<
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2025/03/26/state-funds-to-protect-wildlife-corridor-near-joshua-tree-national-park/82674732007/>
"Two California desert conservancies have won more than $2 million in state
funds to acquire critical habitat for imperiled species.
* In Riverside County, Oswit Land Trust was awarded $1.5 million for 642 acres
in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains, preserving healthy coastal sage
scrub, grasslands, and other habitats occupied by numerous sensitive species.
* In San Bernadino County, Mojave Desert Land Trust was awarded $577,000 to
acquire an 80-acre property south of Yucca Valley within a wildlife corridor
that connects Joshua Tree National Park with the Sand to Snow National
Monument. The project will permanently protect western Joshua tree and desert
tortoise habitat near the newly designated Mojave Desert Sentinel Landscape.
The 3.5 million acre Mojave Desert Sentinel Landscape includes five desert
military bases and over 40 protected species, limiting the military and NASA's
ability to test, research, train, and operate on 2.8 million additional acres
of military installations surrounding the sentinel landscape.
The grants are part of $7.5 million in funding for 10 projects in eight
counties by California's natural resources agency under its transportation and
environment mitigation program, which helps government agencies and nonprofits
fund projects that make up for adverse impacts from new or modified state
transportation projects. Widening a highway, for instance, can mean bulldozing
vital grasslands or shrubs that are home to myriad wild plants and animals.
“Important transportation improvements are taking place across California,
paired with environmental conservation and restoration,” Natural Resources
Secretary Wade Crowfoot said in a news release. “The projects receiving funding
demonstrate a ‘win-win’ for California. They help us meet our environmental
goals while enabling vital transportation improvements that benefit all
Californians.”
In total, the 10 projects will add about 7,400 acres to California’s effort to
conserve at least 30% of its land and coastal waters in their natural state by
2030, an effort known as 30x30, and will contribute to California’s
Nature-Based Solutions Climate Targets."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-forest-therapy-wildfire-survivors/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
