90 Miles from Needles: Coping with burnout and other fun pastimes
90 Miles from Needles: Coping with burnout and other fun pastimes
We’ve been remiss in getting this newsletter out, for a number of reasons… none of which are very interesting. We will be getting in the habit of sending these out with each episode, so twice a month unless we have some new news to report, such as for example the fact that we have a listener survey running right now. If you take the time to participate in the survey, and make it all the way to the end, we will mail you a 5X5 sticker with our extremely dignified logo on it. You can tell us what you’d like to see more of, less of, or none of. It’s fun and will only take a couple minutes. Thanks!
New episodes since the last newsletter issue:
(with fuller descriptions and links after the list)
S1E18 Chris is Stressed Out + Some Good News
S1E17 Mylar Balloons: threat or menace? plus Joshua Tree NP Ask Me Anything
S1E16 Flood and Drought; Death Valley and the Great Salt Lake
S1E15 What Keeps You Going plus Bristlecone Pines
S1E18 Chris is Stressed Out + Some Good News
Saving the desert is a marathon, not a sprint. Remember to breathe.
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.
S1E17: Mylar Balloons: threat or menace? plus Joshua Tree NP AMA
They are everywhere! But people are doing something about those ubiquitous mylar balloons. Plus we ask Joshua Tree NP's David Smith some tough questions.
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. in Tucson.
Find the Desert Balloon Project at https://www.facebook.com/desertballoonproject/
Check out jobs at Joshua Tree National Park: https://www.nps.gov/jotr/getinvolved/workwithus.htm
Check out the JTNP Climbing Management Plan in progress: https://www.nps.gov/jotr/getinvolved/climbingplan.htm
S1E16 Flood and Drought; Death Valley and the Great Salt Lake
One end of the desert is flooding: the other end is drying up.
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.
S1E15 What Keeps You Going plus Bristlecone Pines
Keeping our heads up in this handbasket
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 Los Angeles Times reporter Louis Sahagun about his reporting on a new problem facing the desert's ancient bristlecone pines.
On Monday September 19 an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Modified Mercalli Scale hit the Pacific coast between the towns of Coahuyana and Lazaro Cardenas in Colima and Michoacan, Mexico. A trivial but locally interesting side effect of the tragic quake was that it temporarily turned the waters at Devils Hole in Death Valley National Park, almost 1,500 miles away, into the desert’s smallest surf park. You can watch the video here, as the only habitat in the world for the endangered Devils Hole pupfish suddenly turns extremely agitated. The National Park Service reports that the fish suffered no casualties and may have even been invigorated by the experience, as they started spawning immediately after the water settled back down.
See you in a couple weeks, and please, don’t forget to check out our listener survey. Also, don’t forget: our Patreon supporters get to listen to these episodes earlier than other folks, and they also have access to perks and swag. You can check out our Patreon page here. They make this entire podcast possible.
Thanks, and stay well!
— Chris and Alicia