Coyote Crossing

Wow! Just… wow!!

Thanks for sharing this astonishing insight, Chris. Now how do we beat this into the heads of those leading the “green energy” bandwagon marching into the desert?

You are really, really educating me about desert ecology.  As a professional ecologist I am amazed at not only the information you bring forth but the manner in which you present it.

I would like to know more about the interruptions and alterations to the desert being proposed by the energy industry.  This is new information to me. 

Human management of any natural ecosystem is difficult.  The relationships between animal and plant species, living species to geologic features, and geology to climate are still much too complex for us to fully understand. 

I’m more than impressed with the blackbrush life cycle; a plant community older than human recorded history!

Bill

Why not mention the invasive grass species that fuel the fires that burn the blackbush that nurse the Jo-trees that grace the sky in the house that Jack built?  That is the line in the sand, correction cryptobiotic crust.  Great article, great writing, found via twitter.

That’s a great description, especially the redwood-bristlecone comparison. Thanks for deepening the picture for me that much more.

Craig

Chris, this is a remarkably beautiful essay on the importance of old-growth desert shrublands. Thank you so much for putting this out there. A lot of us have been fighting for a long time to refute the naysayers who are not concerned about desert fires, attributing them to natural causes when in fact they are the result of careless human activity and the spread of invasive weeds. I put together a analysis of the 2006 Sawtooth fire and it’s impact on native desert habits in our quarterly publication, The Chaparralian. Here’s the download link if you’d like to take a look:
http://www.californiachaparral.org/images/CHAP_20_Denialists_and_Western_Sierra.pdf
Thanks again for spreading the word about the importance and value of the priceless Mojave.

Hi John; I do in fact mention invasives and the grass-fire cycle throughout my writing. In fact, if I had quoted a little bit more from my draft chapter, it would have looked like this:

A stand of native blackbrush will take at least fifty years, and probably far longer, to recover from wildfire. That’s assuming there are no fires afterward, and there will be. What was a diverse desert wildland becomes a monochromatic landscape of a few fire-tolerant invasive species. It is near-inevitable, and I watched the pale grasses bend beneath the earache wind, their seed-heads freeing new generations to travel downwind into yet-uninvaded forests. I told myself it was the wind filling my eyes with saltwater.

Here’s another example.

My first memory of the Mojave as a six year old is seeing dust devils. The last time I was in the TOWN of Mojave, the constant prevailing 30 mph winds made walking difficult. 
These solar-power dumbwits are going to “blade” away the delicate crust and plant a thicket of wobbling mirrors on the loose disturbed soil? 
It seems to me that a chronic mess of dust will soon overcoat the mirrors, and also there will be choking air pollution downwind, akin to the plumes coming off the Owens Lake bed.

Also, please note a minor spelling glitch, below, “brUUsh.”
“Bulldog Canyon, Utah, where a fire had knocked down a thick stand of blackbruush “

Chris

  Thanks so much for sharing this. I personally have gotten tired of hearing about all the “GREEN” companies that have sprouted up in the recent years. In my opinion, alot of them are greedy corporations trying to push their agendas through “GREEN” initiatives without any concern for the environment or surrounding areas, doesn’t sound very green to me. Living in the Antelope valley, we are reminded every day of how human disturbance is affecting the Desert.
  Thanks again for the Great info. I will keep my eyes out for any blackbrush on our hikes, hopefully there may still be some in this area.

nice work, Chris.

Amazing, just amazing.

i spent the day today checking out huizaches - one of the most common [and beautiful] chapparal/desert trees here in Guanajuato. after searching all day, i found a single nursery which carried them.  they were so tiny - mostly under a foot tall - and i asked how old they were, and they told me that they had been planted by seed 12 years ago. my job now is to sell them to someone who regularly purchases mature trees weighing thousands of pounds which can only be moved by large cranes.  no problem…  thank you for this fascinating piece which i’m going to forward to quite a few people who think nothing of bulldozing the desert to build another ‘trophy’ house.

Chris,

This is a valuable as well as beautiful piece.  I am looking forward to our publication of it in the Desert Protective Council Spring Newsletter.  Thank you.

Terry

I am blown away by this info.  Beautifully written.  My only problem is that all these wonderful comments, appreciating to such a fantastic degree the information - are all written by the choir.  I see no comments from the solar energy advocates indicating tht they have read, or appreciate, this information.  Hope you can get it to them - and to any and all committees,commissions, or judges who will be approving the energy plants.  We need more energy and solar is a great way to go - but whether wind or solar, must we destroy that which we can never get back again??  Its important that not only do we point out the problems - are there those among us who have the technical knowledge to suggest alternatives to destroying these fragile systems?

There are many desert activists who have the technical chops to argue for alternatives, and this information will be getting out to them in the DPC’s Educational Bulletin.

This article articulates so many aspects of where we are right now in our ecological place in the world.  With a thimble full of people conscious of the footprint of our lifestyle and the masses trying to attain that lifestyle as fast as they can.  How many times have we heard, “doesn’t stand a chance.”  In regards to invasive species, are we fighting against a tidal wave? Early settlers brought many invasive species intentional or not.  We are at a very critical point in growth…the old way of chomping out our needs out of the earth and the new way of finding a sustainable way to living on this planet with a finite amount of resources.  If we, at the top, don’t figure it out, don’t expect those with the least to jump into the fray.