All posts tagged: Mojave

from Mojave Ghost | Forrest Gander

from Mojave Ghost | Forrest Gander

Published by skeptic

Now there are creases that curvefrom the flanges of my noseto the scissure of my lips.And a deep cleft, like somethingleft by a hatchet,above the bridge of my nose. The brusque, impersonal obstinacy of aging. Weeding around the bushes in frontof our house, I breathe in the slightly licoricescent of rotting leaves. Though it’s twilight, down the street I hearworkers with their tree chipper coming nearer. In the glimmer and darkfallingafterglow, my small exuberanceshive in me like worms in a cadaver. I’ll just sleep for a whilewith these stones over my eyes. Don’t turn away or you’ll lose me. But there you go anyway, drifting outin the saline backwash of dream. Source link

Mojave desert tortoise officially joins California’s endangered list

Mojave desert tortoise officially joins California’s endangered list

Published by skeptic

The California Fish and Game Commission has formally recognized the Mojave desert tortoise as endangered. The designation, granted Thursday, is the latest in a long series of steps to try to protect the dwindling population of the desert creature, which biologists say is heading toward extinction. The tortoise was designated as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act in 1989 and as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. In 2020, Defenders of Wildlife, Desert Tortoise Council and Desert Tortoise Preserve petitioned to change the tortoise’s status to endangered, which would give it higher priority and funding for conservation measures such as habitat protection and recovery efforts. The commission then granted temporary endangered species to the desert tortoise while it considered adding it permanently to the list. A recovery plan was created in 1994, and then revised in 2011 after there were issues implementing the recovery strategies. Between 2001 and 2020, population densities in tortoise conservation areas went down by an average of 1% per year in the Colorado Desert and Eastern Mojave Recovery …

With AR-style rifles, they stalked, killed wild burros in the Mojave

With AR-style rifles, they stalked, killed wild burros in the Mojave

Published by skeptic

Two men who used short-barreled rifles to kill three wild burros in the Mojave Desert in 2021 pleaded guilty on Monday to federal charges, prosecutors said. Under a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to recommend probation rather than prison time for the pair, who face up to 10 years behind bars just for their gun offenses. Cameron John Feikema, 36, of Yorba Linda, and Christopher James Arnet, 32, of Loveland, Colo., each pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of an unregistered firearm and a misdemeanor count of maliciously causing the death of a burro on public lands as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office. Late on Nov. 5, 2021, the two men donned tactical gear that included ballistic helmets equipped with night vision goggles and drove in Arnet’s truck into the desert just north of Yermo in San Bernardino County, court records show. They were armed with unregistered short-barreled rifles that prosecutors described as similar in style to assault rifles. Around 1 a.m., prosecutors …

How large fires are altering California’s Mojave Desert

How large fires are altering California’s Mojave Desert

Published by skeptic

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif.  —  The Kousch House stood in the Mojave Desert for nearly a century — first as the residence of a prominent homesteader, then as testament to humanity’s ability to survive harsh and forbidding environments. Now, all that remains of the landmark is a limestone chimney surrounded by charred rubble. In July, the massive York fire raced through the area, obliterating an old silver mine and other historical structures and torching vast tracks of Joshua trees, whose blackened arms still rise skyward as if in surrender. The blaze was the largest in a series of wildfires that have become increasingly common in this corner of the desert as climate change brings hotter, drier conditions and more extreme swings in precipitation. Forecasters fear the next few fire seasons could be particularly active for California deserts, as two years of above-normal precipitation have fueled the growth of grasses and small shrubs that will dry out in the spring and summer. Since 2005, more than 200,000 acres have burned in and around the Mojave National …

6 bodies are found at a remote Mojave Desert crossroads

6 bodies are found at a remote Mojave Desert crossroads

Published by skeptic

This image from video provided by KTLA shows law enforcement vehicles where several people were found shot to death in El Mirage, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Deputies found the bodies of six people at a remote dirt crossroads in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. AP hide caption toggle caption AP This image from video provided by KTLA shows law enforcement vehicles where several people were found shot to death in El Mirage, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Deputies found the bodies of six people at a remote dirt crossroads in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. AP EL MIRAGE, Calif. — Deputies found the bodies of six people at a remote dirt crossroads in the Mojave Desert, a scene described as so grisly that Southern California TV stations blurred some of the images captured by their helicopters overhead. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies responding to a request for a wellness check reached the area off Highway 395 outside the community of El Mirage around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday and found five of …