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LOSS OF DESERT WILDLIFE HABITAT
11/19/09
Jim Matthews, Outdoor News Service
Two proposed projects in the West Mojave north of Apple Valley do the opposite thing as the work projects. Both would have a disastrous affect on wildlife and hunters in this region.
There is a proposal by Granite Wind for 29 windmills standing 400 feet tall on the peaks of the Sidewinder Mountains east of where Johnson Road ends, most situated on public lands. This is historic bighorn sheep habitat and has some of the best chukar hunting in the region. Long-time chukar hunter Gary Hatfield has brought me droppings (What are friends for?) from the peaks where the wind towers would sit that he says prove sheep still use the ridge. The sheep, of course, wouldn't use that ridge if there were windmills there. No one is talking about sheep, chukar, or loss of public access, except a handful of guys like Hatfield.
But it's worse. Immediately south of this area in the Fairview Valley, a developer is proposing a sprawling, 3,100-home enclave in the valley tucked between the Fairview, Sidewinder, and Granite mountain ranges. The development is on private property surrounded by Bureau of Land Management (public) property. Called Hacienda at Fairview, the environmental document on the development is circulating now with comments due in December. While the document gives lip service to public access, it's not likely hunters with shotguns and hunting dogs would be allowed access into some of the best chukar hunting in the region if this development is approved, and we all know that San Bernardino County is a rubber stamp to any development project.
11/19/09
Jim Matthews, Outdoor News Service
Two proposed projects in the West Mojave north of Apple Valley do the opposite thing as the work projects. Both would have a disastrous affect on wildlife and hunters in this region.
There is a proposal by Granite Wind for 29 windmills standing 400 feet tall on the peaks of the Sidewinder Mountains east of where Johnson Road ends, most situated on public lands. This is historic bighorn sheep habitat and has some of the best chukar hunting in the region. Long-time chukar hunter Gary Hatfield has brought me droppings (What are friends for?) from the peaks where the wind towers would sit that he says prove sheep still use the ridge. The sheep, of course, wouldn't use that ridge if there were windmills there. No one is talking about sheep, chukar, or loss of public access, except a handful of guys like Hatfield.
But it's worse. Immediately south of this area in the Fairview Valley, a developer is proposing a sprawling, 3,100-home enclave in the valley tucked between the Fairview, Sidewinder, and Granite mountain ranges. The development is on private property surrounded by Bureau of Land Management (public) property. Called Hacienda at Fairview, the environmental document on the development is circulating now with comments due in December. While the document gives lip service to public access, it's not likely hunters with shotguns and hunting dogs would be allowed access into some of the best chukar hunting in the region if this development is approved, and we all know that San Bernardino County is a rubber stamp to any development project.
