90 Miles from Needles: the Desert Protection Podcast

The largest reptile in the Mojave faces threats ranging from predation to illegal collection to loss of habitat. But the desert tortoise has defenders. We talk to Tim Shields of Hardshell Labs   about his campaign to use 21st century tech to help the tortoises, and Luke Basulto of Saving Slowpoke (and the National Parks Conservation Association's California Desert team) about his work to bring the...

On October 12, the California Fish and Game Commission postponed a decision yet again on whether to grant the western Joshua tree protection under the California Endangered Species Act. Chris and Alicia speak to Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity about what happened, and what the future holds for the beleaguered tree. Plus news! Learn more about the Center for Biological Diver...

Solar in the built environment could meet America's need for electrical power. But still the desert is in the crosshairs. Public lands with intact habitat are coming under extreme threat because of the Inflation Reduction Act and subsidies for utility scale solar. Shannon Salter is the founder of Mojave Green, an environmental organization dedicated to protecting the Mojave Desert. https://mojaveg...

We're not going to be able to save the desert if we self-immolate. Alicia reads Chris the riot act about taking time to enjoy the desert without being preoccupied by saving it. He responds by heading to the Colorado River. Also, we are happy to report on a major blow to the fiendish Cadiz water mining project, and we read your letters. Well, one letter anyway. Become a desert defender!: https://90...

Alicia takes on one of her personal bugbears: the endless supply of mylar balloons landing in the desert, choking wildlife and starting fires, just because people don't care what happens to their floating trash. Also, we subject Joshua Tree National Park superintendent David Smith to the Reddit Ask Me Anything treatment. Episode image, which is kinda on the nose if you ask us, via our pal Cyndi T....

As the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts contend with record rainfalls, climate change and urban development are drying up the Great Salt Lake. We talk to David Smith of Joshua Tree National Park about floods in desert parks, and Zachary Frankel of Utah Rivers Council about saving the Salt Lake. Become a desert defender!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

With bad news all around, how do we keep up our strength and resolve to protect the places that matter? Chris and Alicia start an ongoing conversation in a couple of those places. In between, 90 Miles from Needles talks to LA Times reporter Louis Sahagun about his reporting on a new problem facing the desert's ancient bristlecone pines. Become a desert defender!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/don...

There's good news: the desert offers sweet sustenance that can be had for a little bit of work. And we mean actual food, not that metaphorical well being stuff. Though that's here too.  But first, Chris offers some thoughts on how to help 90 Miles from Needles get to more people, and Alicia recuperates from an unfortunate but temporary rambunctious-dog-related injury. (She is getting better.) Beco...

Chris enjoys the desert at its hottest. Alicia, on the other hand, is closer to sanity. Both of them treat desert heat with respect. We talk about how to make sure your time in the desert doesn't end in tragedy. The desert needs its defenders alive!  Become a desert defender!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Climate change has been happening in the desert for some time now. While consensus isn't complete, most experts agree that more warming will make the desert hotter and drier. But at the same time, while individual monsoon thunderstorms will get less frequent, they may become more destructive. 90 Miles from Needles visits Jan Emming, owner of Desert Sense Nursery in Yucca, AZ, who has been paying a...

The writer Edward Abbey is revered by many desert activists, and roundly criticized by others, all based on the provocative and occasionally offensive things he wrote. Chris and Alicia talk about the prescient and helpful things Abbey wrote, and about the things they wish that neither Abbey nor anyone else had ever said, some of which have gained currency among the most violent practitioners of ri...

From the mid-1980s until the first months of the 21st Century, a coalition of desert tribes and non-Native activists worked to keep the state of California from siting a low-level nuclear waste dump in the Mojave Desert, on land sacred to at least five tribes, above an aquifer that drains into the Colorado River. Philip Klasky, an instructor at San Francisco State and a resident of the desert in S...

Joshua trees, the iconic species of the Mojave Desert, are in serious danger of becoming extinct across most of their range... and yet the state of California is recommending against granting the trees permanent protection. We talk to desert botanist Christina Sanchez and Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity about the dangers the trees face, and what we can do to stop California...

Plus, why rock stacking is a bad habit, and how you can keep the state of California from stripping protections from the western Joshua tree. Listen to the episode either before or after you click here: https://act.biologicaldiversity.org/1PcJypNEXEq5JSsEnx64gQ2?fbclid=IwAR0kuSiQL_uwsTaWx0D01QAA-VC-mitc4ZWeFAfuKnrvE9te-cUZpiAvSz0 to register your support for keeping the trees protected.   Bec...

Considered extinct by the late 1950s, the Shoshone pupfish was rediscovered 36 years ago by a woman who changed her entire town to preserve the species. We talk to Shoshone resident Susan Sorrells about her life and the fish, with context set by Mason Voehl of the Amargosa Conservancy. Become a desert defender!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

They're more complicated than the howling silhouette on your bespoke candle holder from Santa Fe, and more interesting. Chris and Alicia discuss living with coyotes in the desert, what they offer, what they don't offer, and how we can best get along. Also: updates on Colorado River drought and Cima Dome wildflowers.   Episode image © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Become a desert def...

Spring is coming, and that means that hundreds of thousands of people start thinking about visiting the desert to see the "superbloom."  But even in the rare years when it happens, there's a right way and a wrong way to take in the desert flower show. Chris and Alicia offer tips. Plus : a note on Ukraine, and an update on the Dixie Valley Toad. Episode photo by CA State Parks Become a desert...

As we publish, scientists are announcing that the last dozen years are the driest in more than a millennium. With the desert's cities ever more dependent on water from the Colorado River, how will southwestern society meet the challenge of hyper-aridity? Chris and Alicia get water wonky with Kyle Roerink of the Great Basin Water Network . Become a desert defender!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/d...

Cima Dome was supposed to be a place where Joshua trees were most likely to survive climate change. A climate-accentuated wildfire hit there anyway. In this episode, Chris relates how much the Cima Dome Joshua tree forest meant to him, he traumatizes Alicia by showing her the place, and then we talk with a National Park Service botanist about revegetation efforts. Despite the magnitude of the fire...

Discovered only in 2017, the Dixie Valley toad is found only in one 400-acre hot spring wetland in remote Nevada. Guess where a giant geothermal corporation is ready to build a wetland-draining power plant? We talk to Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity about this wild species threatened by the energy industry, and the Center's campaign to save the toad. Learn how you can help!...

In this first episode, Chris and Alicia head out to Sand Draw, a beautiful and vibrant bit of desert dry wash woodland in the Mojave Desert that almost became an industrial sacrifice zone for the energy industry. It's a good place to see why the desert needs protection, what's at stake, and that desert protectors can win. We mention Paul Loeb's book Soul of a Citizen, which is available here: http...

In this episode, Alicia points out that despite Chris's delusions of popularity, there are people who don't know who he is. Hilarity ensues. Transcript Season 0, Episode 4: Who is Chris? Chris Clarke: This podcast is made possible by our supporters at Patreon, who give us the resources we need to produce each episode, you can join their ranks at 90milesfromneedles.com/patreon.  Alicia Pike: So Chr...

Hello friends! Transcript of this episode is at 90milesfromneedles.com In this Season Zero short episode, Chris and Alicia discuss the commonly shared urban legend that Joshua trees are not really trees. This is a topic that has gotten on Chris's nerves before. Spoiler: They're trees. Chris cites a biologist on Twitter with a handy definition of tree. Here's the guy. Thanks, Tom. With regard to wh...

On a visit to Bonanza Spring, threatened by the Cadiz corporation's plan to mine desert groundwater for profit, Alicia Pike talks about what she hopes to bring to 90MFN as cohost. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ninetymilesfromneedles) Support our show!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/patreon See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Become a desert defender!: https://90m...

A brief description of what we'll be doing with the podcast, partly to answer questions and partly to get practice with our equipment. All flaws and glitches included for transparency's sake. Transcript (Chris C. speaking): I'm in a low pass in the Bigelow Cholla Garden Wilderness. The Bigelow Cholla Garden sounds like a place only a fool would visit. The Bigelow Cholla Garden is a...