The Desert, is might be accurately stated, is lush with pure mystery and magic. One minute we're rambling along a clutch of creosote bushes, lost in reverie, when a darting catches our eye (a small bird, perhaps, or a lizard). Its wonders are plentiful and surprising, but we mostly experience them by the light of our planet's nearest star. To see someplace epic, like the Cadiz Dunes Wilderness Area, by the light of our lunar satellite is something pretty darn special, and if it is a full moon? Well, right there you have a walk to remember, even if you don't spy any lizards or birds along the way.

Our California Desert has more open space and more sunshine than anywhere else on the continent.  Despite falling within a proverbial stone’s throw of 22 million southern Californians, our desert offers unparalleled opportunities for solitude, an amazing wildlife heritage, and fascinating cultural artifacts ranging from early human settlement to World War II.

The Mojave Desert Land Trust is celebrating 10 years of acquiring California desert property to preserve from development. Donations have helped the land trust protect over 60,000 acres of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert Land Trust was formed in 2006 by a small group of people who believed the desert landscape was facing increasing threats from inappropriate development and renewable energy projects.

Mariana Maguire of the Conservation Lands Foundation and Frazier Haney of the Mojave Desert Land Trust will present “Meet the New California Desert National Monuments” when the San Gorgonio Chapter of the Sierra Club meets 7:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at the San Bernardino County Museum, 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands.

The designation earlier this year of Sand to Snow, Mojave Trails and Castle Mountains national monuments has given rise for local organizations like the Mojave Desert Land Trust to partner in new ways with Latino communities in the California desert and to participate for the first time in Latino Conservation Week by celebrating our traditional connections to the outdoors. My role with MDLT allows me to continue to nurture the connections between plants and culture that I first learned as a child by working with native Mojave Desert plants.

The Mojave Desert Land Trust, with assistance from the Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce, will be working to develop a similar marketing toolkit for the new California Desert national monuments. From bed and breakfasts to restaurants, to locally owned stores, hundreds of businesses supported the protection of these places. Now, we invite these business owners and community leaders to be a part of the process to market our new national monuments. In recent weeks, we have met with local Chambers of Commerce to help inform the development of the toolkit. We look forward to our continued partnerships in the months ahead.