invisible to predator and prey alike. While he is truly a well-adapted desert animal, he must have water to drink on a regular basis unlike some of the other desert creatures such as the jack rabbit or the kit fox. And so the coyote is digging machine by necessity, because it needs to get to the water. I have seen holes dug by coyotes as big as five feet across and three feet deep, many times.

One time I found a place in the Mojave Desert where there was a lot of burros, and these burros would foul up the water with their scat and urine. When this happened the coyotes would simply dig a new water hole so they could get to a fresh supply of water. This went on for months until the area looked like it had been used for artillery practice. With the coyotes digging a new hole, then the burros fouling it up, one right after another, as I walked up the wash it was easy to tell which was the newest coyote hold—it was the one all the birds had been standing around drinking water, and they flew off at my arrival.

The coyote uses its ability to dig at almost any spring or water source that’s going dry, but almost always it digs a bigger, more extensive hole that suits it. This of course benefits a wide range of wildlife that otherwise would have to leave the area or die, and I know of no other animal that will dig out a water source like the coyote; indeed many will die before digging a water source out. I once saw this in action in the Clipper Mountains as I came up to a small spring; there were 30 or 40 bighorn sheep standing around it—quite a sight to see! They were all standing around this small spring and yet it had no water—it was just a little muddy spot in the desert. Not one of these bighorn sheep were trying to dig to the water. So I walked back to my Jeep and got a small shovel to dig it out myself.

Perhaps the coyotes here were a bunch of slackers! I was able to get down to the water and then leave it to the bighorn sheep.

But getting back to “Wiley Coyote…” With all this public

Continued on page 39

As we can see in these pictures to the right, this coyote is lean and hungry though not starving to death. He has worked for hours digging out this spring expending all this precious energy, when it only took him a few minutes to dig out enough water for himself. One can also see in these pictures an added difficulty tto his coyote’s task of digging out this spring—a swarm of bees stinging him all over his body, yet he persists in digging out this spring. This gives us some idea as to the intensity he is putting in this project and its importance to him.

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 35

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cology, according to one dictionary definition, is the “study of the relations of living things to their surroundings.” Life has never been simple here in Randsburg …the relationship between early Rand residents and their surroundings was definitely complicated.

From the point of over a hundred years later it is rather amazing that men, women and children of the times survived and thrived here. No electricity, which meant no radios, no air conditioning and poor light for reading in the evenings.

Little water, so no indoor plumbing. Etc. Yet there was a positive and hopeful feeling about the place. And, from what we can learn from old photos and writings, a clear indication that many residents tried to make their surroundings pleasant. Whether you call it ‘pride of ownership’ or stewardship or belief in the future, something positive was going on.

In spite of the dust and dirt of mining, harsh chemicals, difficult and dangerous physical work, as well as the ever present scarcity of water, I find it fascinating that early photos show neat cottages with adjacent property raked free from weeds; porches appear swept and largely free from clutter. What about the ‘garnished’ part of my title? In many old photos you will see what have been termed “dishwater trees”…trees kept alive by the water which was literally that in which dishes had been washed. Think of the trees as bits of parsley embellishing a dinner plate of mostly monotone food.

Early publications, from newspapers to travel booklets, put a positive spin on life in a desert gold mining camp.

One of my favorite accounts of 1897 Randsburg was submitted to several California newspapers by early Rand area tourists who were members of the Los 36 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

Angeles Woman’s Press Club. The L.A. Times printed one of their comments on March 28, 1897, which had been inspired by the luxurious Johannesburg Hotel: Verily, this is a mining camp life with trimmings!

The trimmings at the hotel included “…satin damask furniture [and] wide-armed rocking chairs, around a big, warm stove…”

One of the “Lady Scribblers” presented this description printed in the Los Angeles Herald on the same day the L.A. Times article appeared: The special pride of the young town [Johannesburg] is its hotel, built by the [Johannesburg Milling and Water] company, which contains some forty large, airy rooms, handsomely furnished. It is finished in Oregon pine and redwood, papered throughout…

Several publications attempted to label the Rand Mining District as a re-incarnation of the camps of the ‘49ers. The women writers thought that comparison somewhat of an insult “and an injustice to the better class of people who largely predominate” on the Rand.

The women’s biggest caution, however, was regarding the weather. Advice on what to wear when dealing with spring conditions on the windy desert was suggested by Mary M. Bowman: …a word of caution as to clothing may not be amiss. Don’t be afraid of bundles: provide plenty of wraps, a traveling blanket or shawl, and wear warm

skirts and small hats. If there is one thing old Boreas [the North Wind] enjoys more than pinching toes and noses, it is the total destruction of the modern creations of the milliner’s art, especially flowers and feathers, to say nothing of the discomfort entailed in the effort to keep a wide brimmed hat on the head.

One hundred fifteen spring winds later the Rand Mining District is still very much alive. The winds are still blowing and some of us are still working out what kind of hat will protect us from the sun without blowing away to wherever blown away hats go. We are also continually working out our relationship to remote desert surroundings.

The Rand is a permanent link with the hearty souls who once ‘swept, raked and garnished’ as they lived here. Let’s continue to honor their memory by caring about and preserving what they put in place.

When you visit the Rand, leave only footprints and take only memories.

The ghosts of this living ghost town will thank you.

T

rona, California is a mysterious land situated at the northwest corner of San Bernardino County in Searles Valley. Trona is home to the Trona Pinnacles National Natural Landmark, Searles Valley Minerals, The Gem-O-Rama Mineral Show, and the only dirt high school football field in the continental United States.

Let’s not forget the smell either. You know you are approaching Trona when the smell of rotten eggs is lofting through the air, which makes you question your passengers about their bodily functions, only to discover that you can’t get rid of the smell as hard as you try. Don’t worry, it’s just the smell of the chemical plants and as far as I’ve been able to tell, it doesn’t stick to your clothing.

Your first visit to Trona will likely depress you, disgust you, or have you leaving with an overwhelming feeling of pity. Trona, being so far in the middle of nowhere, has left the town in economic woes. Driving through what was once a bustling residential area, you will find the burnt out structures of old company housing, debris still in place with the neighborhood kids playing just down the street. You’ll find this same scenario played out in just about every residential street in town.

I’m not telling you these things because I hate Trona or because I don’t want

The California Rand Silver Mine, top; and the Silver Dollar, above.

you to visit. I am honestly fascinated by this once thriving desert community.

I’ve managed over time to appreciate it for what it is, and it’s rich history. I am impressed this town continues to survive, and that the people who live here have a true sense of community that is missing from much of modern-day America.

The town of Trona was established in 1913, however mining at Searles Lake began around 1874. John W. Searles and his brother Dennis first discovered the crusty dried up lake in 1862 while searching in the Panamint Mountains for gold.

Not thinking much of their find, John took a sample of crystal encrusted crust and stuck it in his ore sack. Many years later, John would meet up with Francis “Borax” Smith, and realized that Smith was recovering borax from nearly identical crystals as those that he had picked up at Searles Lake 10 years prior.

John Searles hurried back to the dry lake that he had found and staked claims to 640 acres. He then formed the San Bernardino Borax Mining Company.

The first year alone, the newly formed company produced one million pounds of borax.

John Searles ended up selling his San Bernardino Borax Mining Company in 1895 to Francis “Borax” Smith and his Pacific Coast Borax Company. Smith was working diligently to corner the bo-

rax market, and ended up shutting down the plant after making the purchase.

The early 1900s saw numerous promoters and miners coming in and trying to recover soda ash from the dry lake’s surface. It was failure for everyone who tried. The California Trona Company gave it the biggest go, having borrowed roughly $2 million in order to build two plants to recover soda ash, potash, borax and sodium sulfate. Sadly, due to their debt they went under before the completion of the facilities.

S.W. Austin was the receiver of the failed California Trona Company; he immediately began building roads onto the lake, and started drilling wells to further explore the possibilities. Austin discovered that a majority of the lake’s mineral wealth actually laid beneath the surface when he discovered a mineral-rich layer of salts roughly 100 feet beneath the surface. Previous to this discovery, all of the miners had only focused on the crystals from the surface.

In October of 1910, a little-known event took place at Searles Lake. It involved one of the West’s most famous characters—famed Arizona lawman Wyatt Earp. Next issue: Trona:2, Wyatt Earp and on to present day Trona...

Read more of the ongoing desert adventures of Death Valley Jim on our website and at his website, www.deathvalleyjim.com.

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 37

Desert Theatre Beat

By Jack Lyons Sun Runner Theatre Editor April’s showers produce May’s flowers. At least, they do in our lovely hillsides and mountainsides. The sights and sounds of nature are truly lovely to behold. With that said, our hi-desert and valley live theatres also produce lovely sights and sounds to behold. So mark your calendars accordingly…

HI-DESERT THEATRES Groves Cabin Theatre – Morongo Valley The mighty Groves is presenting Somerset Maugham’s comedy play “The Circle,” directed by award winning actor/ director/playwright Wendy Cohen. The comedy play opens on Saturday, April 28 and performs Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through May 13.

Following “The Circle,” the Groves presents “Picasso,” an original play written and directed by local playwright Delores Becker Trost. “Picasso” will be performed on Fridays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through June 17.

For reservations and ticket information call the box office at (760)365-4523.

Remember, the Groves has only 22 seats, so reservations are a must.

Theatre 29 – Twentynine Palms Theatre 29, the hi-desert’s “family values community theatre,” now in its 12th season, is presenting “A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody,” written by Ron Bernas and directed by John Wright. The comedy/murder/mystery is “an homage” to those screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s. Performances are given on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. beginning Friday, May 4 and run through to June 2.

For reservations and ticket information, call the box office at (760)361-4151.

LOW DESERT THEATRES Palm Canyon Theatre – Palm Springs The Palm Canyon Theatre now in its 14th season launches the Lerner and 38 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

Loewe musical “Brigadoon” beginning Friday, April 13 at 7 p.m.. The musical performs on Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through April 29.

Following “Brigadoon,” PCT presents “West Side Story” the Tony and Academy Award winning musical written

by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, with a libretto by Arthur Laurents.

Performances for the much-honored musical based on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” are being given on Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. beginning Friday, May 11 through May 27. For reservations and ticket information to all PCT productions, call the box office at (760)323-5123.

Dezart Performs – Palm Springs Dezart Performs, the stage reading theatrical group, is presenting their Fourth Annual Play Reading Series over a span of four evenings. Performances will be given on April 20, 21, 27, and 28 at 7:30 p.m., at the Palm Springs Woman’s Club, located at 314 S. Cahuila Road (corner of Baristo Avenue), Palm Springs.

The festival will present staged readings of eight original plays, being performed by 21 actors, and seven directors, over four nights. The festival curtain goes up on Friday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m..

Tickets are just $ 8 a performance or $25 for the series. For reservations call (760)322-0179, or purchase online at www.dezartperforms.com.

Cabaret Theatre West – Palm Desert The highly successful Cabaret Theatre West company presents “Broadway Tonight,” the final production of their third season from the stage of the Indian Wells Theater, located on the campus of California State University, San Bernadino, Palm Desert.

Performances for the show will be given on April 6-7,12-13, and 27-28, beginning at 7 p.m.

Past shows have been blockbuster entertainment productions; playing tributes to Hollywood, the military, the songs and music of America’s great composers, and tributes to Broadway in a show entitled “The Great White Way.” “Broadway Tonight” covers the great music and songs from “Les Miz,” Phantom of the Opera,” “West Side Story,” “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” “Cabaret,” and many others. “Broadway Tonight” opens Friday, April 6 and runs through April 28. Call the box office for reservations and ticket information at (760) 568-0024 or visit their website

www.cabrettheatrewest.com.

Indio Performing Arts Center – Indio The premiere venue for east valley residents is the Indio Performing Arts Center or IPAC. The next production, “4 Guys named Jose and una Mujer Named Maria,” is a fun show directed by Bob Reinhagen. Originally produced by Enrique Iglesias in New York in 2000, the musical comedy is about four guys who meet at Burrito World in Omaha, Nebraska, and find that they are nostalgic for the music of their heritage. What to do? Why, they put on a musical show featuring Hispanic music, and a girl named Maria for the female vocals, of course! But, there are several comedy-bumps and twists along the way to keep everyone involved and laughing.

According to director Reinhagen, “this music consists of songs that everyone will be familiar with as some of the most beautiful and popular. It’s Spanish music that has crossed over all cultures and become familiar to everyone.”

Sounds like fun.

The show opens Friday, April 13 and performs Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through April 29. For reservations and ticket information call the box office at (760)775-5200.

Big Bear Theatre Project – Big Bear Lake It’s always a pleasure to report good news stories, such as the opening of a new live theatre venue. Okay, so it’s in Big Bear Lake, but that’s just an hour and half drive from the Coachella Valley. The new group will be presenting, as their first production, “Almost Maine,” by John Cariani. The company consists of six local professional actor/residents: Diane Borcyckowski, Steve Cassling, Steve Gaghagen, Dustin Murphy, Tori Warner, and Beth Wheat.

According to Borcyckowski, “Almost Maine” is a delightfully quirky comedy composed of nine short plays that explore love and loss in a remote, mythical place called Almost Maine.

The six actors will portray 19 characters.

Show dates are Fridays and Saturdays, April 6-7, 13-14, and 20-21, all with an 8 p.m. curtain time at the Masonic Lodge, which has been transformed into an intimate theatre space at 385 Summit Blvd., Big Bear Lake. Sounds like fun.

For ticket information call (909)5854840. Tickets will also be available at the door, but don’t wait. Seating is limited!

Remember: A Great Country Deserves Great Art… Support the Arts. See you at the theatre.

FADE IN: When one lives and works in the home location of two of the largest film festivals in the world (Palm Springs International Film Festival and its smaller sister festival for short films, ShortFest), it’s easy to overlook the tiny and nichemarketed films and genres available to residents and visitors throughout the year.

Fortunately, we have film historians and movie devotees of both Hollywood’s golden era of films and those films of the silent era.

Film historian Christopher Perry is the founder and promoter of all films classic or silent and screens these films through the auspices of his Desert Classic Film Society, located in the hi-desert community of Yucca Valley. He is a tireless worker when it comes to preserving and promoting the films of “old Hollywood—when men were men, and women knew it.” Perry is a huge fan of the film noir genre, especially the old black and white films, which are chock full of “femme fatales, fall guys, and the usual suspects”, we’ve all come to know and love over the years.

On Friday, April 13 at 7 p.m., movie fanatics can enjoy an evening with Perry and his upcoming screening of the 1925 silent movie classic “Don Q, Son of Zorro,” starring Douglas Fairbanks. The swashbuckling adventure film is being presented at The Bijou Cinema, located at 57482 Onaga Trail, Yucca Valley.

All screenings open with an introduction to the film by either Perry or a guest speaker. Randy Fischer, former NPR radio reviewer, usually can be counted on to supply anecdotes and trivia commentary when he does his speaker

stint. There is usually a Q & A session following the movie.

Douglas Fairbanks, who plays Don Q in the screening, was the inspiration for the main character in the Academy Award winning film “The Artist,” and Jean Dujardin the Best Actor winner, based his performance on Fairbanks.

Admission is just $5 per person. The evening is a fun trip down memory lane.

For reservations (seating is limited) to the April 13 one-performance-only screening call (760)365-0475. For information and to join the Desert Classic Film Society go the website www.meetup.com/desertclassic-film-society. There is no charge to become a society member.

Be on the lookout for upcoming information on the above-mentioned “ShortFest” coming to Palm Springs in June. It’s the largest short film festival in the world and takes place right here in our backyard. If you’re a fan of short films (anywhere from one minute up to 50 minutes), or the animation format, then this is the festival for you.

ShortFest arrives in Palm Springs for seven days of screenings from June 19-25. The brightest and the best of the short film genre will be on display, with tons of filmmakers in attendance seeking those coveted distribution deals. Buy your passes and tickets early, as things get very hectic in a hurry and sell out fast. Go online to www.psfilmfest.org for any and all information concerning the festival.

For film buffs wanting to cool off a bit, check out the 13th annual Lake Arrowhead Film Festival. The nearby festival runs May 18-20, bringing a roster of great independent films to the mountains. You can get all the details for over 60 films, events, and more, at www. lakearrowheadfilmfestival.com.

You may also want to check out the 2012 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival from May 31 to June 3. Former Palm Springs International Film Festival Executive Director Craig Prater is heading up the L.A. festival this year, and it’s a winner. Fans of Greek culture will love the tribute to Theo Angelopoulos, including a presentation by ASU film instructor Fred Linch, and the opening night world premier screening at the Egyptian Theatre. Get the schedule and festival info at www.lagreekfilmfestival.org. Get a Gold Pass for $200 and take in everything, including the Orpheus Awards presentation and Closing Night Reception at the home of the Consul General of Greece.

The Sun Runner will definitely be there.

See you in a movie theatre or at a film festival…

FADE OUT:

The Way of Things, continued... works done by the coyote, one has to ask if they are doing this out of a sense of community spirit or something else. To anybody who knows the coyote, he really doesn’t have a sense of community spirit; he is truly a loner. You don’t find coyote herds like bighorn sheep or packs like wolves. They’re so self-centered they don’t bother with their own kind most of the time. So it would seem that there is a combination of enlightened self-interest and the design and ability of their bodies.

Of course, few if any animals I can think of are better designed to dig out springs or water holes than the coyote.

And this of course leads us to the question: Why does a coyote really dig a bigger hole than he needs? It’s because the coyote not only needs water but food as well. So when he digs out a spring or water hole in the desert, not only does he provide water for wide range of animals, he concentrates their activity to a relatively small area which increases his hunting efficiency by making a wider range of animals’ whereabouts more predictable and more numerous. While one could wonder as to whether this is instinct or intellect, the bottom line is it works. And it works well. And so the coyote holes that dot the desert landscape do so with their own peculiar spin in the drama of predator and prey.

Go deeper into the desert and learn “the way of things” with Carlos Gallinger at www.thewayofthings.org.

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 39

The incredible Peter Case and Paul Collins on stage at Pappy & Harriet’s, left, with Peter and Judy below.

One of our favorite desert artists, Bret Philpot (third from left), celebrates his art opening at The Red Arrow Gallery in Joshua Tree with some rather esteemed guests, right.

Riverside’s The Summer Twins joined Case & Collins on tour this year, including their stop at Pappy’s, bottom right.

As we go to press, one of our favorite hi-desert musicians and Sun Runner supporters is in hospice care. Our prayers and thoughts are with Judy Van Ruggles and her family and friends.

W

hat a trip down memory lane with the reunion show from Peter Case and Paul Collins at Pappy and Harriet’s in March. Peter and Paul were in the 70s power pop band The Nerves before Peter branched out with the Plimsouls and Paul with his Paul Collins’ Beat.

Peter was the first show I saw when I moved here. He was at the Beatnik Café and I was so excited since I had not seen him since many years ago in Los Angeles where we both participated in the recoding of a Sky Saxon album at Radio Tokyo studios. Peter and Paul ran through many hits such as the Plimsouls “Zero Hour,” “A Million Miles Away,” and “Oldest Story in the World,” along with The Beats’ “Rock and Roll Girl,” and the Nerves’ “Hanging on the Telephone,” (which later became a huge hit for Blondie). Opening for Peter and Paul were Riverside’s The Summer Twins.

Gram Rabbit have been in the studio working on their new EP and will be playing at Pappy’s on April 22 with Earthlings? and Gilded Flicker. They also played at Bret Philpot’s art opening at The Red Arrow Gallery. I knew from the start that the Rabbits were going to go very far, you just can’t help but love them!

The 10th Annual Joshua Tree Music Festival will be held this year on May 18-20 at the Joshua Tree Lake and Campground. Bands this year include Fort Knox Five, Gaudi, Wunmi and so many more. Get your tickets early!

I am finally taking a real vacation to Seattle this year and am going to meet many of Barbara Buckland’s musician friends.

Harry Oesterreicher is hosting a house concert on my last night there in tribute to Barbara. It will be so wonderful to finally meet all the people she loved and told me about.

Bobby Furgo has been playing some shows with Wanda Jackson and our own Jim Austin even sat in on bass. Big fun at SXSW when Eric Burdon joined Bruce Springsteen for a version of “We Gotta Get out of This Place” after Bruce’s speech that expressed just what Eric meant to him. Eric was also joined by past Joshua Tree resident, Donovan, for an outstanding version of “Season of the Witch.” SXSW is on my bucket list so maybe someday, I will never be too old to rock!

We sure do miss having Tim, Katie, and Ellington Easton around. They have relocated to Nashville and Tim has been 40 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

playing Vienna and Spain. He also did an amazing version of his song Hwy 62 Love Song for Mojave Microphones. I know they will be back, and we wish them a most incredible journey!

Pappy’s has played host to some really great shows lately including Dengue Fever, Rufus and Martha Wainwright and Peter Murphy. Upcoming shows include an evening with Jim Lauderdale on May 5, Stan Ridgway(from Wall of Voodoo) on May 11 and James McMurtry on June 15. I also hear rumor of an 8th annual Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven campout in September!

Our good friend Glenn (Mister Blues Jr.) Patrik has been touring all over the world, including Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Bangkok, Thailand. If we are lucky he will once again play the Landers fireworks show in July.

A tribute album is in the works for the late Fred Drake, we really miss Fred and I will have more on that later. Spring is finally here with many other great shows coming up. Be sure to check the new Sun Runner website for all the details!

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 41

K

haira Arby is known as “the Queen of the Desert,” and though many of us in this corner of the world may not know of her, after seeing her perform at the Joshua Tree Music Festival this May, it’s a good bet that we’ll all be willing subjects to Her Majesty.

Arby comes from a village not far from the crossroads city of Timbuktu, in northern Mali. Her band members all come from that desert city, and the music has a definite groove that can only come from a place like Timbuktu, filled with spices, mystery, and movement that has gone on for untold ages.

“The desert is my inspiration,” Arby told The Sun Runner.

42 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

“The vast sky and deep chill at night bring the issues of the day into focus.”

Sounds a lot like Joshua Tree.

“It’s cold at night. We have a great cuisine, a mixture of cultures. Our traditional cooking has a great subtlety of flavor. When travelers arrive or important personages are guests, or at weddings or family celebrations, we go off into the desert early in the morning and gather the freshest young leaves from the herbs and use them in our cooking to prepare the most spectacular feasts. Our markets have almost everything you could want. But the Internet connections are slow!

Still sounds quite a bit like Joshua Tree.

“Women have it hard in the desert just like everywhere else. Bringing up families is not easy in today’s world. And women have it difficult because they are at home and take care of the house and children. It’s a never ending day.”

Some things are universal, and women frequently having to work harder to succeed, is one of them, it seems. But Arby has taken up, and made her own, one important role of African women in traditional societies—praise singing.

This comes across as bluesy homage to the prophet Mohammed, or even to good friends. You can hear the priase accompanied by a mix of high-hat, funky bass and guitar, along with Arby’s singing, and driven along by timeless hand-clapping rhythms.

While Arby keeps her traditions close, she’s also her own artist. Woven into the traditional praise singing, there can be found serious calls for justice and change. In one song she sings, “Why in a country of beautiful women do men go to war?” Why, indeed? And she’s not afraid to fight against serious horrors directed against women, like female circumcision.

“I am making people aware so that it ends and so that all Mali fights against it,” she says. And she dreams of Timbuktu with a cultural center, at the crossroads of the world once again, filled with learning, light, and creativity. And you can feel that creative pulse across the sandy desert with her music.

All hail the Queen of the Desert!

I

n this issue of The Sun Runner I want to introduce you to a tremendous lady who is the epitome of what it is to be a positive thinker.

Her name is Frieda Burdette and I have had the joy of knowing her almost 17 years. She is a wonderful person who has a genuine concern for the welfare of others and is a generous supporter of many worthy causes that really make a practical and pragmatic difference for the good in many lives.

Frieda is truly an amazing person. She is 73 years old and has earned a well deserved reputation for her leadership in sharing the beauties of our incredible world with her well publicized and documented group, “Frieda’s Hikers.”

Frieda’s Hikers has been hiking together since 2008 and they have visited many areas of great interest. Among them are trips to Murray Canyon (Indian Canyons), Whitewater (along the Pacific Crest Trail towards Canada), Big Bear, Idyllwild, Agua Caliente Canyons, Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park, and a host of other nearby locations.

Frieda invites anyone and everyone of any age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, church membership, political affiliation, etc. to join the group and simply enjoy. There is no charge, of course, and no pledge of regular participation is required.

Why not give it a try. Frieda’s telephone number is (760)3642842. Join the fun!

This column is sponsored by my friend Tom Huls and the good people at Big-O Tires in Yucca Valley.

Check out Positive Living with Dr. Lou Gerhardt, A Tough Minded Optimist. You can find it on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 43

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April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 45

The Sun Runner Magazine

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April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 47

EL RANCHO DOLORES MOTEL

A respite for desert travelers since 1940, downtown 29 Palms. Swimming pool, courtyard, A/C, direct phones, satellite TV/HBO. Refrigerators/microwaves, kitchenettes available. Ken Patel, Manager.

73352 29 Palms Hwy., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3528 virtual29.com/a-z/dolores

48 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012

Roughley Manor

Bed & Breakfast Inn. Gorgeous 1928 stone manor on 25-acre historic Campbell Ranch. Gardens, elegant guest rooms, fireplaces, grand piano in great room, fine linens, gourmet food, catered functions.

Gary & Jan Peters.

74744 Joe Davis Dr., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3238 www.roughleymanor.com

SUNNYVALE GARDEN SUITES Condo-like suites with a touch of the “old west.”

Junior, 1 & 2 bedroom suites, full kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms, private patios w/barbecues, Cable TV, DVD, patio area, playground, spa and fitness center.

Tony & Cora Naraval, owners.

73843 Sunnyvale Dr., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)361-3939 www.sunnyvalesuites.com

29 Palms Inn

Fine food & lodging since 1928. Lunch, dinner, continental breakfast, Sunday brunch. Art-filled dining room, bar. Heated pool, poolside patio, adobe bungalows. “Oasis of Mara” and trails, near JT National Park headquarters and visitor center.

Paul & Jane Smith, Innkeepers.

73950 Inn Ave., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3505 www.29palmsinn.com

April/May 2012 – The Sun Runner 49

50 The Sun Runner – April/May 2012