April 20, 2012
California

Volunteers sought for wildlife survey

CONTRIBUTED CONTENT, The Press-Enterprise, www.pe.com 20 April 2012

Save Our Desert is recruiting volunteers for a one-day “bioblitz” on Sunday – Earth Day – to inventory plants and animals that live on volcanic buttes north of Yucca Valley in the Pipes Canyon area.

The rare soil types on the buttes, along their location between the Mojave Desert and the San Bernardino Mountains, provide a likely harbor for special plant and animal communities, according to the group. Kit foxes and Parish’s daisy are among the species volunteers could encounter.

Experts and amateur volunteers will record flora and fauna on Black Lava Butte and Flat Top Mesa, which both are being studied for possible wind energy development, as well as Black Hill. Save Our Desert, an organization that opposes the energy project, wants to find out what lives on the mesas and whether the wildlife and other resources merit permanent protection.

Volunteers are invited to participate in a potluck dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday in Pipes Canyon. Free camping will be available Saturday and Sunday nights. The plant and animal survey starts at dawn Sunday and ends at dusk.

To RSVP, and for information and directions, call 760-912-2875 or send email to info@saveourdesert.com. Details can be found on the group’s website: www.saveourdesert.com/SPRING_BIOBLITZ.html.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/04/20/volunteers-sought-for-wildlife-survey/