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- Desert News, 11/11
Desert News, 11/11
11/6
Sentinels of the sky: The lesser nighthawks at Cementerio Barrio de Los Lipanes
A sheer beauty of an essay. After reinterring a 750-year-old ancestor of today’s Lipan Apache people, volunteers are thanked by a swarm of nighthawks swooping through the evening sky.
Imperial County Supervisors Urge Irrigation District to Engage on Critical Water Issues
The System Conservation Implementation Agreement (SCIA), approved by the Imperial Irrigation District in August, commits IID to conserve up to 700,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead through agricultural conservation programs over the next three years. While the agreement unlocks significant funding for Salton Sea restoration, the county remains concerned that local economic, health and agricultural productivity challenges were not fully considered due to a lack of formal consultation.
$110 million medical waste incinerator east of Reno to be online in year
The facility will serve as a central incineration location for medical, infectious and hospital waste that’s processed at other Stericycle facilities before being sent to Northern Nevada.
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11/7
Judge extends lithium drilling freeze, a major win for the Hualapai Tribe
“We’re pleased with how everything turned out with this decision,” said Ka-voka Jackson, the director of the Hualapai Department of Cultural Resources. “It was definitely worth the wait.”
Donald Trump’s victory puts all eyes back on the border
The candidate who falsely depicted immigrants as dangerous criminals just won with an impressive electoral mandate. Will he follow through on the aggressive policies he sold to voters?
As Lake Mead recedes, illegal roads grow. $8.6M may change that
Declining lake levels have stranded boat launches throughout the park. It only takes one set of tire ruts through the mud to persuade others to drive off-road to the water line.
11/8
Transmission line discussed at Beatty Town Advisory Board meeting
A representative of the contractor building the local segment of GreenLink West said that some workers could seek housing in Beatty, but that they would not do so if they saw price gouging. Resident Laura Cunningham said that, with the anticipated mine openings, the additional workers could be a burden on the community.
New life, new money for the critical Great Salt Lake shoreline
The Utah Inland Port Authority approved a $2.5 million grant to the Utah Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife Resources to support the preservation of the lake’s shoreline.
11/9
Quechan Tribe seeks 390,000-acre National Monument Presidential designation
The proposed national monuments in the California Desert include Kw’tsán National Monument in Imperial County and Chuckwalla National Monument in Riverside and Imperial Counties.
Biologists census rare Virgin River fish, express hope 'we're making a difference'
While the work by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources focuses primarily on Virgin River chub, the nets placed at six Utah sites on the river may catch all six native species, as well as nonnative fish.
11/10
Arizona voters pass border security ballot measure. What happens next?
Proposition 314, the ballot measure that would criminalize unauthorized border crossings and allow Arizona and local law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants, easily passed as ongoing vote tallies continued to pad a sizeable “Yes” lead.
Texas sued New Mexico over Rio Grande Water. Now states are fighting federal government
Texas brought the current lawsuit against New Mexico in 2013, alleging that farmers pumping from groundwater wells in southern New Mexico were diverting water that a 1938 compact allocates to Texas. The states reached a proposed settlement agreement in 2022, but the federal government opposed the deal. The Supreme Court then ruled in June that the case could not be settled without the federal government’s consent.