In coming weeks, we expect the Bureau of Land Management to finalize the Desert Renewable Energy and Conservation Plan (DRECP), in which the public lands of the Amargosa Basin are likely to be designated at California Desert Conservation Lands. To celebrate, we are highlighting the decade-long partnership between the Amargosa Conservancy and the BLM to engage in stewardship on these lands
Two of our major areas of work were featured in a series on climate change produced by the Desert Sun and distributed via USA Today!
Located in northeastern San Bernadino county in Eastern California, the Kingston Range and Wilderness partially drain into the Amargosa Basin. The 7000+ ft peaks rise in the distance to the southeast of Shoshone and Tecopa.
It felt a bit like the country mouse visiting his city cousins this week, as our Executive Director Patrick Donnelly ventured across the continent to Washington, D.C., to attend a celebratory reception at the Department of Interior for the new California Desert National Monuments.
Press Release: Amargosa Conservancy applauds President Obama’s plan to designate California Desert National Monuments
Press Release: Southern Inyo County community members travel to Whitewater Preserve in support of national monuments
The Amargosa River is over 175 miles long occasionally resurfacing to create lush oases surrounded by a harsh dry desert environment. Theses oases are isolated from one another, and, as a result, each one provides unique habitats for species that are found nowhere else in the world except along this desert river.
On Wednesday, the Inyo County Planning Commission voted 5-0 in favor of a recommendation on the Renewable Energy General Plan Amendment (REGPA) which would drastically reduce the footprint of utility-scale solar energy.
Spanish energy giant Iberdrola proposed a massive solar facility in the Valley. The Bureau of Land Management Barstow Field Office denied Iberdrola’s application, stating that the potential impacts of the project to wildlife, historical resources, and recreational and scenic values, “likely could not be mitigated,” and ultimately deciding that, “the project would not be in the public interest.”
We work with land managers and communities to protect our ecosystems and homes from inappropriately sited renewable energy projects. Not All Renewable Energy Plans are “Green” In response to proponents of solar/wind projects in pristine lands and to those who might be...
Amargosa CRMP Scoping Comments A Project of Friends of the River and the California Wilderness Coalition View this letter as a PDF View this letter as a PDF