Carol Gravelle, a long-time volunteer for CIR and a fairly new member of our Board said to me recently, “I’m an island gal, but what you showed us from your desert trip looks amazing!” Maybe only a few of you attended CIR’s annual trips to Death Valley National Park and other locations in the Mojave Desert. Over the course of more than a decade, botanist Steve Junak and geologist Tanya Atwater took us to dozens of amazing desert locales, on trips that sold out just about every year.
During these adventures, we would watch as areas dominated by Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) would be built on. One year there would be thousands of native Joshua tree, and the next year they had disappeared under tract homes and strip malls. We were witnessing the urban spall despoiling habitat for hundreds of species of desert plants and animals.
Long before the idea of purchasing and preserving the West Mesa of San Marcos Foothills had been on our radar, the idea of CIR owning and/or stewarding a desert sanctuary occupied a lot of our time. On trips to and back to Death Valley, mostly Steve and I would search for low-cost land that was in the path of development. Although that search temporarily ended as the pandemic took us away from the desert, our interest in preserving ALL of California’s native landscapes (including the desert) had not faded. During the campaign to buy the foothills, we all got to know Ed Scott and his daughter Kristen Procter. They can easily be considered angels, because Kristen attracted Ed to the West Mesa campaign, and Ed made the purchase possible by loaning the campaign a very large sum of money.
During one of their visits to Santa Barbara, Ed and I got talking about the “mountain” he owns in Yucca Valley near Joshua Tree National Park. In early April, I was joined by Steve Junak and two Board members as we visited the land and visited with Ed, Kristen and Marti Jak, a neighbor of the land property. Marti had only ever talked to Ed on the phone over the course of the many years she lived next to Ed’s “Bartlett Mountains” land.
There cannot be any greater steward of the property. Without pay, and over the course of many years, Marti personally cleaned out illegal camps, closed off ATV routes and personally carried out over 500 pounds of trash. Ed suggested we meet this neighbor who cared so deeply for the land, who he also wanted to get to know better. The property is an amazing example of a granite mountain exposed in the high desert. In early April, it was quite cool in the evenings, and many of the characteristic desert wildflowers were beginning to emerge.
The views from the rugged trail to the high point (just under 4000 feet) were amazing. A few nonnative plants are spreading along the trail, but for the most part, the habitat is intact. We all talked about ways to create a volunteer program for the mountain that would keep barriers to trespassing up and keep the nonnative weeds down.
Marti owns five-acres near the mountain, which she offered as a great temporary volunteer camp, and one local B&B has offered discounts for those who like to stay indoors. In coming years, we will be establishing a local volunteer corps, but we will also be offering volunteer and educational opportunities in the area.
