Hunters now in environmentalists' sights

Jim Matthews http://www.outdoornewsservice.com/
San Bernardino Sun

Telling the Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission they'd sue them if they didn't get their way, a collection of environmental groups has petitioned the commission to close the Mojave National Preserve to hunting much of the year under the specious guise of protecting endangered desert tortoises.

Ironically, even the National Park Service hasn't asked the state to do any special closures because their scientists recognize hunting is not an issue in the protection of tortoises.

The 11-page petition asks all hunting and gun possession be curtailed between Feb. 1 and Aug. 31 in the preserve, and hunting of cottontail rabbits, jackrabbits and predators be eliminated. Night hunting with lights also would be banned.

The petitioners list three reasons for the necessity of the changes.

First, they cite reports that say 15 percent of tortoises found dead were killed by gunshot. Second, they suggest hunters leaving carcasses and trash in hunting areas increases the raven population, and ravens perhaps are the biggest known predator on tortoises. Last, they suggest road use by hunters is a problem because many tortoises are killed on roads.

All three arguments are, in fact, wrong or the facts are misrepresented.

First, the studies on tortoise mortality showed about 15 percent of tortoise shells (mislabled carcasses by the petition) have signs of gunshot, but there was no forensic analysis to determine if the bullet holes in the carcasses were the cause of death or made postmortem.
Target shooting still was allowed in all the areas where these studies were done and one scenario is that plinkers found the shells and used them for target practice. This is correlated by mortality studies in remote areas, where hunting is more likely to take place, in which few shells had bullet holes.

Second, the petition pointed out desert tortoise populations have declined in the Preserve, although that data is sketchy. Even if taken at its face value, the number of hunters in the area has actually declined in the same period, so increases in raven populations and their predation cannot be blamed on hunters.

The National Park Service has been improving roads, facilities, and non-hunting visitation in the preserve, and the increase in ravens and other scavenging predators that also eat tortoises, is far more likely a result of other human uses in the desert that increase trash.

Last, the petition blames hunters' road use as a factor in tortoise mortality, even though they are more likely to be aware of tortoises and less likely to run one over than a tourist. The petition said in one study, 40 percent of tortoises found dead (again, we're talking about shells or pieces of shells, not fresh carcasses) were killed by gunshot or vehicles, even though there was no way to be sure gunshot or vehicles actually caused the tortoise death.

While there's no question tortoises are killed on roads, especially paved roads with vehicles whizzing along at 50 mph to 80 mph, the evidence of actual mortality caused by humans is very small.

Cliff McDonald, a long-time Needles hunter and conservationist who has battled to keep man-made wildlife water in the desert, points out that the Desert Tortoise Council Advisory Board, one of the groups involved in filing the petition, said in 2001 direct human mortalities represent only 3 percent of tortoise deaths (and that was assuming the inflated mortality speculated to be caused by vehicles and gunshots).

The effort to ban predator hunting on the preserve will probably have a negative impact on tortoises because a number of studies have show that coyotes and grey foxes are the only predators that target older tortoises, not needing to break open the shells to kill and eat the reptile. By stopping the hunting of these animals, their populations will increase and even more mature tortoises will be eaten.

Some other things puzzle me.

If these issues were so critical to the survival of the tortoise, why didn't the petitioners ask the Commission to ban hunting in all the desert tortoise range? Why didn't they ask the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management to close all roads and ban OHV use on public lands from February through September when tortoises are most active above ground? Why didn't they ask for caps on visitation to be set during these periods to reduce trash to keep raven numbers in check?

They didn't do any of these things. They targeted hunters.

The petition was filed with the Fish and Game Commission on Nov. 19 by the Center for Biological Diversity, in conjunction with the California/Nevada Desert Subcommittee of the Sierra Club, the National Parks and Conservation Association, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Desert Tortoise Council, and Defenders of Wildlife. That same day, management staff in the DFG offices in Sacramento were told they would be sued if the Commission didn't approve their petition.

The petition is certainly not about protecting tortoises because there are far more important issues that could and should be addressed than any hunter-caused mortality.

This is an anti-hunting petition, pure and simple. If the groups involved were concerned about tortoises they would be working diligently to get the federal government to allow the "take" or killing or ravens, which have increased more than 1,000 percent in our deserts

What can be said with absolutely certainty is that hunting today in the Mojave National Preserve is not a factor in any downward tortoise population trend.

Cut off, Goffs a study of Route's past

Route 66

By Claudia Heller
Pasadena Star-News

The 1914 Goffs Schoolhouse has been renovated and now houses a museum. (Alan Heller / Correspondent)

Part 5 of an ongoing series

We are about to visit an extremely significant Route 66 town, despite the fact that it has been expelled from the famous highway.

On our trip on Route 66, we leave the California border town of Needles and head for my personal favorite.

At first glance there isn't much left of the little town of Goffs, that is until you drive under the sign that reads "Study the Past." On the other side you will emerge into a different world to find a treasure which is under the tender care of the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association (MDHCA).

A related organization, The Friends of the Old Mojave Road, is dedicated to preserving a 138-mile trail once traversed by pioneers. This road was abandoned when railroads and more modern roads displaced it. Today the Mojave Road winds through the East Mojave Preserve in much the same dusty, bumpy and sometimes barely passable condition as it was in the 1860s.

Goffs became an important railroad stop because it is where steam engines could replenish their water supply.

The National Old Trails Road was established in 1912 (also called the ocean-to-ocean highway) and in 1926 it was designated as the first national highway system for automobiles and renamed Route 66. Several years later Route 66 was realigned to bypass Goffs when an eight-mile shortcut was carved through the Piute Mountains, skipping Goffs altogether.

Abandoned, Goffs' main landmark, a 1914 mission-style schoolhouse, fell into disrepair.

As fate would have it, a lone man, Dennis Casebier, set out to save Goffs and recapture its fading history. Today the MDHCA, under Casebier's direction, has renovated the schoolhouse to its former glory and established a museum within its walls. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the Federal Government.

The Goffs Library, a replica of the historic Goffs Santa Fe Railway Depot, 1902-1956.
(Alan Heller / Correspondent)

Unlike many Route 66 towns in the area, Goffs is not waning. To the contrary. A recent addition to the Cultural Center is the Library, a replica of the historic Goffs Santa Fe Railway Depot (1902-1956). Within its walls is the massive Mojave Desert Archives.

"There is no assemblage anywhere of material relating to the history of the Mojave Desert like the collections that exist at Goffs," Casebier said.

Visitors to the 75-acre Goffs Cultural Center will find hundreds of artifacts rescued from the area's rich history such as an Atlantic & Pacific Railway box car, a small courthouse which served the Amboy-Ludlow Judicial District in the 1940s, a Fraser-Chalmers 10-stamp mill, a Gilmore gasoline pump, and a miners cannon subject to a variety of claims regarding its origin.

Visitors are welcome at the Cultural Center on certain days or by appointment. For directions and more information call (760) 733-4482 or e-mail goffs@eastmojave.net.

On this, our fifth trip to areas of interest on the historic mother highway, we have now added three more sites to our list: (9 ) The Goffs Cultural Center; (10) The Renovated 1914 Goffs School House; and (11) The Old Mojave Road.

Hoover Dam Bypass Nears Completion

THE WIDER VIEW: Taking shape, the new bridge at the Hoover Dam

UC Santa Barbara
Geography Department News

The construction of the Hoover Dam (once called Boulder Dam) began in 1930 and was completed in 1936—two years ahead of schedule and well under budget. Apart from the latter facts constituting an engineering miracle in their own right, the Hoover Dam is considered one of the Top 10 Construction Achievements of the 20th Century. It used enough concrete to build a road from New York to San Francisco and it still attracts over 7 million visitors a year. Now a National Historic Landmark, “Hoover Dam is the highest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere, standing at more than 725 feet above the Colorado River. With 17 generators producing 4 billion kilowatts of electricity a year, it also is one of the country's largest hydroelectric power facilities. Operation and maintenance of the facility are solely supported by revenue from power sales”.

The Hoover Dam was built in order to prevent flooding of the Colorado River, to provide water for agriculture in California and Arizona, and to generate massive amounts of hydroelectric energy. A major secondary benefit was the creation of Lake Mead which is 110 miles long and took six years to fill: “This boating, sailing, fishing and house-boating paradise attracts over 10 million visitors a year. Lake Mead covers 550 miles of majestic shoreline and 247 square miles of area which is twice the size of Rhode Island. Its capacity of 1 1/4 trillion cubic feet of water would cover the entire state of Pennsylvania one foot deep” (more here).

The bad news is that the creation of the dam destroyed the estuarine ecosystem of the Colorado River delta and imperiled many species of plants and animals which had adapted to the flooding of the river. Furthermore, the original two lane road remains the only access over the river, has dangerous hairpin bends, and suffers from periodic rockslides and massive congestion; and, in our post 9/11 times, the easy access to the Hoover Dam presents a serious security risk. “To provide much more highway capacity, and better safety, the new Hoover Dam Bypass is scheduled to be completed in 2010 and it will divert the U.S. 93 traffic 1,500 ft (460 m) downstream from the dam. The bypass will include a composite steel and concrete arch bridge, tentatively named the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. Once the bypass is completed, through traffic will no longer be allowed across Hoover Dam...Because of the (9/11) attack, the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. Traffic across Hoover Dam is presently restricted. Some types of vehicles are inspected prior to crossing the dam while semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 feet (12 m) long are not allowed on the dam at all. That traffic is diverted south to a Colorado River bridge at Laughlin, Nevada” (more here).

The Hoover Dam Bypass is a twin-rib concrete arch slated for completion in late 2010. At a cost of $240 million, the 2,000 foot bridge is part of a larger project, namely, a 3.5-mile corridor that begins in Clark County, Nevada, crosses the Colorado River about 1,500 feet downstream of the Hoover Dam, and ends in Mohave County, Arizona, providing a major link between Phoenix and Las Vegas. The bridge project will entail the removal and embankment of over three and a half million cubic yards of earth, the bridge itself will be made from two hundred and forty three million tons of concrete, and sixteen million pounds of steel will have been used to reinforce the concrete.

Design work for the Hoover Bypass Project began in August 2001, and over twelve hundred people have been involved in its construction. “A Project Management Team (PMT) was developed to oversee the design and construction of the project. The PMT has representation from each of the major project stakeholders including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the States of Arizona and Nevada, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) and the National Park Service (NPS). Central Federal Lands Highway Division (CFLHD) will act in the lead management role for all elements of project procurement, design and construction. CFLHD awarded a contract to HDR Engineering, Inc. to provide design and construction support services for the Hoover Bypass Project. An integrated team of professionals from HDR Engineering, T.Y. Lin International, Sverdrup Civil, Inc. and several supporting subconsultants make up the consultant team, collectively known as the Hoover Support Team”. I'll bet you anything that a lot of those folks had a background in Geography.

Ansel Adams: Looking across water to dam, "Boulder (Hoover) Dam, 1941," Colorado, 1941 (79-AA-B01) (Wikipedia)

Abandoned mines pose threats

OPINION

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein
San Bernardino Sun

On Nov. 1, a 30-year-old woman was exploring an abandoned mine with family members in Kern County. The woman had entered a dark, underground tunnel when the ground gave way and she fell at least 50 feet to her death.

Dangerous abandoned mines like Tungsten Peak, where this tragedy occurred, litter the California landscape. There are 47,000 statewide and 500,000 across the western states. Many have ceased operations a century ago and the owners or responsible parties are long gone.

The Department of the Interior has published a list of recent fatalities related to abandoned mines. Victims range from a 13-year old girl who fell into a shaft while driving an all terrain vehicle to a Vietnam Veteran whose truck tipped into a mine pit. Throughout the United States, at least 37 deaths occurred between the years 1999 and 2007. In the past two years, eight accidents at abandoned mine sites were reported in California.

It's time for Congress to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with the safety and public health problems of these abandoned mines.

Earlier this year, I introduced legislation to pay for the cleanup of abandoned mines, with fees and royalties paid by the hardrock mining industry. This consistent source of funding could help pay for basic safety measures, including the installation of warning signs, safety nets and fencing, as well as the cleanup of toxic chemicals that leech into waterways.

The scope of this abandoned mine problem is enormous and cleanup programs are underfunded. The California Department of Conservation estimates that California alone needs $4 billion.

The tunnels, shafts, and dilapidated structures of abandoned mines can be found in popular public recreation areas and near roads and highways. Historical mines attract exploration, which all too often produces deadly results.

In addition to these dangerous physical hazards, thousands of sites pose an environmental threat. Most historic mines operated before modern environmental laws were enacted and often contain harmful substances like mercury, chromium, cyanide and asbestos that can pollute drinking water, crops and fish.

To date, 17 watersheds in California have been impacted by toxic runoff.

In particular, California leads the nation in the number of abandoned mercury mines. A recent Associated Press article reported that there are as many as 550 old mercury mines, and only 10 have been cleaned up to date. Runoff from the mines continues to contaminate downstream environments and contributes to the problem of unsafe mercury levels in fish.

According to a UC Davis researcher, fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region contain mercury levels considered to be unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At least 100,000 California anglers and their families are at risk of mercury contamination.

It's clear that these abandoned mines pose a threat to public health and safety - and they must be cleaned up.

Unlike the coal industry, however, the metal mining industry does not pay to clean up its legacy of abandoned mines.

The bill I've introduced would create a new limited reclamation fee (of 0.3 percent) on the gross value of all hardrock mineral mining on federal, state, tribal, local and private lands.

The legislation would also establish an 8 percent royalty on new mining operations located on federal lands, and a 4 percent royalty for existing operations.

The bill would set spending priorities for the cleanup fund based on the severity of risk to public health and safety and the impact on natural resources. This will ensure that the abandoned mines that pose the greatest risk will be addressed first.

Finally, the bill would direct the secretary of the Interior to create an inventory of abandoned mines on all federal, state, tribal, local and private land. Unless we have a clear picture of the scope of the problem, we can't fully address it.

A July 2008 report from the Interior Department's Inspector General found that public health and safety have been compromised. The study concluded that program mismanagement and perennial funding shortfalls at federal agencies has impeded cleanup efforts.

Congress must move swiftly to address this issue before more environmental harm, injuries or death occur - so I will be working closely with my colleagues to ensure that a cleanup fund for abandoned hardrock mines is included in any comprehensive mining reform legislation or otherwise legislatively established.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein represents California in the U.S. Senate.

Owens Lake as solar power plant?

The DWP seeks to build a 660-acre pilot project on the dry lake bed -- and avoid doing an environmental impact report.

A solar array could mitigate dust at Owens Lake. Currently to help fight dust, the DWP regularly floods the dry lake bed, which attracts birds -- and bird-watchers, as above. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times / April 18, 2009)

By Phil Willon
Los Angeles Times

Nearly a century after Los Angeles drained Owens Lake by diverting its water to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the city now hopes to generate solar energy on the dusty salt flats it left behind.

The Department of Water and Power's board of commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a renewable energy pilot project that would cover 616 acres of lake bed with solar arrays -- a possible precursor to a mammoth solar farm that could cover thousands of acres.

City utility officials hope that, along with generating power for L.A., the solar panels would reduce the fierce dust storms that rise from the dry lake bed. To comply with federal clean air standards, the DWP must control the dust that has plagued the Owens Valley for decades. Its efforts are part of a $500-million dust mitigation plan.

The solar project still must win approval from the California State Lands Commission, and that may be a difficult task. The commission's executive officer Tuesday said he had serious concerns about the size of the "demonstration" project and the DWP's plans to seek an exemption from a state environmental impact review.

Well aware of the nasty residue left by L.A.'s water grab in the early 1900s, city officials have taken special care to sell the idea to Owens Valley residents. So much water was pumped away from the valley that, afterward, many farmers and ranchers couldn't scratch out a living.

Interim DWP General Manager S. David Freeman traveled to Inyo County before Thanksgiving to meet with local government officials, environmental groups, ranchers and other residents in an effort to sell the solar proposal.

"It's really interesting and exciting, to say the least," said Inyo County Administrative Officer Kevin Carunchio. "Generally, the county has been looking at the potential for renewable energy projects to generate economic activity and fill the county coffers, since mining has been regulated out of business."

To help win over environmentalists, Freeman promised that the DWP would continue its program to flood portions of the lake bed with water to help control dust; the project currently uses enough water to supply 60,000 families. That shallow, ankle-deep flooding has created critical habitat for tens of thousands of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds.

"In general we support that idea. This small test project is in an area of the lake that has some of the least value for wildlife. It's a good area to put a project, to see if you can make it work and fix the dust," said Mike Prather of the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society.

DWP Commissioner Jonathan Parfrey, who serves as director of the Green L.A. Institute, said Tuesday he was "really enthusiastic" about the proposal but counseled DWP executives to keep Owens Valley residents well informed.

"We need to maintain good relations with the environmentalists in the eastern Sierra in order to provide them really strong assurances of the limited scope of this particular project, and an ongoing . . . conversation with them about any expanded projects," he said.

Michael Webster, the DWP's assistant manager of system development and procurement, told the board of commissioners that the agency has tested solar arrays in wind tunnels and determined that the structures, if properly aligned, can work as effective dust control measures.

The pilot solar project would generate an estimated 50 megawatts by 2012, or about 0.5% of L.A.'s energy needs. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has vowed to halt the use of coal-burning power plants by 2020 and -- that same year -- generate at least 40% of its energy from renewable resources.

The DWP estimates that the solar pilot project also could save 2,460 acre-feet of water a year -- worth $1.7 million -- because the solar arrays could be used to control dust in that portion of Owens Lake instead of flooding.

Because the State Lands Commission has oversight of the 100-square-mile Owens Lake, the DWP must convince the agency to lease the 616 acres for the pilot solar farm -- and, later, to grant leases for any expansion.

Paul Thayer, the state commission's executive officer, said the agency is willing to discuss "some sort of balance of habitat restoration and solar generation on the lake bed."

But he cautioned that a 616-acre solar farm would be among the largest in California, and DWP's efforts to avoid an environmental review could pose a major obstacle. "We think the project is much too ambitious now, particularly for that kind of environmental review," Thayer said, adding that a smaller project might be more acceptable.

Thayer said DWP officials estimate that Owens Lake has the potential to be developed into a large-scale solar farm: "They envision up into the gigawatt range . . . thousands of acres."

Snow, traffic and isolation can't stop CHP officer

Shupe patrols sparsely populated, heavily traveled northern border of county

By DAVID HELDRETH, staff writer
Desert Dispatch

California Highway Patrol officer Larry Shupe stands with his patrol vehicle Tuesday afternoon. Shupe is one of six officers that live and patrol the Mountain Pass area. (Staff Photo by David Heldreth)

MOUNTAIN PASS • Officer Larry Shupe has become the go-to man for people in Mountain Pass.

Shupe is one of six California Highway Patrol officers who are voluntarily assigned to patrol the Mountain Pass area from Halloran Summit Road to the Nevada state line. Shupe has spent the last 17 years living at the CHP residence post off of Bailey Road, 100 miles north of Barstow, or Sandy Valley, Nev. and working the Mountain Pass area.

Shupe’s years of experience in the area were tested during a snow storm that hit the Barstow area on Dec. 18 of 2008. Several motorists were trapped on Interstate 15 when it was closed for 18 hours due to two-foot snow drifts across the freeway in Mountain Pass. Shupe, who has the only four-wheel drive patrol vehicle, made several trips to take the stranded people between the freeway and the Moly Corporation Minerals mine on Bailey Road where a shelter was set up.

“The snow was coming down so bad you couldn’t see anywhere,” Shupe said. “I almost hit a few cars actually. After I found the first people I realized there was more than I could take so I promised them I would come back. I had to mark the spots with my GPS so that I could find them again.”

Shupe received a commendation from the CHP for his work that day. Cpt. Rick Linson said that Shupe often goes beyond the normal call of the job.

“When it gets that cold and people are stuck it can be dangerous,” Linson said. “His efforts may have saved lives that day. He is a great example to any officer.”

Shupe’s knowledge of the area was even useful when the Mojave National Preserve was created in 1994. He said he often had National Park Service rangers visiting him for directions and asking him to show them around the preserve during its first few years of existence.

Hiking and rural living are nothing new to Shupe. He grew up cattle farming in a rural area outside of Twin Falls, Idaho. He now lives in Sandy Valley, a town of 1,800 people about 15 miles west of Interstate 15.

“I kind of always lived out away from people all my life,” Shupe said. “When I got out of the academy I picked to come to Barstow. I’m bilingual so I got a bit more of a choice were I was located. I chose Barstow over a metropolitan area. I prefer the peace and quiet.”

Shupe’s preference has meant that a shopping trip or piano lesson for his kids requires a 50 mile trip to Las Vegas. Shupe’s three children who still live at home — he has five total — go to school in Sandy Valley, but he said that when he lived at the residence post his kids would take a bus 35 miles to Baker to attend school.

“If you get in your car to go somewhere you have to plan for a 100-mile round trip,” Shupe said. “You have to plan things a little bit more, but it works out. The kids didn’t really seem to notice it until they started getting to junior high school and high school and started getting driver’s licenses and things.”

Shupe said despite the drawbacks the post has its upsides, such as easy access to hiking, hunting and off-roading areas.

“After 21 years as an officer there isn’t a spot in the state I couldn’t get assigned to at one point,” Shupe said. “I want to be here and I take pride in my work here. When I first was moving people said I would miss the trees, lakes, snow and water, but over the years the area has grown on me. I think I became a desert rat. I go out hiking and explore the area often.”

One of a Kind

Westways cover artist Merv Corning enjoyed a long and varied career in California

By Matthew W. Roth
Westways



Merv Corning's watercolor painting, Wood Plank Road, appeared on the June 1975 cover of Westways.

Merv Corning (1926–2006) was a California original. Not just because he was born and raised in Santa Ana and spent his entire working life in the state. Not just because his most famous paintings, depicting World War I aviation and the stars of the National Football League, connect with California’s aircraft industry and its sporting heritage. And not just because his favorite leisure activity, riding his Harley-Davidson Softail, drew him, like millions of others, to the scenic roadways of the Golden State. Subtler, deeper factors inextricably linked Corning with California in the second half of the 20th century.

Merv Corning approached life with an unbridled sense of possibility. He had no formal training, yet he never wavered from his commitment to work as an artist. He started at age 13 as a helper at a Santa Ana sign shop, painting signs on the sides of buildings. The boss would rig a scaffold, apply a chalk outline, and leave Corning with a supply of paint and a small color original for guidance.

In long days on the scaffold, Corning resolved to become an artist. After serving in the merchant marine during World War II, he got a job producing pen-and-ink drawings for newspaper ads.

In a series of jobs at ad agencies and department stores, Corning learned illustration techniques, layout, copywriting, and other tasks connected with commercial art. He never forgot those lessons. “There’s a great purity to this art,” he said, recalling his days drawing for print ads. “You only had black and white to create dimension.”

In 1953, Corning joined Studio Artists Inc., a consortium of Los Angeles artists who provided commercial design services. In 1959, one client, Leach Corporation, asked for a series of paintings of World War I airplanes; over the next 11 years, Corning produced 43 paintings on that theme. They have been displayed at the Pentagon, acquired by the Air Force Archives, and reprinted countless times in aviation journals and general-interest publications.

Corning’s association with the National Football League began in 1967 and lasted for the rest of his life. He painted posters, program covers, and the Most Valuable Player portrait from each Super Bowl. In 1981, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., hung his portrait of Johnny Unitas in a show on sports heroes, and the 1992 Super Bowl game program called him “football’s preeminent artist.”

Although most acclaimed for his work in military and macho themes, Corning’s keen observations of nature and his interest in the texture of everyday places reveal an empathy for life’s quiet moments, too. His ability to evoke the mood or feeling of a landscape attracted Westways to his art. His first cover, in October 1965, delivered on this promise; it depicts two fishermen at dawn, the sun illuminating far-off peaks, the nearby hills still in shadow. The 16 covers Westways commissioned from Corning all shimmer with immediacy, with the alchemy of a medium that can seduce us into thinking that we are in his pictures.

The Westways covers helped Corning develop a distinctive creative vision, and he left Studio Artists in 1968 to concentrate on his own art. Throughout an enormously productive career, Corning never lost focus on the job at hand—the current painting—and he took joy from his work. Though frequently invited to serve as a judge for juried shows, he disliked rejecting anyone, and the notes he left for other artists express his thoughts about his chosen field with a candid eloquence. This excerpt from one such note captures his belief about artists and their place in the world:

The very fact that we all are artists means we possess a sensitivity beyond most normal people, and for that we should be grateful. It’s not about winning or losing. It’s creating, and it is special, and we are special.

Merv Corning self-portrait 2000



Matthew W. Roth is the Auto Club’s historian. He would like to thank Tula Corning for access to her late husband’s archives.

Route 66 business dream rooted highway's heyday

Gus Lizalde bought Chambless, a title town and former pit stop in Route 66's hey-day. With the interest of solar development and a national monument, he hopes to revitalize the rest stop.(Kurt Miller/The Press-Enterprise)

By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise

His love of the automobile and the way a sunset illuminated a Mojave Desert mountain range inspired Gus Lizalde two decades ago to invest in a piece of Route 66 history.

He bought Chambless, a wide spot at the corner of Cadiz Road and National Trails Highway, part of old Route 66. It's a far flung outpost, halfway between Barstow and Needles, that once offered gas, food and lodging to motorists headed into or out of California.

Lizalde's dream of restoring Chambless to its mid-20th century heyday remains unfulfilled.

The gas station, store, restaurant, motel cabins and RV spaces are surrounded by barbed wire. Rattlesnakes hide out in the crumbling buildings. Only a few dozen cars pass by in a day.

But the Mojave Desert sunshine that dominates the landscape may soon be Chambless' economic savior, or so Lizalde hopes.

Dozens of large-scale solar energy projects are proposed on the publicly owned land that extends as far as the eye can see in every direction.

Lizalde, an Escondido resident and a manager at a San Diego County car dealership, said energy construction would bring workers who might want a convenient place for gas, a burger, a few groceries or a bed for the night.

"To bring this back, I need commerce," Lizalde said. "I need people coming through the front door. These solar projects will mean commerce."

SOLAR OPPORTUNITY

One of the solar developments would blanket eight square miles along Route 66 just west of Lizalde's property. Two more to the south are proposed on some 80 square miles.

The federal Bureau of Land Management is processing 78 applications for desert energy projects between Ridgecrest and Mexico. So far, none has been approved.

Lizalde's excitement about the solar projects explains why he is worried about a move to create what backers have called a Mother Road National Monument. It would honor Route 66 and its colorful past as a conduit for dust-bowl refugees flooding into California and later as an east-west ribbon of freedom for vacationing Americans.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is drafting federal legislation that would create the monument on public land in eastern San Bernardino County, from the Mojave National Preserve on the north to Joshua Tree National Park on the south. It is expected to prohibit energy development in some areas.

Monument supporters fear development of too many wind and solar projects in territory used by the desert tortoise, a threatened species, and other wildlife.

Environmentalists are especially concerned about projects, such as the two near the Cadiz Valley south of Chambless, that would be built between wilderness areas, said Elden Hughes, a longtime environmental activist who has fought to protect the desert. Developing in such areas can impede animals that range between protected territories; such travel helps maintain their health and genetic diversity, experts say.

Standing in front of his boarded-up buildings, Lizalde pointed out a passing BNSF freight train to the south and a white limestone pit mine to the west.

"This is a good place for solar," he said. "It's not pristine."

A stocky man with a dark complexion, Lizalde looks younger than his 45 years. He radiated enthusiasm as he walked by scraps of twisted metal, old pipes and other debris. He described his vision for a multimillion-dollar makeover.

"It's going to be a full-blown restoration to the way it was built," Lizalde said. "I want to bring back that nostalgia."

The renewed Chambless would feature "totem" gasoline pumps with meters that look like clock faces. Lizalde said he wants to track down original pump bodies and retrofit them with modern gas-delivery and metering systems.

The main building would have a 1950s-style diner, a tavern and a souvenir/convenience store. He intends to fix up the nine concrete cottages behind the main building and build a swimming pool in the shield shape of the Route 66 road sign.

For the trailer park area, Lizalde envisions hauling in about 50 vintage Airstream trailers, refurbishing them and renting them out.

Why Airstreams? "They are so cool," he answered.

PIT STOP HISTORY

Chambless, or Camp Chambless as it was once known, was built by local settlers of the same name and opened in the early 1930s to serve the motorists using Route 66, which ran between Chicago and Santa Monica.

The business suffered after Interstate 40 opened in 1973, bypassing Chambless and a few other gas station-café stops that depended on Route 66 traffic.

Lizalde, a car buff who played with Hot Wheels as a kid and restored a 1967 Porsche as young man, said he was driving a Mustang in 1989 to visit family in Laughlin, Nev., when he first saw Chambless. The view and the history captured him, and four months later, he found himself signing papers to buy the property for about $250,000.

He said he took two years off to run the gas station, store, restaurant and motel, catering mostly to employees of a nearby agricultural operation, Cadiz Inc.

He had to close the businesses in 1993, he said, when environmental regulations forced him to remove underground fuel-storage tanks and clean up gasoline-contaminated soil at a cost of about $250,000. Other Route 66 gas stations that had been struggling to hang on also closed, Lizalde said.

With too little traffic passing by, he couldn't justify the investment needed to re-open the Chambless business, he said.

Time and nature have taken a toll on the place.

A wind storm blew off the roof extension that had shaded the gasoline pumps. To make the area safe, Lizalde said, he had to remove the concrete pillars that held it up.

Meanwhile, he has paid property taxes, fencing costs and other expenses.

"It reminds me of the movie, 'The Money Pit,' " he said.

Albert Okura, who owns the town of Amboy about 13 miles west of Chambless, said he wishes Lizalde success on his renovation.

"It's going to be an uphill battle," Okura said. "Gus is a good idea man, but it is hard to translate ideas into money."

It won't be easy, Lizalde acknowledged.

But construction of the solar plants should provide about three years of businesses, giving him time to market the place as a Route 66 destination.

"This will probably be the biggest restoration project all the way to Chicago," he said. "It will be the nicest facility on the road. And that will be a pretty good brag."

Radical secularists won't allow a cross in the desert

by Newt Gingrich
Washington Examiner

In the vast desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is the 1.6 million acre Mojave National Preserve. Located within the preserve, in an area so remote that an hour can pass between cars traveling by, sits a seven-foot cross on the top of a hill.

There used to be a cross there, that is. Today, the cross is covered by a plywood box, looking for all the world like a blank billboard on a lonely rock outcropping.

The reason the cross is covered is as simple as it is dangerous: The cross is the latest target of radical secularists who seek to drive every manifestation of God and faith from our public spaces, however remote.

That these secularists would target a cross that sits literally in the middle of nowhere speaks to their fanaticism. That they would seek to destroy it speaks to their totalitarianism. For religious freedom to exist anywhere, it seems, is a threat to them everywhere.

For 75 years, what has become known as the Mojave Cross has stood on a remote outcropping in the desert known as Sunrise Rock. The cross was first erected in 1934 by the Death Valley chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars to honor the servicemen and -women who lost their lives in World War I.

For more than six decades, the cross stood, as it does at war memorials across the country, in memory of the American war dead. But about a decade ago, a park service employee in the preserve decided he was offended by the presence of a cross on federal land.

With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, he sued, arguing that the cross violates the constitutional prohibition on government establishment of religion. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- the same court that ruled the words "under God" unconstitutional in the Pledge of Allegiance -- agreed and ordered the cross removed.

But then Congress got involved and came up with a solution. The land the Mojave Cross sits on was transferred from the federal government to the VFW, thus removing the constitutional issue, for some, of a religious symbol on federal land.

But even that solution was not enough for the radical secularists. They've taken the case all the way to the Supreme Court, where justices heard arguments in the case earlier this fall.

It's anybody's guess how the high court will rule or if will rule on the merits of the case at all. But it's clear to the nation's veterans what is at stake.

Literally thousands of other monuments and memorials on public lands display the cross and other religious imagery. If the court finds the Mojave Cross "offensive" for the ACLU and its allies, the crosses and other expressions of religious faith that honor our war dead elsewhere are in jeopardy as well.

It's a tragic irony that the men and women who died protecting our religious freedom may be denied theirs after death.

For the Founders, religious liberty and freedom of religious expression were indispensable supports to political freedom. But for the radical secularists, the truth is just the opposite: They see religious freedom as an obstacle to their political project to remake America into something our Founders wouldn't recognize.

We've seen this kind of totalitarianism before. As we relate in our upcoming movie about Pope John Paul II and the end of communism in Eastern Europe , communists sought to systematically eliminate the cross in Poland in order to better control the Polish people.

As we enter the Christmas season, it's important for Americans of all religious faiths to understand how important a cross in the desert -- a cross they may never see -- is to the survival of our liberty.

We are a nation founded on the truth that our rights come from God, not government.

If we give a handful of radicals and an imperial judiciary the power to decide that they, not our Creator, grant us our rights, we will be giving them the power to take our rights away.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has published 19 books, including 10 fiction and nonfiction best-sellers. He is the founder of the Center for Health Transformation and chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future. For more information, see newt.org. His exclusive column for The Examiner appears Fridays.

Lawsuits triggers delay of BLM wild horse roundup

Carrol Abel
Examiner.com







Calico Mountains wild horse band, June 2009. (BLM)


In response to a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court on Monday, the Bureau of Land Management has postponed a controversial roundup and removal of almost 3,000 wild horses from five Nevada herd management areas. The US Department of Justice announced the delay Tuesday night.

A Preliminary Environmental Assessment for the roundup brought a huge public outcry in the form of 10,000 responses into BLM's Winnemucca office. The now infamous roundup of wild horses from the Calico Complex, originally scheduled to begin December 1, would remove 80-90% of the population estimated at 3,095 horses. The document states that the range cannot support that many horses but also admits to 2,500 cattle that will remain.

William Spriggs, Esq. of Buchanan, Ingersol and Rooney, pro bono attorney for plaintiffs In Defense of Animals (IDA) and wildlife ecologist, Craig Downer, said in response to the announcement, " We welcome this moratorium on the capture and inhumane treatment of the Calico horses. The BLM plan for a massive helicopter roundup of these horses is entirely illegal."

Though the roundup is now delayed until December 28, IDA and Mr. Downer plan to file a motion today for a permanent injunction to prevent the roundup entirely. "We are confident that the court will agree that America's wild horses are protected by law from BLM's plan to indescriminately chase and stampede them into corrals for indeterminate warehousing away from their established habitat." said Spriggs.

JoLynn Worley, BLM representative, says the agency still intends to issue it's formal decision regarding the Preliminary Environmental Assessment some time on Tuesday.

Momentum is growing in the public sector for a moratorium on all roundups. Almost 200 animal rights and wild horse advocate groups have united in the call to stop the roundups and are pressing for a Congressional investigation. Of the many issues in question is the inequitable use of public lands under a multiple use policy. A habitat summary done in July of 2008 by the Animal Welfare Institue shows that the BLM administers over nineteen million acres of public lands..... lands set aside by law for wild horses and burros..... lands that are no longer used for that purpose.

County Assumes Ownership of Victor Valley Museum & Art Gallery

Brad Mitzelfelt
Mitzelfelt Memo

In a move that assures the continued operation of a High Desert cultural and educational institution, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on November 3 accepted ownership of the Victor Valley Museum and Art Gallery in Apple Valley.

"I want to commend all of the volunteers, cities and local businesses who have built the Victor Valley Museum and Art Gallery into a vibrant and important institution in the Victor Valley during the past three decades," said First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who asked the Board to support his proposal to assume ownership of the museum. "In the current economic climate, it became impossible for the museum to meet its obligations, and I was relieved when they approached me and offered to convey the museum to County ownership."

The Victor Valley Museum had its origins in 1976 when local memorabilia and artifacts were gathered and displayed in various public buildings in the High Desert for the nation’s bicentennial celebration. Several individuals and community service groups expanded on this grass-roots effort and in 1987, Jess Ranch granted approximately four acres to the newly formed Victor Valley Museum Association. By 1993, the Association had constructed the 13,080-square-foot Victor Valley Museum in the Town of Apple Valley.

With a decline in fundraising revenues, the museum faced the possibility of closing its doors. In July, members of the Victor Valley Museum Association approached Supervisor Mitzelfelt with a proposal to convey the museum to the County.

The memorabilia and artifacts will be catalogued and the building renovated. New displays and exhibits will be developed along with new outreach and educational programs in order to bring the museum up to the accreditation standards attained by the County’s existing museum. The museum will be partially closed during that process, but the public will still have access to meeting rooms.

The one-time cost to make needed improvements to the museum is estimated at $192,953, and includes costs for staff, services and supplies, operating expenses and payment of liens, escrows and outstanding loans.

The County has received commitments from many financial supporters of the museum to continue their support. Contributions from businesses, residents and local government, including $15,000 from the Town of Apple Valley, along with fees for facility use and educational programs, will be used by the museum to meet ongoing operational costs, with the County contributing additional funds if necessary.

Edison demolishes Daggett solar tower

Light from 2,000 mirrors passing through four aim points (the observer sees only two) reflects off dust particles, water vapor and superheated air to produce the strange "points of light" phenomenon when Solar Two was in operation.

JESSICA CEJNAR Staff Writer
Victorville Daily Press

DAGGETT • A myriad of solar power projects are sprouting up all over the Mojave Desert, but on Tuesday one came tumbling down.

The central tower for the Solar One and Solar Two demonstration projects stood near Daggett for almost 30 years — a landmark that defined the desert landscape. The projects themselves paved the way for similar technology to be used on a larger scale and foretold the current solar power gold rush.

But for about 10 years it hasn’t produced any solar energy. It has been empty for about four years, according to Paul Phelan, manager for Edison’s Power Production Engineering Department. In June Southern California Edison and CST Environmental, a Brea-based demolition firm, began dismantling it. On Tuesday, Edison and CST personnel strapped explosives to two of the tower’s four legs and brought the structure to the ground.

“It’s always sad to see a facility like this torn down,” Phelan said. “Newer companies are building on the (project’s) research and development. From that standpoint it paved the way for newer technologies considered today.”

Three Things You Absolutely Must Know About Climategate

by Iain Murray
Pajamas Media

They’re calling it “Climategate.” The scandal that the suffix –gate implies is the state of climate science over the past decade or so revealed by a thousand or so emails, documents, and computer code sets between various prominent scientists released following a leak from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in the UK.

This may seem obscure, but the science involved is being used to justify the diversion of literally trillions of dollars of the world’s wealth in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out fossil fuels. The CRU is the Pentagon of global warming science, and these documents are its Pentagon Papers.

Here are three things everyone should know about the Climategate Papers. Links are provided so that the full context of every quote can be seen by anyone interested.

First, the scientists discuss manipulating data to get their preferred results. The most prominently featured scientists are paleoclimatologists, who reconstruct historical temperatures and who were responsible for a series of reconstructions that seemed to show a sharp rise in temperatures well above historical variation in recent decades.

In 1999, Phil Jones, the head of CRU, wrote to activist scientist Michael “Mike” Mann that he has just “completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps … to hide the decline”(0942777075). This refers to a decline in temperatures in recent years revealed by the data he had been reconstructing that conflicted with the observed temperature record. The inconvenient data was therefore hidden under a completely different set of data. Some “trick.”

Mann later (2003) announced that “it would be nice to try to ‘contain’ the putative ‘MWP,’ even if we don’t yet have a hemispheric mean reconstruction available that far back” (1054736277). The MWP is the Medieval Warm Period, when temperatures may have been higher than today. Mann’s desire to “contain” this phenomenon even in the absence of any data suggesting that this is possible is a clear indication of a desire to manipulate the science. There are other examples of putting political/presentational considerations before the science throughout the collection.

Secondly, scientists on several occasions discussed methods of subverting the scientific peer review process to ensure that skeptical papers had no access to publication. In 2003, Tom Wigley of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, complained that paleoclimatologist Hans von Storch was responsible for “the publication of crap science ‘in order to stimulate debate’” and that they “must get rid of von Storch” (1051190249) as an editor of the journal Climate Research (he indeed subsequently resigned).

This could prove to be climate science's Vietnam.

In 2005, Michael Mann said that there was a “fundamental problem w/ GRL now,” referring to the journal Geophysical Research Letters published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), because “they have published far too many deeply flawed contrarian papers in the past year or so” and “it is probably best to do an end run around GRL now where possible.” Tom Wigley responded that “we could go through official AGU channels to get him [the editor of GRL] ousted” (1106322460). A few months later, the editor of GRL having left his post, Mann comments, “The GRL leak may have been plugged up now w/ new editorial leadership there” (1132094873).

Having seemingly succeeded with Climate Research and Geophysical Research Letters, the most recent target of the scientists’ ire has been Weather, a journal of the Royal Meteorological Society (RMS). Phil Jones commented in March 2009, “I’m having a dispute with the new editor of Weather. I’ve complained about him to the RMS Chief Exec. If I don’t get him to back down, I won’t be sending any more papers to any RMS journals and I’ll be resigning from the RMS” (1237496573).

This issue is all the more important because the scientists involved in these discussions have repeatedly accused their critics of being irrelevant because they fail to publish in the peer reviewed literature. For example, in October this year, Mr. Mann told Andy Revkin of the New York Times:

[L]egitimate scientific skepticism is exercised through formal scientific circles, in particular the peer review process. Those such as [Stephen] McIntyre [the target of much of the criticism in the CRU Papers] who operate almost entirely outside of this system are not to be trusted.

If you are saying on the one hand that you will not take notice of someone until they have been published while on the other you are working behind the scenes to stop any such publication, I would venture to suggest that you are not operating with any degree of bona fides either towards the media or the legitimate scientific process.

Finally, the scientists worked to circumvent the Freedom of Information process of the United Kingdom. Nowhere is this better evidenced than in the email reproduced in full below (minus Dr. Jones’ contact details):

From: Phil Jones To: “Michael E. Mann”
Subject: IPCC & FOI
Date: Thu May 29 11:04:11 2008

Mike,

Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4?
Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment – minor family crisis.
Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t
have his new email address.
We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.
I see that CA claim they discovered the 1945 problem in the Nature paper!!
Cheers
Phil

The context in the subject header is clearly the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI), while AR4 refers to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. What is most important to know here is that, according to the Taxpayers’ Alliance in the UK, “at least one FOI request on exactly this correspondence had apparently been submitted by a David Holland on May 5th 2008.”

The Freedom of Information Act, however, explicitly forbids deletion of any material subject to a FOI request. The penalty for such a criminal act is a fine of up to £5,000. Presumably being found guilty of such an act, or even suggesting it, would also bring about significant disciplinary procedures at any reputable university. A complaint has been made to the British information commissioner.

This is, however, just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to attitudes toward FOI. Numerous other references are made about ways to avoid divulging information (the following summaries are by the blogger Bishop Hill):

Tom Wigley discusses how to deal with the advent of FoI law in UK. Jones says use IPR argument to hold onto code. Says data is covered by agreements with outsiders and that CRU will be “hiding behind them.”(1106338806)

Jones says that UK climate organisations are coordinating themselves to resist FoI. They got advice from the Information Commissioner [!](1219239172)

Jones tells Mann that he is sending station data. Says that if McIntyre requests it under FoI he will delete it rather than hand it over. Says he will hide behind data protection laws. Says Rutherford screwed up big time by creating an FTP directory for Osborn. Says Wigley worried he will have to release his model code. (1107454306)

There appears to be a prima facie case that there was a conspiracy to prevent the release of information subject to FOI.

There are many other disturbing revelations in the CRU Papers, including a particularly disturbing assessment by a computer programmer of the state of CRU data. These have yet to be fully analyzed.

So what does this all mean? It does not mean that there is no warming trend or that mankind has not been responsible for at least some of the warming. To claim that as result of these documents is clearly a step too far. However, it is clear that at least one branch of climate science — paleoclimatology — has become hopelessly politicized to the point of engaging in unethical and possibly illegal behavior.

To the extent that paleoclimatology is an important part of the scientific case for action regarding global warming, urgent reassessments need to be made. In the meantime, all those responsible for political action on global warming should stop the process pending the results of inquiries, investigations, and any criminal proceedings. What cannot happen is the process carrying on as if nothing has happened.

This could prove to be climate science’s Vietnam.

Iain Murray is Vice-President for Strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, and author of "The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven environmental catastrophes liberals don't want you to know about - because they helped cause them," from Regnery.

Desert search continues for woman missing five years

Peter Sellas lowers Hunter, a cadaver dog, into Red Dog Mine in Ludlow to look for the body of April Pitzer. Sheriff's detectives believe she was murdered and dumped in one of the thousands of mine shafts in San Bernardino County. An anonymous tip and a link between Pitzer and Red Dog Mine's owner led to the search of this mine. Pitzer, originally from Arkansas, disappeared in 2004. (Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer)

Stacia Glenn, Staff Writer
San Bernardino Sun

LUDLOW - Only a rusted ladder and slabs of rotten wood could be seen in the tunnel of darkness that stretched 100 feet below the cold desert ground.

A bone-searing breeze blew red dust into the faces of about 50 search and rescue personnel who remained heavily bundled as the sunrise lifted temperatures just above 40 degrees.

They'd camped out the night before, just yards from the Red Dog Mine, where iron ore miners once crawled and coughed and party-goers came in their wake to hang out.

It was in this musty old mine that a determined detective hoped to find the remains of April Pitzer, a young mother who disappeared in June 2004 after deciding to move back home to Arkansas.

Pitzer, 30, was last seen by her roommate, who said he helped her pack and drove her around to say her goodbyes. A friend of the family reported Pitzer missing two weeks later.

Sheriff's homicide Det. Steve Pennington has received several tips that Pitzer was killed and hidden in a mine. Following a few fruitless searches, he began coming out on his own time to poke around the mines.

They first searched the Red Dog Mine in 2005 after discovering that it was owned by the best friend of Pitzer's then-roommate, Chuck Hollister.

"I firmly believe she's out there," said Gloria Denton, Pitzer's mother, who flies out from Arkansas twice a year for searches. "Every time I leave, it just breaks my heart. But I will never give up. It's not over until we bring April home."

When authorities first searched the Red Dog Mine, they found a white suitcase and clothing in a nearby ravine that Denton recognized as her daughter's. And though search and rescue crews have rooted through the mine looking for signs of April, they found nothing.

This particular mine was created in 1902 and is now owned by Bagdad Chase Mine Co. It stopped operating in 1979, though locals were known to party and even live in the mine that is now closed off by a metal grate.

A 30-foot metal mine head once used to pull iron ore out of its depths still towers above. Piles of lumber, a wire mattress frame, shards of broken glass and empty spraypaint cans are discarded beneath it. A bullet-riddled target of Osama bin Laden has been tacked to one frame. Another features a bumper sticker reading "Save a child. Shoot a drug dealer."

That bumper sticker has been plastered on countless trash cans, gates and mine beams in the vast desert.

The Red Dog Mine hasn't been the sole focus in Pitzer's disappearance. Detectives have scoured others, including the Golden Mine, where they found a white cross and a roach clip engraved with Hollister's name 150 feet down.

But no Pitzer.

There are about 22,000 mines in San Bernardino County. The task of pinpointing which mine she was dumped in is daunting to detectives.

"Somebody knows something, they're just not calling us," Pennington said. "It's hard to believe there are people out there who just don't care."

To make matters more difficult, both Hollister and his best friend have died. Detectives believe they may have been involved in Pitzer's disappearance, but now do not know how to prove it.

A recent tip was called in that search and discovery crews were looking in the right place but they "hadn't gone far enough."

Assuming that the caller was talking about the Red Dog Mine, they assembled Nov. 14 to try again.

For the first time, two cadaver dogs were lowered into the mine.

Crews spent two hours setting up safety mechanisms for people - and dogs - to be lowered into the mine. At 10 a.m., Peter Sellas and his black Labrador Retriever, Hunter, strapped on harnesses and walked to the mouth of the mine.

He clung to the ladder with his right hand and clutched Hunter with his left, trying to keep the dog relaxed as crews above fed more rope for them to descend into the mine.

When the pair reached the first level 20 feet below, searchers pulled up their harnesses and dropped down flashlights.

Seven minutes later, handler Sharon Gattas and her Golden Retriever, Denver, made the same trek into the seemingly endless black hole.

They unleashed their dogs and carefully picked their way over broken wires and slivers of wood that litter the mine's floor. Hunter and Denver sniffed the walls, the floors and especially a small mound of dirt on the very bottom.

"They didn't hit on anything and they searched like little mad men," Gattas said, adding that she doesn't believe Pitzer is buried in the Red Dog Mine. "It's very unfortunate. But (the mine) is very well-traveled and somebody would have seen her."

Pennington acknowledges that Pitzer may not be in a mine. In fact, a clue scribbled on a truck stop bathroom wall in Oregon indicates that Pitzer was buried in the open desert outside Barstow.

While cleaning a Love's truck stop bathroom in September 2004, an employee stumbled across a tile that read "Want to find a missing girl from Arkansas? I-15, 3 miles east of Barstow."

Searchers scoured that area three separate times, but found no sign of Pitzer.

They scanned surveillance footage of the men who came in and out of that bathroom but couldn't match them to any of Pitzer's friends or acquaintances.

Denton believes her daughter was abandoned in the desert and she refuses to give up the search. She wants answers, and she wants Pitzer's daughters, now ages 9 and 11, to know the resting place of their mother.

"What it would give me is knowing that I did my job as a mom, that I've seen it through and I brought her home to lay her to rest," Denton said. "It's the best thing I could do for her."

Anyone with information on Pitzer's disappearance is asked to call Pennington at (909) 387-3589.

Tim DeChristopher's wild legal ride

He disrupted an oil and gas lease auction last year by posing as a buyer. Now a judge has rejected his last-ditch defense strategy.

Tim DeChristopher.

OPINION
Los Angeles Times

Tim DeChristopher created quite a circus at an auction of federal oil and gas leases in Utah last December when he bid for and won 14 parcels worth $1.8 million -- and then announced that he had neither the intention nor the money to pay for them. In fact, he was just a college student (an economics major, it turns out) unleashing a bit of havoc to protest drilling and global warming, an environmentalist frustrated by "incrementalism" who was desperately trying to shake things up.

He succeeded. His stunt halted the bidding, grabbed national headlines and renewed debate about civil disobedience and the appropriate limits of protest. Many of the leases, which would have permitted drilling on more than 110,000 pristine acres of public land in Utah, including some of America's most beautiful and environmentally sensitive red-rock desert, were subsequently canceled. But for DeChristopher, there have been serious consequences. He was charged with making false statements and interfering with an auction (who knew that was a felony?) and faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of $750,000 if he is convicted on both counts.

Hero? Lawbreaker? Stooge? The answer probably lies somewhere in between. It's hard not to sympathize with DeChristopher's sense that signing petitions and turning off the lights are an insufficient stand to take against something as enormous and potentially catastrophic as global warming. It's also hard not to applaud the sheer audacity and comedy of his scam. At the same time, DeChristopher did break the law, and people who break the law in acts of civil disobedience generally have to pay the consequences for their audaciousness -- it's a part of the tactic. That's what we said in an editorial last year, expecting the controversy to die down soon.

But it turns out that DeChristopher wasn't quite done with us. With his trial approaching, he and his lawyers announced that they would mount what's known as a "defense of necessity" or "choice of evils" defense. Rather than hiding behind technicalities or throwing himself on the mercy of the court, DeChristopher planned to address the issue head on, arguing that global warming poses such an immediate and dire threat that his illegal actions were justified. His lawyers said they hoped to call witnesses such as former Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus and NASA scientist James Hansen, who has been leading the fight against greenhouse gas emissions since the 1980s. In short, DeChristopher hoped to turn a relatively straightforward criminal case into a judicial inquest on climate disruption; global warming itself would be on trial.

The tactic is not entirely new. A similar defense was brought in the case of six Greenpeace activists who caused about $50,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station called Kingsnorth in Britain in 2007 while occupying a smokestack in an effort to shut down the plant. A jury acquitted all six.

But last week, DeChristopher's attorneys were informed by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson that they had not met the threshold requirements for a choice-of-evils defense. Benson, who had already said he was "reluctant to open my courtroom to a lengthy hearing on global warming," ruled that the supposed harm that would have resulted from the sales of the leases was not imminent in the sense that, say, a fire causes imminent danger. What's more, DeChristopher had "reasonable, legal" ways to stop the auction other than breaking the law -- such as filing a lawsuit or demonstrating with the other activists outside the building. Nor, the judge said, could DeChristopher have reasonably anticipated that his actions would stop the sales.

So much for that bit of guerrilla theater; it's back to square one for DeChristopher and his lawyers. In our view, the judge was probably right, but it's a shame. A global warming trial would have been more sensational, more educational and, frankly, more fun. As for DeChristopher, we still believe he must pay a price for flouting the law, but it would be disappointing if he had to spend too much time atoning for what was, in the end, a creative act of civil disobedience.

On Foot: Trona Pinnacles are vaguely familiar

By LAURIE KAVENAUGH
Chico Enterprise-Record






RIDGECREST — Bob, our old Ford Explorer, was parked at the base of the Trona Pinnacles while we explored this desert oddity Nov. 17.

I kept glancing back at the site of our bouncy buddy, a four-wheel drive vehicle that has taken us through some pretty rough terrain in the past few years.

Even though I was certain I had never been this way east of Ridgecrest and south of China Lake Naval Weapons Station, the scene looked vaguely familiar.

It was the last day of a five-day trip Thomas and I had taken to visit a petroglyph site in the Southern California desert. Thomas had spent hours on the Internet researching the area and we came up with a dozen things to see. We narrowed our list to a few sites and the Trona Pinnacles was our last stop.

The pinnacles are tufa towers that formed when this flat sandy area had once been the bottom of ancient Searles Lake. Searles Lake was one of five large main lakes that had been part of the Owens Lake System long ago when the last glaciers melted and filled these empty places with water. This lake system stretches from the top of Owens Valley south to the Mojave Desert and east beyond Death Valley.

It just shows the desert isn't always as it appears. What's dry and desolate now was once a lush, verdant area that supported thousands of herds of Bighorn Sheep, antelope, sloths and other wild game that supplied ancient Indians with food, tools and clothing.

We left Ridgecrest before 8 a.m. and drove about 20 miles east along Highway 178 to the turnoff to the pinnacles.

The pinnacles are made of tufa, much like the tufa found today at Mono Lake along Interstate 395. But the Trona Pinnacles were formed some 10,000 to 100,000 years ago when carbonated brine bubbled up through the lake bottom and formed calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate mixed with deposits of algae colonies, creating long horizontal tubes that were left standing when the lake dried up.

Shapes vary from tombstones, wide and flat, to tall lean towers, to ridges and cones.

The landmark is open to the public and free with some 500 pinnacles spread out over 14 square miles. Overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, there are driving and walking trails through the area.

We left Bob at the trail head and walked up the hill to the highest concentration of pinnacles. Long ago, someone had dug a tunnel into one of the larger tufas. It was actually supported by iron bars on either side of the doorway, and Thomas couldn't resist walking in. It was empty, as one would expect, but a little creepy nonetheless.

The trail went over a high point where several tall tufas had mounds of deteriorating debris around their bases. From there, we looked out over the landscape and could see the southern group's odd silhouettes in the morning sun.

We headed for the main group of tufas in the center. As we plodded along the road for about 20 minutes, we realized desert distances can be deceiving.

What looked like it might be just across the way was easily two miles. We eventually ended up among a thick group of "tombstone" shaped tufa. We found a number of old tin cans, shotgun and pistol shells and bits of glass, all aging in the desert sun.

We rounded the largest group and headed back to the main road. A half-hour later, we came to the north group and stopped again to look at these towers of stone. Some are 140 feet tall.

Back at the parking area, again I had that odd feeling of familiarity.

It was finally on our way out we stopped by several signs that explained the mystery. The pinnacles have been the backdrop for many TV shows and movies through the years, including "Lost in Space," "Planet of the Apes," and "Star Trek V."

Next time, we see Renegade Canyon and what some say is the highest concentration of petroglyphs in the western hemisphere.

Groups file lawsuit to stop mining near Grand Canyon

Suzanne Adams
Kingman Daily Miner


KINGMAN - New mining jobs in the Arizona Strip area may be put on hold. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit Nov. 16 challenging a Bureau of Land Management permit for the Arizona 1 Mine.

"I'm very disappointed," said Mohave County Supervisor Gary Watson when he heard of the lawsuit. "It's absolutely absurd to me to lock up one of the richest deposits of uranium in the continental United States."

"As far as we're concerned we have all the necessary permits," said Denison Mines Corp. President and CEO Ron Hochstein, which owns the uranium mine. The company is not named in the lawsuit.

The mine is located 45 miles south of Fredonia and north of the Grand Canyon National Park. It is one of three mines owned by Denison within the boundary of a 1 million-acre area south and north of the Grand Canyon that the federal government is considering withdrawing from all mining for the next 20 years.

The company is still working on air quality permits for the other mining claims it has in the area. At this time, the federal government is not allowing any new mining claims in the area.

In their lawsuit, the conservation groups are claiming that the BLM failed to update a 1988 environmental assessment before issuing a permit to Denison in September.

"The mine has been down for more than a decade," said Roger Clark of the Grand Canyon Trust. It would be prudent to re-evaluate the area, he said. New information has been collected about the area's groundwater and endangered species, and changes to BLM management policies have happened since the mine was closed in 1992, he said.

The conservation groups are also claiming that the BLM did not examine the validity of mine's claim and did not request a new plan of operation for the mine.

The conservation groups state in a news release that the mine's old operation plan expired when it was closed, and the company never established that there was a viable uranium deposit in the area, which is required in order to file a mining claim.

All claims pertaining to the mine have been kept in good standing since the mine was staked in the 1980s, Hochstein said.

The conservation groups have not requested a halt to any mining activity in the area, but they may in the future, Clark said.

Watson said he agrees that mining should not be allowed in the Grand Canyon National Park, but the Arizona 1 Mine is outside of park limits and Denison has met all of the permit qualifications.

According to company's Web site, the mine would employ 32 people and cost $2.3 million to get started. It would mine begin mining in the first quarter of 2010. The company plans to get about 857,000 pounds of uranium ore over the next three years and is expecting to sell it for between $53 and $65 per pound.

A Leviathan of Land: Perspective on the Size of the US Gov’t In Pictures

Robert Gordon
Heritage Foundation

With the takeover of health care and frenzied government growth front and center, many are wondering when we will - if we haven’t already - reached a tipping point that fundamentally alters America. Much of what’s been done is described as a temporary fix. However, as President Reagan noted, “There is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.”

With this reinvigorated discussion of how big is too big, it is worthwhile to remind Americans of just how massive the Federal government already was before our current woes began. There are few more striking measures of the government’s size than the land mass of the Federal estate. The vast majority of federal lands fall within one of four agencies: the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Agriculture’s US Forest Service.

At over 258 million acres, the Bureau of Land Management alone is bigger than France and Germany combined. When combined with the other aforementioned agencies, the land area is equal that of ten European nations as shown in the accompanying graph (click it to see a larger version).

Lawsuit Abuse Charge by Western Lawmakers Enrages Enviro Groups

By PHIL TAYLOR of Greenwire
New York Times




"Don't be messin' with my rice bowl."



Poor government oversight has allowed advocacy groups to squander taxpayer money on frivolous lawsuits that drain the budgets of federal land management agencies without the knowledge of the public or Congress, a group of Western lawmakers told Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter released this week.

Specifically, members of the Congressional Western Caucus charge that environmental groups have used the Equal Access to Justice Act to win back millions of dollars in attorney fees for lawsuits filed against the Forest Service and other federal agencies.

Caucus members have "great concern about the apparent abuse of EAJA by certain organizations, and the lack of accountability and transparency in the operation and distribution of funds under EAJA that have contributed to this abuse," says the letter, signed by 23 Republican senators and representatives.

But environmental groups, while endorsing recommendations for greater public access to EAJA records, said the research supporting the claims, done by a Wyoming lawyer and former Interior special assistant in the Reagan administration, is spurious and greatly misrepresents the share of funding they receive under the act and a similar program called the Justice Fund.

Attempts to reach the attorney, Karen Budd-Falen, through her Cheyenne office were unsuccessful. An assistant said she was out of town and unable to answer questions.

Budd-Falen's research, however, remains posted on the Web site of the Idaho-based Western Legacy Alliance, which helped fund her work and lobbied the Congressional Western Caucus to investigate. Alliance member Jeff Faulkner, in a statement, went so far as to accuse environmentalists of "shaking down federal government programs so they can access taxpayer dollars to fund their radical agendas."

But Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of eight groups targeted by Budd-Falen and the Congressional Western Caucus, said the claims against the nonprofit groups are outrageous. Among other things, Suckling said the letter's claim of EAJA abuse by environmental groups "is sheer nonsense, as it fails to cite even a single example of abuse."

Moreover, the Western caucus's attempt to single out environmental groups' use of EAJA reimbursements ignores the fact that that law has awarded even greater sums to other plaintiffs whose claims against the government had nothing to do with environmental concerns.

Well-intentioned law

Congress passed the Equal Access to Justice Act nearly 30 years ago to allow individuals, small businesses or public interest groups to be reimbursed for the cost of attorneys that represent them in cases of alleged wrongdoing by the federal government.

The law allows average citizens and nonprofit groups to hold federal agencies accountable for violations of environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, but also to provide greater government accountability in a number of other policy spheres, including copyright and trademark infringement, disability and retirement pay, and fair housing.

But ever since Congress lifted reporting requirements for EAJA payments in 1995, the public has been left in the dark about how much money groups have received under the act and for which cases, the letter says.

"We have no clue as to what is actually being spent on this program," said Utah Rep. Rob Bishop (R), chairman of the CWC and ranking member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. "The sad part is this has become a cottage industry that groups use to fund further lawsuits against the government."

Under the guise of "public interest," groups intent on sealing off Western lands to ranchers and energy companies have abused EAJA to further their narrow political agendas, the letter states.

"EAJA is an important tool for protecting citizens' rights against the federal government," the letter says. "Sadly, its abuse undoubtedly has far reaching consequences on both public lands management decisions and for all American taxpayers."

Research cited by the letter found $4.7 billion was awarded from the U.S. Treasury's Justice Fund from 2003 to July 2007, though it is unclear how much of those funds went to environmental groups. The same memo identifies less than $1.7 million in EAJA payments to environmental groups from the Forest Service from 2003 to 2005.

The CWC letter requests information on how the Justice Department keeps records of EAJA disbursements and urges the agency to bring the act "back into the sunshine" by building a searchable public database listing the names of organizations that have received reimbursements for attorney fees and for which cases.

Bishop said the caucus has yet to receive a response from Justice but that members are prepared to introduce legislation requiring greater disclosure of EAJA payments.

"The entire caucus is united on this front," Bishop said.

A Justice Department spokesperson could not confirm whether Holder had received the letter and did not respond to questions about the department's EAJA record keeping.

Spotty evidence?

While supporting the call for greater disclosure of EAJA disbursements, environmental groups rejected charges that they have abused the act in order to siphon money from the federal government.

"There is absolutely nothing abusive about the EAJA paying fees to attorneys who overturn illegal government decisions," said Suckling of CBD. "That is exactly what the law was created for."

EAJA reimbursements are awarded only if a group wins a lawsuit against the government, Suckling noted. The law stipulates that plaintiffs receive $125 per attorney hour from the government when they win a case. Groups also receive money from the Treasury Department's Justice Fund for cases in which DOJ finds they have "prevailed," or achieved the purpose of the litigation.

John Kostyack, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's conservation and global warming programs, said EAJA is a critical mechanism for nonprofit groups to ensure the government enforces laws protecting natural resources and wildlife. But, he said, advocacy groups are hardly padding their coffers with government money earned from lawsuits.

The amount of money that environmental groups receive under EAJA and the Justice Fund is meager compared to groups' overall operating costs, he said. NWF took in $88 million in total revenue in 2008, Kostyack said, so EAJA "certainly doesn't fund continuation of our legal efforts."

Kostyack said he was troubled by claims in Budd-Falen's memo that he says bend the truth and others that are patently false. For example, the memo's claim that NWF has filed 427 lawsuits over the last 15 years is a gross overestimate, by between 200 and 300 cases.

Fighting back

An attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity on Tuesday sent a letter to Budd-Falen and the Western Legacy Alliance in Idaho, which published the Sept. 15 memo on its Web site, warning that its accusations are misleading and defamatory and demanding its removal from any Web sites or publications.

Among other things, CBD strongly refutes the memo's claim that it and seven other environmental organizations received "billions" of dollars from EAJA, the letter from attorney Brent Hendricks states. The letter further states that the distribution of false claims about the groups' use of EAJA money is "injurious to our reputation, and constitutes 'malice' in its reckless disregard for the truth."

In fact, Hendricks said, the $4.7 billion in Judgment Fund money awarded by the government came from claims involving 96 federal statutes, only seven of which are environmental.

Most of the money was awarded for cases involving the Federal Tort Claims Act, Foreign Claims Act, Fair Labor Standards Act and Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the letter states.

"To claim that eight environmental organizations -- or even all environmental groups in the country -- have received 'billions' in attorney fees is not only inaccurate and defamatory, it is misleading and deceitful regarding a matter of public concern," the CBD letter says.

A Western Legacy Alliance spokeswoman said the group received Hendricks' letter but would not remove Budd-Falen's memos from its Web site because they were "opinion editorials" and were considered a form of free speech.

"She's being very conservative in just looking at specific cases," said Kassy Perry, a spokeswoman for the group. "Everything she wrote is validated in the research."

The alliance is funded by its members, most of them ranchers, and does not claim nonprofit status, Perry said.

As for the Congressional Western Caucus, Bishop said in a statement that its members remain concerned "that there may be abuse, but no one can know the truth about how EAJA operates until we begin to shed light on a program that has operated without Congressional oversight since 1995. Taxpayers deserve to know how their hard earned tax dollars are being spent."