Lindsay Whitehurst
FILE - In this May 13, 2006, file photo, is a desert tortoise in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve east of Leeds, Utah. A coalition of conservation groups on Friday, June 4, 2021, sued the U.S. government over the Trump administrationâs decision to allow construction of a new four-lane highway through the national conservation area in southern Utah that includes protected habitat for the Mojave desert tortoise. (Brain Passey/The Spectrum via AP, File) June 04, 2021 - 12:03 PM
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) â A coalition of conservation groups on Friday sued the U.S. government over the Trump administrationâs decision to allow construction of a new four-lane highway through a national conservation area in southern Utah that includes protected habitat for the Mojave desert tortoise.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and President Joe Biden must not allow the Northern Corridor Highway (NCH) to cut across Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (NCA) in southwestern Utah.
Let’s make one thing clear: the NCH is not “essential,” as Washington County officials have declared. The county’s population is growing, and traffic congestion is indeed a problem, but there are much better ways to alleviate it than building a four-lane highway through a beloved and federally protected NCA.
Red Cliffs Desert Reserve was established in 1996 to protect the threatened Mojave Desert Tortoise, as well as for the area’s Native American cultural heritage, beautiful red rock scenery, and recreation opportunities. The Reserve (75% of which was enhanced by Congress in 2009 to become an NCA) is a major quality of life perk for St. George and other gateway communities, plus a prime tourism draw. Washington County administers the Reserve in coordination with federal and state agencie
A corporation wants to mine for gold near Death Valley Native tribes are fighting it gazettextra.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettextra.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
LONE PINE, Calif.
Perched high in the craggy Inyo Mountains, between the dusty Owens Valley floor and Death Valley National Park, looms a rugged, nearly roadless chunk of desert terrain teeming with wildlife and scarred by mining operations.
Conglomerate Mesa’s charcoal smelters helped give birth 150 years ago to the nearby rip-roaring silver town of Cerro Gordo, where ingots were produced and shipped off to the small pueblo of Los Angeles by steamboat and a 20-mule team.
Now, the 22,500-acre tableau of Joshua trees, piñon pines and limestone boulders bristling with fossil shells is turning to mining again. Spurred by the rising price of gold, K2 Gold Corp., of Vancouver, Canada, is drilling and trenching in hopes of selling its findings or partnering with a bigger company that would, perhaps, transform the public lands into an open pit cyanide heap leach mine, just a few miles from Death Valley.