The California desert as an ecosystem is often miscategorized as a barren wasteland with low biodiversity and limited capacity for carbon storage. The very opposite is true. Citizen-organized Inland Desert Working Group, a group of highly trained scientists and advocates, compiled Scientific data that show how essential pristine desert lands are for preventing climate change, ensuring clean air, protecting wildlife, and the continuation of desert flora that have a principal part in the Desert’s biodiversity.
Robin Kobaly, desert botanist and plant ecologist with expertise in the Southwest Desert, spoke in depth at the California Desert Summit about the desert plants and how their properties- slow growth and long roots make them an essential component in the natural process. Kobaly explained that misconceptions happen because so much of this complex process occurs underground. Plants like the Creosote have incredibly long lives. The Mojave Yucca can live up to 2500 years. California Juniper can live 1,500 years. If these plants are disturbed, it will take a very long time to grow back, and the natural cycles will be disturbed.
Removal of desert vegetation and topsoil disturbance requires about 30 years before the pre-existing plant community grows back, over two centuries before even partial recovery occurs, and 50 – 300 years for recovery of plants to pre-disturbance cover and biomass. Up to 3,000 years before the disturbed area returns to the ecosystem function it has before disturbances like road building, agriculture, large construction projects, or anything that removes most or all the plant biomass. The older the plant community, the longer the recovery time.
Biomass is a renewable organic material from plants and animals and contains stored chemical energy from the sun that plants produce through photosynthesis. The biogenic carbon absorbed by the organic matter is captured and sequestered, permanently removing it from the atmosphere. Capturing CO2 and transporting it to geological formations – such as porous rocks – for permanent storage moves CO2 from the fast to the slow carbon cycle.
An explanation of this process taken from the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program says, “Changes in the Carbon Cycle Left undisturbed, the fast and slow carbon cycles, maintain a relatively steady concentration of carbon in the atmosphere. When anything changes the amount of carbon in one reservoir, the effect ripples through the others. CO2 is the most important gas for controlling Earth’s temperature. Carbon dioxide, methane, and halocarbons are greenhouse gases that absorb a wide range of energy—including infrared energy (heat) emitted by the Earth—and then re-emit it. The re-emitted energy travels in all directions, but some returns to Earth, where it heats the surface. Without greenhouse gases, Earth would be frozen at -18 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Fahrenheit). With too many greenhouse gases, Earth would be like Venus, where the greenhouse atmosphere keeps temperatures around 400 degrees Celsius (750 Fahrenheit).”
The California 30×30 Initiative, an international movement to conserve natural areas across our planet, recommends cutting land conversion of deserts and sparsely vegetated landscapes by at least 50 percent annually from current levels, starting in 2025.
The California Desert Summit, organized by the California Desert Coalition (CDC) and sponsored by the Rose Foundation and the Morongo Basin Conservation Association (www.mbconservation.org), informed residents about the scientific and State planning and what each organization is doing to supplement the State’s effort.
Frazier Haney said the Summit was a very concerted effort by several organizations to get information out there that is reliable and scientifically correct. There were about forty people present and online, and Haney encouraged people to continue to check the websites and become involved in environmental issues.
In summing up the Summit’s goals, Haney quoted Peter Douglas, the lead author of the Coastal Act, “that the land is never saved, that it is always being saved.”
Kristeen Penrod, an expert on wildlife connectivity, said Kaboly’s presentation inspired her, and was thinking about ways to document the carbon benefits of the Desert. Penrod said, “Robin opened my eyes to all kinds of things I didn’t know.”
The breakdown of the environmental groups involved with this Summit is as follows:
The California Desert Coalition (https://www.cadesertcoalition.org) is a nonpartisan issue advocacy group focused on giving a voice to California’s Desert and its future.
The Rose Foundation (www.rosefdn.org) supports grassroots initiatives that inspire and support individuals, organizations, and communities to promote stewardship of nature and hold Government and corporations accountable.
Morongo Basin Conservation Association (www.mbconservation.org) supports the Summit and advocates for a healthy desert environment that nurtures the region’s rural character, cultural character, and economic well-being.
Robin Kobaly, Executive Director of Summertree Institute, has worked on regional conservation plans, habitat management plans, management plans for Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), and environmental impact statements.
Citizen-organized Inland Desert Working Group:
Dr. Michael Allen, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside
Dr. Cameron Barrows, Ph.D. Conservation Ecologist, Emeritus. Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside
Colin Barrows, Co-founder, Cactus to Cloud Institute
Susy Boyd, MNR. Master of Natural Resources, Forests and Climate Change, Oregon State University.
Pat Flanagan, B.A. Biology. California State University, Long Beach
Robin Kobaly, M.S. Biology and Plant Ecology, University of California, Riverside
Arch McCulloch, M.S. Computer Science, Azusa Pacific University. B.S..Geology / Computer Science, California State University, Dominguez Hills
Joan Taylor, Governing board of the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, and boards of Friends of the Desert Mountains and The Wildlands Conservancy. Chairperson, California Conservation Committee and California/Nevada Desert Committee of Sierra Club.
All these organizations and individuals involved directly and indirectly in this Summit promote healthy living, including ensuring clean water and healthy air, combating climate change, dealing with increased fire hazards, and supporting and protecting wildlife and their habitat while meeting the State’s environmental goals.
