P.O.

Box 3635, San Diego, CA 92163-1635

Phone: (619) 342-5524 Website: www.dpcinc.org
Winter 2007 Editor: Larry Hogue Number 199

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT day from my association with DPC, including several current
Board members. My voluntary association with DPC has
As you open this edition of El Paisano, you will notice a longer
changed my life and provided a host of pleasant memories.
Educational Bulletin (and thus a shorter El Paisano) than usual.
Every member reading El Paisano can be proud of our
The editor has made extra space available for historian Diana
achievements over the years. And you can rest assured that
Lindsay’s important article on the intertwined history of DPC
some of our best years are ahead as we move further into being
and the Anza-Borrego Foundation. Diana is a well-known
a grant-funding organization on top of our other activities.
writer and publisher whose writings on Southern California
See you around that next bend in a desert canyon.
desert history go back 35 years or more. She kindly consented
Nick Ervin, President
to be one of the presenters at the DPC Annual Meeting this year
where she recounted many stories about our shared history,
including some of those contained in the Bulletin. Advocacy
It is intriguing to read about the many twists and turns in ELECTRONIC HELP FOR BIGHORN SHEEP
this organization’s history, including some that spawned As we went to press with our last issue, we learned of US Fish
dissension within the Board. Few people have been aware that & Wildlife’s dangerous
the Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute began as a com- proposal to reduce critical
mittee of the Desert Protective Council, or that several original habitat for the Peninsular
founders in 1954 were high profile folks like Edmund Jaeger bighorn. With a deadline of
(famous botanist) and Randall Henderson (editor and publisher Dec. 10, the comment
of the legendary Desert magazine). It is a background like that period fell between issues
which permits DPC to attract high caliber speakers in the of El Paisano. So, we
present like Diana Lindsay, current Anza-Borrego Desert State issued an online alert on
Park Superintendent Mark Jorgensen, and past superintendent our website and through
Wes Cater and his wife Celeste. our new electronic bulletin,
My own history with DPC goes back at least 20 years (I e-Paisano. We also
forget!). At that time I had been actively working for years as a launched our first online
volunteer for the local Sierra Club chapter trying to pass the letter writing campaign
landmark California Desert Protection Act, something we through CitizenSpeak.
eventually succeeded in doing in 1994. During that effort I Together, these Internet
came to meet Harriet Allen, one of DPC’s longtime leaders and resources offer us a quick
the cement who had almost single-handedly held the organiza- way to respond to issues
tion together for years. Through her I learned that DPC was the with short deadlines – but
only conservation group in California entirely devoted to the only if you’ve signed up to receive them!
desert (since then Desert Survivors has come into being). If you missed out on this alert, we encourage you to sign up
Harriet herself possessed a sterling background in conservation, for our e-bulletins. Send an e-mail with “Subscribe e-paisano”
including work with David Brower and other conservation in the subject line to: e-paisano@dpcinc.org, or visit our
notables over a long period of devoted work. website. Read on to learn how you can still respond to this
Shortly after joining DPC I became a Board member and I important habitat issue.
fondly remember many a meeting at Harriet’s house and Background: In a move that could lessen the chances for
sometimes out in the desert itself. I count many friends to this survival of one of southern California’s most recognized and
beloved endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
has proposed removing critical habitat for the Peninsular
bighorn sheep. This distinct population of desert bighorn has
experienced a remarkable recovery since being listed as an
endangered subpopulation in 1998, and having 840,000 acres of
critical habitat designated for it in 2001. The new move would
reduce critical habitat by a whopping 53 percent. It would
further endanger the bighorn by “de-designating” critical habitat
in vital summer forage areas on alluvial fans and in washes at
the base of the Peninsular Ranges, and by dividing the
remaining critical habitat into three separate units.
December Update: The Desert Protective Council, State
Parks and other groups and agencies made extensive comments
on this proposal by the December 10 deadline.
Another comment period and a public hearing are coming
soon. The date, place and time are yet to be decided, but the
meeting could take place before the next issue of El Paisano. To
avoid missing out again, we hope you’ll sign up for our e-
bulletin so we can keep you up to date on this and other
important issues. We promise to send no more than two
messages per month!
IMPERIAL COUNTY PROJECTS UPDATE
By Terry Weiner
2007 has been a productive year for the Desert Protective
Council in Imperial County. We had a booth at the Imperial
County Earth Day festivities in El Centro and in honor of the
occasion, funded a two-day desert-to-ocean Imperial Valley
College student ecology field trip. Dr. Michelle Stevens and her
students explored ecosystems from below sea level in the
Imperial Valley through the Anza-Borrego Desert and Coachella
Valley, to the transition zones of Mt. San Jacinto, and over the
grassland and chaparral plant communities to their final
destination of UC Santa Barbara.
In October, DPC funded a grant proposal from Susan
Massey, parent liaison for Holtville Unified School District, for
an overnight camping field trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State
Park to introduce recent immigrant families to the beauty and
fragility of the desert. DPC provided money for camping
equipment, translation into Spanish of educational materials,
transportation expenses, and food. The 15 adults and 20
students enjoyed an impromptu interpretive talk at their camp-
site by State Park Interpreter LuAnn Thompson and a naturalist-
guided tour of the visitor center garden focusing on Native
American uses of desert plants.
The DPC continued funding the Anza-Borrego Foundation
and Institute for two successful desert education programs for
school children. Through interactive videoconferencing
technology, the PORTS Program (Parks Online Resources for
Teachers and Students) has been very successful in bringing
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park into the classrooms of Imperial
County. These distance learning sessions increase knowledge
and wonder of many facets of the desert and create a desire to
2
experience the desert first-hand. In 2007, PORTS reached 2560
El Centro High School students and three new programs were
formed for elementary schools in Holtville and Calexico. A new
element made possible by this year’s DPC funding is the 4WD
mobile studio, which lets rangers beam their lessons from spots
in the park, rather than the indoor studio. The second program,
the Fifth Grade Environmental Tent Camp at Anza-Borrego,
expanded its outreach with a total of 84 students from Imperial
County schools attending the program in 2007.
DPC’s funding for the Center for Biological Diversity
(CBD) has given us many hours of assistance in Imperial
County with the wonderful work of Attorney Lisa Belenky from
the San Francisco CBD office and with the consultation of
wildlife biologist Chris Kassar and botanist Ileene Anderson.
Attorney Belenky guided our lawsuit over interim management
of the Desert Cahuilla Prehistoric Area to a successful settle-
ment agreement in August. Ileene and Chris continue to work
with us on resource issues in Desert Cahuilla. CBD will be
writing comprehensive comments on the US Fish & Wildlife’s
proposal to cut the critical habitat for the Peninsular bighorn in
Imperial County (and throughout the rest of its range in San
Diego and Riverside counties).
DPC’s 2005 funding of the Imperial Valley College Desert
Museum Society to help finish building the Desert Museum in
Ocotillo, California, will come to fruition with a planned
official opening of the Museum late this year or early next year.
The DPC is currently considering an additional contribution
toward finishing the exhibit cases for the Museum.
Another past grant bore fruit this year with the completion
of Journey from Spirit Mountain an innovative and moving 35-
minute video focusing on the Quechan creation story, as told by
Quechan elder Preston Arrow-weed. A co-production of Arrow-
weed’s Ah Mut Pipa Foundation and Hokan Media Productions,
the video had its San Diego premiere November 29, playing to
an enthusiastic crowd of 100 Sierra Club members and others.
DPC made the video possible with a $30,000 grant in 2004.
I am currently working with several teachers in the
Holtville Unified School District on field trips (“outdoor
education experiences”) to important desert places in Imperial
County such as the ancient shell beds in the Coyote Mountains,
the Algodones Sand Dunes and the Salton Sea. I am also
working with Helena Quintana, Susan Massey and Elizabeth
Molina de-Torre, Director of the Valle Imperial Science Project.
This program trains “lead teachers” in the sciences to bring a
program of teacher enhancement in science education into
schools in Imperial County. Our project with them will be to
conduct desert field trips for the lead teachers so that they will
promote outdoor education experiences as part of their teacher
enhancement program.
The Clean Air Initiative has just completed a DPC-funded
air-borne particulates pollution-monitoring project in the
Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. Imperial
County Air Basin is heavily impacted by particulate pollution
from many sources such as agricultural burning, diesel truck
Imperial County Project Update (continued)
traffic from moving agricultural goods, and cross-border
pollution from the industrial city of Mexicali. Air pollution from
off-road vehicle recreation has not been addressed in Imperial
County and DPC believes it is time to bring this issue to the
public.
Also on the conservation front, DPC funded a new
organizer for the San Diego Smart Energy Solutions Campaign.
Micah Mitrosky has very ably taken over the work done by
Kelly Fuller (who continues to work on energy issues from her
new home in Minnesota). Under Micah’s tenure, the campaign
has turned in a new direction, promoting a very credible
alternative to the Sunrise Powerlink authored by professional
engineer Bill Powers. The campaign has a new website, also
funded by DPC. Check it out at www.sdsmartenergy.org.
We are very excited about a brand new aerial photographic
and geologic mapping project in the Desert Cahuilla Area in
partnership with the Anza-Borrego Foundation. Chuck Houser,
geologist and pilot with Petra Geotechnical, Inc. will be hiring
the services of an aerial photo mapping company to fly the area
and produce a color digital “orthophoto” of the entire area with
1-foot resolution. This will be followed by ground mapping of
geological features and mapping of cultural features and ground
disturbances such as vehicular damage to the mud hills and
desert pavement-covered mesas.
We plan to use the resulting information in our comments
on the public land management planning process for the newly
acquired State Park sections in the Desert Cahuilla Area. Please
check our DPC website for notice of State Parks’ release of the
Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report on or
before December 15th. I will be sharing notices of meetings and
comment deadlines and how you can participate in the public
process toward an appropriate management plan for protection
of the unique resources of the Desert Cahuilla Area.
Please do call or email me with your comments and
suggestions. Please let me know of your ideas for Imperial
County environmental education and/or protection projects and
inform interested parties that the DPC invites proposals for
these types of projects.
Happy Holidays!
DPC NEWS
Membership renewal letters went out as we were going to press
and you should have received yours by now. If you renew
before the end of the year, your dues will be deductible for
2007. If you’re not already a member and would like to become
one, or if you haven’t received your renewal envelope, just fill
out the form on the right and mail it with your check.
IN MEMORIAM
ELIZABETH "BETTY" FORGEY passed away this fall. She
was a long-time DPC member active on behalf of desert tortoise
conservation.
3
DESERT PROTECTIVE COUNCIL – WHO WE ARE
Nick Ervin, President
Geoffrey Smith, Vice President
Martha Bertles, Secretary
Larry Klaasen, Treasurer
Byron Anderson, at large
Terry Weiner, Imperial Projects & Conservation Coordinator
Shirley Harshenin, Webmistress – www.nutheadproductions.com
Larry Hogue, Communications Consultant
KEEP YOUR MEMBERSHIP IN DPC CURRENT
Membership in the Desert Protective Council is based on a
January 1 to December 31 term of membership. If you are a life
member you do not need to renew. However, we are always
receptive to gifts to keep our projects going. Many of our
members, life and regular, are most generous, and your
donations help ensure that DPC remains a strong voice for
conservation in all of our deserts.
Much of our current activity is based on projects in
Imperial County, as required by the settlement of the Mesquite
Mine lawsuit. Since we engage in many other projects and
issues outside of Imperial County, we keep nonrestricted
donations in a separate account for use on more general desert
issues.
DESERT PROTECTIVE COUNCIL NEW AND
RENEWAL MEMBERSHIP FORM
Enclosed is my remittance of $_______
[ ]New Membership [ ]Gift Membership [ ] Renewal
Name_________________________________________
Address_______________________________________
City, State, Zip________________________________
Phone_________________________________________
Email_________________________________________
Please make checks payable to: DPC
Mail to P.O. Box 3635, San Diego, CA 92163-1635
Dues and all donations are tax-deductible.
MEMBERSHIP LEVELS (please check)
[ ] Life $300.00 one time
[ ] Sustaining Membership $50.00 annually
[ ] Regular Membership $25.00 annually
[ ] Joint Membership $35.00 annually
[ ] Senior/Student/Retired $15.00 annually
[ ] Additional Gift of $_________
Have you remembered DPC in your estate planning?
Help us save paper! If you would like to receive this
newsletter electronically, rather than in the mail, please
send an e-mail message stating “subscribe electronically”
to: terryweiner@sbcglobal.net.
 P.O. BOX 3635
SAN DIEGO, CA 92163-1635

Enjoy this complimentary copy

INSIDE THIS ISSUE of El Paisano, and consider
Bighorn Sheep Critical Habitat..................... page 1 joining today!
Imperial County Projects Update.................. page 2
News About Our Members ........................... page 3

Journey from Spirit Mountain

San Diego Premiere
An enthusiastic crowd of 100 Sierra Club members and other
guests gave a warm welcome to the Desert Protective Council,
Hokan Media Productions’ Dan Golding, and Quechan Elder
Preston J. Arrow-weed at the San Diego premiere of the video,
Journey from Spirit Mountain. Funded with a grant from the
Desert Protective Council, the 35-minute video is a co-
production of Hokan Media Productions and Arrow-weed’s Ah
Mut Pipa Foundation. It tells the Quechan creation story
through a creative interweaving of Preston’s singing in
Quechan, his retelling of the story in English, footage of key
locations in the characters’ journey from desert to sea and back
again, and commentary by Quechan tribal officials, government
and university archaeologists, and others. A key theme is the
importance of preserving not only the Quechan language,
stories, and songs, but also the places where the story took
place. The video ends with Arrow-weed’s grandson taking up
the song on his own, a vivid image of the success Preston has
had in preserving Quechan tradition and transferring it to a new
generation. This is a production of which all DPC members
should feel proud. Quechan Elder Preston J. Arrow-weed speaking at the San Diego
To obtain a copy of the DVD, send a check for $25.00 premiere of Journey from Spirit Mountain
(which includes shipping and handling) to:
Ah Mut Pipa Foundation
P.O. Box 160
Bard, CA 92222