- Location
- Desert Beach So Cal
Okay, Southern California is considered desert. There is a pending
reduction in the amount of water for residents due to growth (in the
southwest) and reallocation of Colorado River water to other
southwestern states.
The state and federal governments are in the midst of a budget crisis.
Southern California residents are paying inflated energy bills.
So, along comes this project which will dedicate enough water to
create a marsh (by artificial means) with a resulting increase in
energy production costs.
Result: less water available, higher energy costs, and unnecessary
taxpayer burden....
To carry the absurdity one step further....
This artificial marsh (supported by electric pumps and piping system)
is created while a few miles away, artificial water sources (mostly
wind-driven mechanical pumps) that sustain Desert Bighorn Sheep and
other desert wildlife in the Mojave Desert are being ripped out
because they are not "natural".
So goes the logic of the environmental movement.....
<http://www.desertdispatch.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1047856488,2127>http://www.desertdispatch.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1047856488,2127,
BLM creates marshy bird habitat near Barstow
'Watchable wildlife area' may be dedicated May 9
By KELLY DONOVAN
Staff Writer
HINKLEY -- A dry lake north of Barstow is on its way to becoming a marsh again.
With help from a nonprofit group, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
is pumping water into Harper Dry Lake near Hinkley to create an oasis
that could attract birds -- and those who like to watch them.
Harper Dry Lake will now become what BLM calls a "watchable wildlife
area," and it will be the only such place in the Barstow and Victor
Valley areas.
The closest other watchable wildlife areas are at Afton Canyon, about
halfway between Barstow and Baker, and the Big Morongo Canyon near
Yucca Valley, 55 miles southeast of Victorville.
"This is unique -- sort of a marsh in the middle of the desert," said
Tim Read, manager of BLM's Barstow field office.
Elizabeth Ellis, an environmental coordinator who moved to Barstow
from Oregon about nine months ago, said she's excited about the plans
for Harper Dry Lake.
"I'm a bird watcher, and I'm not finding a lot of good birding
spots," she said. "I'm having to leave this area -- I go up to Big
Bear."
Joan Bowker, a Barstow area retiree, also enjoys bird watching, and
said she would like to visit the marsh when it's done.
"That would be neat," she said. "I know it's hard for (birds) to find
something to eat and drink in this climate."
Read said he hopes the marsh will be ready for a dedication event on
May 9, which is "Migratory Bird Day."
Mitigation agreement
Plans for a watchable wildlife area at Harper Dry Lake have been in
the works for years as part of the mitigation agreement between the
state and the two 80-megawatt solar plants near the dry lake.
The arrangement called for the plants, known as SEGS VIII and SEGS
IX, to give BLM 75 acre-feet of water for the marsh, Read said. But
such a water transfer is against the rules of the Mojave River Basin
adjudication, which regulates water use in the High Desert.
Read said that as a federal agency, BLM is not required to comply
with the adjudication, but he wanted to follow the rules anyway.
So developer Henry Orlosky co-founded the nonprofit Friends of Harper
Lake with his business partner, Buck Johns of Inland Energy Inc. The
company that built the plants, Luz, agreed to give the 75 acre-feet
to the non-profit group.
Although Orlosky, a developer, is not affiliated with the two solar
plants there, he owns more than 1,500 acres nearby and is involved
with plans for future alternative energy facilities in that area.
Additionally, the company that acquired the plants after Luz went
bankrupt -- Florida Power and Light -- sold property next to the dry
lake bed to BLM for $60,000. The company then agreed to donate the
$60,000 from BLM to Friends of Harper Lake to pay for the well and
pipelines needed to pump the water into the marsh.
Low maintenance costs
Read said he expects the cost of the water and power for pumping to
maintain the marsh to be less than $1,000 annually. He said BLM could
pay for it, and Friends of Harper Lake could help with fund-raising
to offset BLM's expenses.
The area that will be covered with water will probably be about 40
acres, Read said. BLM is pumping the water into the dry lake bed with
a 50-gallon-a-minute pump.
"We're making progress, but it's a large area," Read said.
BLM officials have already spotted a few birds in the dry lake area
since they started pumping in the water. Read said he expects more
birds to flock there as more water enters the dry lake bed.
Harper Dry Lake has been dry since the late 1990s. For decades
earlier, it was a marsh, getting its water from nearby Lockhart
Ranch's alfalfa farming runoff.
According to a desert guidebook, the marsh attracted a diverse
assortment of wading birds, songbirds and birds of prey -- from white
pelicans and marsh wrens to burrowing owls and golden eagles.
Orlosky said increased energy costs for pumping water to the crops in
the late 1990s ate up Lockhart Ranch's profits, and the ranch closed.
Orlosky said he acquired the ranch land in 1999.
When the alfalfa farming stopped, the runoff water disappeared, the
marsh dried up and most of the birds went elsewhere.
Now, BLM hopes the water-pumping project will gradually attract birds
back to the area, creating an attractive site for tourists and
residents to enjoy nature.
Kelly Donovan can be reached at
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
or 256-4122.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml>http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
reduction in the amount of water for residents due to growth (in the
southwest) and reallocation of Colorado River water to other
southwestern states.
The state and federal governments are in the midst of a budget crisis.
Southern California residents are paying inflated energy bills.
So, along comes this project which will dedicate enough water to
create a marsh (by artificial means) with a resulting increase in
energy production costs.
Result: less water available, higher energy costs, and unnecessary
taxpayer burden....
To carry the absurdity one step further....
This artificial marsh (supported by electric pumps and piping system)
is created while a few miles away, artificial water sources (mostly
wind-driven mechanical pumps) that sustain Desert Bighorn Sheep and
other desert wildlife in the Mojave Desert are being ripped out
because they are not "natural".
So goes the logic of the environmental movement.....
<http://www.desertdispatch.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1047856488,2127>http://www.desertdispatch.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1047856488,2127,
BLM creates marshy bird habitat near Barstow
'Watchable wildlife area' may be dedicated May 9
By KELLY DONOVAN
Staff Writer
HINKLEY -- A dry lake north of Barstow is on its way to becoming a marsh again.
With help from a nonprofit group, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
is pumping water into Harper Dry Lake near Hinkley to create an oasis
that could attract birds -- and those who like to watch them.
Harper Dry Lake will now become what BLM calls a "watchable wildlife
area," and it will be the only such place in the Barstow and Victor
Valley areas.
The closest other watchable wildlife areas are at Afton Canyon, about
halfway between Barstow and Baker, and the Big Morongo Canyon near
Yucca Valley, 55 miles southeast of Victorville.
"This is unique -- sort of a marsh in the middle of the desert," said
Tim Read, manager of BLM's Barstow field office.
Elizabeth Ellis, an environmental coordinator who moved to Barstow
from Oregon about nine months ago, said she's excited about the plans
for Harper Dry Lake.
"I'm a bird watcher, and I'm not finding a lot of good birding
spots," she said. "I'm having to leave this area -- I go up to Big
Bear."
Joan Bowker, a Barstow area retiree, also enjoys bird watching, and
said she would like to visit the marsh when it's done.
"That would be neat," she said. "I know it's hard for (birds) to find
something to eat and drink in this climate."
Read said he hopes the marsh will be ready for a dedication event on
May 9, which is "Migratory Bird Day."
Mitigation agreement
Plans for a watchable wildlife area at Harper Dry Lake have been in
the works for years as part of the mitigation agreement between the
state and the two 80-megawatt solar plants near the dry lake.
The arrangement called for the plants, known as SEGS VIII and SEGS
IX, to give BLM 75 acre-feet of water for the marsh, Read said. But
such a water transfer is against the rules of the Mojave River Basin
adjudication, which regulates water use in the High Desert.
Read said that as a federal agency, BLM is not required to comply
with the adjudication, but he wanted to follow the rules anyway.
So developer Henry Orlosky co-founded the nonprofit Friends of Harper
Lake with his business partner, Buck Johns of Inland Energy Inc. The
company that built the plants, Luz, agreed to give the 75 acre-feet
to the non-profit group.
Although Orlosky, a developer, is not affiliated with the two solar
plants there, he owns more than 1,500 acres nearby and is involved
with plans for future alternative energy facilities in that area.
Additionally, the company that acquired the plants after Luz went
bankrupt -- Florida Power and Light -- sold property next to the dry
lake bed to BLM for $60,000. The company then agreed to donate the
$60,000 from BLM to Friends of Harper Lake to pay for the well and
pipelines needed to pump the water into the marsh.
Low maintenance costs
Read said he expects the cost of the water and power for pumping to
maintain the marsh to be less than $1,000 annually. He said BLM could
pay for it, and Friends of Harper Lake could help with fund-raising
to offset BLM's expenses.
The area that will be covered with water will probably be about 40
acres, Read said. BLM is pumping the water into the dry lake bed with
a 50-gallon-a-minute pump.
"We're making progress, but it's a large area," Read said.
BLM officials have already spotted a few birds in the dry lake area
since they started pumping in the water. Read said he expects more
birds to flock there as more water enters the dry lake bed.
Harper Dry Lake has been dry since the late 1990s. For decades
earlier, it was a marsh, getting its water from nearby Lockhart
Ranch's alfalfa farming runoff.
According to a desert guidebook, the marsh attracted a diverse
assortment of wading birds, songbirds and birds of prey -- from white
pelicans and marsh wrens to burrowing owls and golden eagles.
Orlosky said increased energy costs for pumping water to the crops in
the late 1990s ate up Lockhart Ranch's profits, and the ranch closed.
Orlosky said he acquired the ranch land in 1999.
When the alfalfa farming stopped, the runoff water disappeared, the
marsh dried up and most of the birds went elsewhere.
Now, BLM hopes the water-pumping project will gradually attract birds
back to the area, creating an attractive site for tourists and
residents to enjoy nature.
Kelly Donovan can be reached at
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
or 256-4122.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml>http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
