Tips for tapping into a flood of international tourists coming to visit newly-designated national monuments in order to vitalize Southern California’s desiccated economy were shared by some of the folks credited with promoting their creation in the Needles Chamber of Commerce quarterly general membership meeting. Held Nov. 17 in the Wagon Wheel Restaurant, the headline presenters were Danielle Segura, executive director; and Frazier Haney, conservation director for the Mojave Desert Land Trust.

As a way to maximize the value of these protected lands, we are partnering with Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) on a new Monuments Marketing Tool Kit to help our struggling businesses find creative ways to leverage the new monuments designations. The tool kit will help businesses generate renewed interest in our surrounding lands, and boost interest in the services we provide to people who visit from all over the world.

Conservation Director Frazier Haney of the Mojave Desert Land Trust in Joshua Tree and Senior Director of Programs Danielle Murray of the Conservation Lands Foundation told our editorial board the other important thing the DRECP accomplished was connecting all of these areas. “California now has one of the largest conservation areas outside of Alaska,” Haney said.

Roll down your windows while cruising down the 101 through Agoura today, and you'll see a few one or two story buildings, brown rolling hills, and depending on the season, some green trees. But if everything goes according to plan, then by 2021 you'll be able to see a massive bridge arching over the highway, connecting restored habitat on either side of one of the nation's busiest roadways. The wildlife crossing at Liberty Canyon, when completed, promises to be the world's largest urban wildlife crossing.

A deal on conservation and renewable energy between the state of California and federal agencies that was eight years in the making is now a reality. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell signed the record of decision finalizing the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan on Wednesday in Palm Desert.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has issued an historic and far-reaching decision balancing conservation with renewable energy development across a vast swath of the California desert. It's called the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, or DRECP, and will permanently protect significant areas of public lands in the California desert—including the Silurian Valley, Mayan Peak, and Chuckwalla Bench.