The Newsletter o the Desert Protective CouncilFall-Winter 2009/10 Number 206

P.O. Box 3635, San Diego, CA 92163-1635 (619) 342-5524 www.dpcinc.org www.desertblog.net

Letter From the President

by Nick Ervin

nother year has passed! It has been an eventul one or our nation and DPC. I amastonished that an issue scarcely anyone predicted a ew years ago dominates thenational conversation about our southwestern deserts: renewable energy production. Theissue divides the conservation community in a way ew others have over the years.The US needs to shit its energy userom primarily ossil uel-based sourcesto renewable ones; desert lands, moreover,oten provide ideal conditions or suchenergy development, with their intense year round sunshine and requent windsor wind turbines to boot. Some conserva-tionists insist we can meet demand quickly with roo-top solar photovoltaics (PV) inurban areas; others declare just as emphati-cally that PV cannot meet all such demandin time by itsel.DPC will continue to be a player in thecomplex political and technical processesinvolved in the siting o solar and windenergy projects in the deserts o Caliornia.We continue to support energy eciency,conservation and distributed (local) genera-tion as priorities. We recognize that large-scale energy projects will be developed inthe desert but we will work to keep them o intact lands with wildlie or cultural value.O course DPC, through our vet-eran conservation staer Terry Weiner,is ghting or the best possible manage-ment scheme easible or the breathtakingDesert Cahuilla area adjacent to the easternboundary o Anza-Borrego Desert StatePark. We have already held State ParksOHV Division’s collective eet to the re onseveral issues. And Terry is always involvedin the politics and management (i there issuch a thing) o o-highway vehicle use inthe desert. We are as tenacious and deter-mined as anyone, anywhere, in addressingOHV issues on public lands.On a positive note, DPC was part o the coalition o conservation groups thathelped shape Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s newdesert bill; this landmark legislation hasits problems rom our standpoint and weare intent on improving it. We are also aplainti in a lawsuit against the U.S. Fishand Wildlie Service or reducing the criti-cal habitat o the endangered Peninsularbighorn sheep.Near and dear to my heart is the ongo-ing education and awareness-buildingcampaign we have sponsored and nurturedwith the Imperial County school system.Aside rom our crucial nancial supporto the Parks Online or Teachers program,DPC supports desert hero Pat Flanagan’sinnovative Salton Basin Living Laboratory curriculum and teacher training program.What a huge success this has been to date!We are changing the ace o natural scienceeducation student-by-student and class-room-by-classroom in Imperial County.

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In this issue:3 In Memoriam4 New Desert Protection Bill,Conservation Corner5 Events, Annual MeetingNews, Poetry6 Profle: Robert C. Stebbins

RememberingHarriet Allen

by Terry Weiner

y refections as 2009 winds down areanchored in my gratitude or the lieo, and joy at having known Harriet Allen.

“Every place that’s ever been protected by law as wilderness has a story. And every oneof those stories start with people who care”.Bart Koehler

Harriet is among those who cared andis one o those responsible or saving largechunks o Caliornia. She died peaceully on September 30 2009 o complications o old age. Harriet Allen was my mentor andaccording to many other desert conserva-tion activists, she was theirs as well. Our di-verse DPC members may not have seen theobituaries published in Caliornia papers,so I will share some o her lie history here.

photo by Neal Bursteincontinued on page 2

El Paisano, the newsletter o the Desert Protective Council2

Harriet Allen’s love o the desert goes backto her childhood when her amily used totake camping trips to the Coachella Valley o Caliornia. She enjoyed camping wellinto her 80s.Harriet Spencer Reeder was born onDecember 22 1913 in Pasadena to MabelCraword Reeder and John Wallace Reeder.She earned a bachelor’s degree in educa-tion rom Occidental College in 1935 andmaster’s degrees in physical therapy andpsychology rom Wellesley College in Mas-sachusetts. She taught physical educationat what was then Chaey Junior Collegein Rancho Cucamonga and was later aschool counselor in the San Diego UniedSchool District. Harriet was an adventur-ous woman. She learned to fy and gother pilot’s license in the late 1930s. Sheeventually held two pilot licenses as well asan instructor’s license. As one o the earliestmembers o DPC, she dedicated decadeso her lie to educating people about thebeauty and importance o the southwestdeserts and led the charge protecting them.She held every position on the Board o Directors and edited

El Paisano

or decades.As DPC Board President Nick Ervin hassaid, Harriet was the glue o the DPC ormany years.In the 1970s, she worked on the passageo the Federal Lands Policy ManagementAct, which today guides BLM land useplanning. She worked tirelessly or eight years alongside other desert activists toachieve passage o the Caliornia DesertProtection Act, signed by President Clintonin 1994, resulting in protection o eightmillion acres o southern Caliornia desertrom development. In the Coachella Valley,Harriet worked with Cameron Barrowsand Bill Havert and others to protect palmgroves and an important sand sourceor the ringe-tailed lizard, and helpedestablish the Coachella Valley Preserve. Inthe 1980s, Harriet was a member o theDPC’s Anza-Borrego Committee, whicheventually evolved into the Anza-BorregoFoundation. Harriet and her aeronauticaldesign engineer husband Howard, whomshe married in 1949, were also very activein the Sierra Club. She served as Chair o the San Diego Chapter and in 1963, led acampaign that resulted in the 1970 expan-sion o Torrey Pines State Reserve alongSan Diego’s coast. She was appointed to theCaliornia Coastal Commission by Gov-ernor Jerry Brown and was reappointed anumber o times by both Republicans andDemocrats.

Letter rom the President…

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Harriet Allen…

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And we’ve increased our public prolewith an evolving DPC website and ourDesert Blog, along with a new Facebookpresence. Thus the Desert Protective Coun-cil moves into the 21st century.A couple o months ago DPC helpedto support a smashingly successul desertsymposium at the Imperial Valley CollegeOcotillo Desert Museum, which we helpedto build with a key grant several years ago.In addition, the DPC Annual MembershipMeeting in Whitewater Canyon Preservewas a wonderul and entertaining eventwith awards and several noted speakers,including Biologist Cameron Barrows, des-ert elder Elden Hughes and recently retiredAnza-Borrego Desert State Park superin-tendent Mark Jorgensen.While our small but plucky organiza-tion is able to und important programs inImperial County, Caliornia, through ourMesquite Fund, we are pretty well strappedor unds to support or create other worthy desert projects and to run our day-to-day organizational operations. Believe me, DPCis lean and mean as it is, but we cannotoperate on good will alone! I, and all theother Board members, work or ree andgenerally cover the out-o-pocket ex-penses we incur.

We need your additionalfnancial support

in these hard times. Thedesert needs our protection more than ever.In order or us to carry out our missionwe absolutely depend upon our members’ongoing generous support.I you make a donation o $100.00 ormore, we will send you a copy o

CaliforniaDesert Miracle

, the wonderul history o the 1994 Caliornia Desert Protection Actby the late Frank Wheat, a longtime DPCAdvisory Panel member.We also deeply appreciate memberskeeping DPC in mind in your estate plans.It is quite easy to do, and you can evensave yoursel some taxes i you do estateplanning with the guidance o a suitabletax advisor. And don’t orget to renew your current membership soon when thereminder comes in the mail.So we can all contemplate our placein eternity together around a warm, cozy campre in an alcove around that nextbend o a lovely desert canyon.

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“She waged a decades-long battle to educate everyone that the desert matters. The fact that the desert hassustained itself as well as it has is atribute to Harriet Allen. She deserves abig chunk of the credit.”— Elden Hughes“Whatever evaluation we nally make of a stretch of land, no matter how profound or accurate, we will nd it inadequate. The land retains an identity of its own, still deeper and more subtle than we can know. Our obligationtoward it then becomes simple: to approach with an understanding mind, withan attitude of regard... To preserve some of the mystery within it as a kind of wisdom to be experienced, not questioned. And to be alert for its openings, for the moment when something sacred reveals itself within the mundane, and youknow the land knows you are there.”— Barry Lopez

www.dpcinc.org | www.desertblog.net3

Harriet Allenand the CDPA

by Judy Anderson

t was October 6, 1994. We had allbeen watching CSPAN and knew thatthe Senate would be meeting that Satur-day morning and that we needed thatlast vote or passage o the CaliorniaDesert Protection Act. It was also thedate that the Desert Protective Councilhad set or their Annual Meeting inPalm Springs. Both Harriet and I wereon the Board at that time and needed toattend the meeting... a 2 1/2 hour driverom my home. I waited and waited andwatched the TV or a decision.Finally, I had to leave. In this erabeore cell phones, I was riding withBob Cates and got him to stop in Rialtowhere in a McDonald’s phone booth Inally heard that the bill had passed.Another hour or so and I was walkingup to a picnic table where Harriet andHoward were sitting. They’d come thenight beore in their camper.I asked Harriet i she’d heard thenews. “No, we had to leave last night.What happened?” “They did it! Itpassed!” Whereupon we both burst intotears and hugged and hugged. She said,“I’d almost given up hope o seeing it inmy lietime.”All o Caliornia, as Jerry Dunphy used to say “From the Mountains to theSea, to All o Southern Caliornia,” hasbenetted rom the sustained commit-ment o this determined woman. Thecurrent National Parks program on PBSis eaturing many individuals who in-fuenced the parks decisions. Harriet isamong those responsible or saving bigchunks o Caliornia. I salute her, andwill remember her or the standards sheset and or being one o my most valuedmentors.

Judy Anderson is a long-time DPC member and winner of the 1999 John Muir Award — the Sierra Club’s highest award for volunteers.

I spent many hours in the early 2000swith Harriet in her Ford Explorer on ourway to desert meetings. During our longdrives, she told me stories about variouscampaigns and laid the groundwork o my understanding o what it takes to protectthe desert. She had deep knowledge and ex-perience o the politics o land use manage-ment and protection and patiently sharedit with me. She was eisty and witty butvery careul with her words and extremely patient with the democratic process.Harriet’s beloved husband o 60 years,Howard Allen, lived only six weeks longerwithout her and died in early November2009. He had just turned 95. I celebratedhis birthday with him on October 27.Harriet’s sons Doug and Je have askedthat donations in her name be given to theDesert Protective Council. Make out yourcheck to the DPC with a notation or theHarriet Allen Memorial Fund.

Harriet Allen…

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In memoriam

Helen Dykema Dengler,Sept. 3, 1914 - May 7, 2009

A woman o wide interests and enthusi-asms, Helen Dengler did not at rst countthe Mojave Desert among her wisest. “Iwonder,” she wrote in her autobiography about her rst experience there in 1946,“are we mad?“Investing in a patch o desert sand,located in a place named Rancho Mirage?Driving down the long slope rom BanningPass to Palm Springs was like descendinginto a hot oven...”Yet these memories, at the time o herdeath at 94 earlier this year in Del Rio, Tex-as, were among those she deeply treasured:“My initial distrust o this desert landgradually gave way to the seductive charmso purple mountains, faming sunsets, andmoonlight rides over the sand dunes,” shewrote. “I simply ell in love with the desert.”Together with her husband John C.“Jack” Dengler, Helen established RanchoMirage’s popular destination the White SunGuest Ranch. White Sun became a meccaor actors, artists, writers and musicians.Helen’s dedication to the desert motivat-ed her involvement in the DPC, the SierraClub, the Palm Springs Clean Air Fund;Desert Beautiul, Living Desert Associa-tion, San Jacinto Mt. Conservation League,Riverside County Parks Advisory Com-mission, and the Rancho Mirage Woman’sClub among others.Her husband Jack died in 1998. Helen issurvived by her six children, ve grandchil-dren, and our great-grandchildren.

Jay C. von Werlho,Sept. 13, 1923–Dec. 10, 2009

Renowned anthropologist Jay C. vonWerlho, 86, o Ocotillo, who documentedmore than 10,000 archaeological sites inImperial County, died December 10 ater along illness.A veteran o World War II and a UCBerkeley graduate, Jay moved to the SanDiego-Imperial area in the early 1970s aterteaching at various colleges throughoutthe state. While serving as an instructor inarchaeology, history, and Indian studies atSan Diego State University and ImperialValley College, Jay worked with local NativeCaliornians to document and preservetheir cultural history. Jay established theImperial Valley College Desert Museumand served as president o the Society orCaliornia Archaeology.At his memorial service in December,his riends and colleagues recalled his lustor lie and his extraordinary curiosity about everything. DPC has unded a grantto Archaeologist Russ Kaldenberg to tran-scribe Jay’s Imperial County notebooks andscan Jay’s photographs and documents orincorporation or publication.In October, the Imperial Valley CollegeDesert Museum Society, ASM Alates andDPC co-sponsored a symposium to honorJay and his nearly 40 years o anthropologi-cal contributions in Caliornia’s deserts.DPC was honored to count Jay as a long-time supporter and riend. Jay’s amily sug-gests that donations in Jay’s name be madeto the Imperial Valley Humane Society,1575 Pico Street, El Centro, CA 92243, andto The Jay von Werlho Research Fund orthe Study o Earthen Art, 2034 Corte DelNogal, Carlsbad, CA 92011.