Meet our Guests: Cameron Barrows

Cameron Barrows

Research Ecologist, University of California, Riverside

Sand to Snow National Monument, CA

11/14/21

     Bearing southern California’s beating sun like a true local, Cameron Barrows, a retired UC Riverside research ecologist describes his efforts to model climate change and its impacts on the habitat of the famous Joshua tree.

     This charismatic desert plant is in danger of becoming extinct in the coming years, a fact that has motivated conservationists in California to come up with plans to save it. One such scenario involves protecting the swath of land between Joshua trees’ current habitat and the land that models show could be their future habitat, creating a migration corridor for the species. Unfortunately, this corridor would be 100 miles long, and Cam is not convinced the trees could make the trek. From beneath his baseball ball cap, Cam chuckles incredulously, “we're talking thousands of years to get that 100 miles, and climate change is going to happen in 20 to 30 years.” At the breakneck pace of climate change, the species will not be able to move quickly enough.

     Cameron does see hope in “climate refugia” – the place where current and future habitats overlap – because the trees don't have to move. He says that these areas should be the top priority for Joshua tree allies. While this strategy would result in less acreage of protected habitat, Cam believes it will ensure the survival of the population of Joshua trees that still have a chance.

Given that Joshua tree habitat also serves as prime locations for solar panels, Cam says that the smaller land requirements of focusing on refugia will “open the door for people who want to do energy production that is going to get us away from fossil fuels.” He believes that to ultimately help Joshua trees and species like them, we need to be dealing with the root cause of their demise: humans putting carbon in the atmosphere.

By Kevin Faeustle

Meet our Guests: Jon Christensen

Jon Christensen

Environmental Historian (UCLA), Journalist

Sand to Snow National Monument, CA

11/12/2021

As a long-time journalist covering the West, Jon Christensen has long reported on and taught about the West’s most archetypal quality: conflict. Whether it’s early settler conflicts, public lands extremism, the rural-urban divide, water wars, or recent megafires, the West has long appeared in media as the American region of crisis.

To challenge the historical conflict-mythos, Jon strives to forefront stories that upend it. To provide the Westies with an example, Jon played his feature-length documentary “Politics and the Environment of the New West,” a depiction of former Nevada Senator Harry Reid’s career. Harry Reid legislated numerous, often collaborative conservation decisions in Nevada, satisfying many, but not all, ranchers, hunters, environmentalists, farmers, and corporations. Portraying Senator Reid as a champion of grassroots representation and bipartisanship, Jon highlighted a rarely heard-of occurrence in today’s politically polarizing climate. He then encouraged Westies to do the same: dig into their collection of field experiences and help create a new, inspiring narrative of the West.

By Fielding Schaefer

Meet our Guests: Frazier Haney

Frazier Haney

Executive Director, The Wildlands Conservancy

Sand to Snow National Monument, CA

11/13/2021

Frazier Haney, executive director of The Wildlands Conservancy, works hard to protect wild lands. When the land outside Joshua Tree National Park was threatened with development they started “the campaign to fire people up” to fight a proposed wind energy project. Getting community members on board with preserving the local wilderness is a major part of Frazier’s advocacy. When talking about protecting wild lands, he proudly produced three thick reams of paper, bearing signatures against the wind farm on Black Lava Butte.  Frazier asserts, “you can’t stop a development based on beauty. But you can inspire people with beauty.” There is tension between preservation and developing green energy. While we need to transition away from carbon-based energy, he believes the place to build renewable energy technology is in already developed places. This could mean solar panels on top of buildings, or wind energy remade in derelict wind farm sites.

The Wildlands Conservancy acquires private land that may be developed near and between current wild areas. This is important because it allows animals to utilize larger ranges of land and migrate between different areas. Continuous undeveloped land is necessary for biodiversity and species longevity.  Frazier says of the Sand to Snow National Monument, “it’s a beautiful place. And I think that’s enough reason to save a place.”

By Reya Fore

Meet our Guests: Kerry Holcomb

Kerry Holcomb

Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Mojave Desert, CA

11/12/21

     Deep in the Mojave Desert, giant boulders are playfully stacked atop one another while Joshua trees tilt and dance in the mid-day sun. The scene fits better into a Dr. Seuss novel than a modern-day conservation story.

      Amidst the fantasia, Kerry Holcomb, a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), proclaims, “you can’t do conservation if you ignore the human element.”

      After moving from Appalachia to the desert, Kerry turned his focus to the endangered desert tortoise. At one time, desert tortoises were the dominant herbivores on the landscape, sequestering carbon and changing the mosaic of plant communities. But now, Kerry explains, “we have functionally extinct populations [of desert tortoises] in parts of the Mojave.” And he believes ravens are to blame.

     Thanks to the advent of the air conditioner, non-native people started settling in the desert, and raven populations began to multiply rapidly. Ravens are generalists, meaning they can adapt to a wide range of ecological conditions. Ravens adapted well to their new food source at landfills and as their populations soared, they added the desert tortoise to their menu as well.

     Both ravens and tortoises are holy to the Mojave and Chemehuevi people, but Kerry explains, “the Tribes see the dichotomy of the tortoise being higher than the ravens.”

     In a desperate attempt to save the desert tortoise, the USFWS has resorted to oiling, which causes suffocation of raven eggs to diminish their population. But, with new houses popping up in the desert every day, Kerry recognizes that the desert tortoise has a human problem, not a raven problem.

By Josh Matz