July 23, 2025 • 31 mins
What if the barren desert landscape you see is actually hiding a vibrant ecosystem more effective at carbon capture than rainforests? In this eye-opening conversation with Karen Jaffe from Friends of the Desert Mountains, we explore the surprising ecological importance of California's Coachella Valley desert and the critical conservation work happening right beneath our feet.
Karen reveals how desert plants create an "underground forest" of roots that excel at capturing carbon dioxide and storing it deep in the soil—performing this vital climate function better than rainforests. We learn about the delicate balance of water systems in the desert, from historical wetlands to modern challenges with development and water management, and how these changes affect everything from air quality to wildlife corridors.
The conversation shifts to the organization's three-pronged approach of conservation, education, and research, showcasing how these interconnected strategies protect biodiversity while creating meaningful ways for the public to engage with desert ecosystems. From guided hikes designed for diverse abilities to school programs that inspire environmental stewardship in children, Friends of the Desert Mountains demonstrates how conservation success depends on community involvement.
Most compellingly, Karen shares stories of collaboration with local indigenous tribes, incorporating traditional ecological knowledge into modern conservation practices. "The Cahuilla didn't try to fight the desert—they learned to live with it," she explains, highlighting the wisdom of working with natural systems rather than against them.
Whether you're fascinated by environmental science, looking for unique volunteer opportunities, or simply curious about the hidden complexity of desert landscapes, this episode offers fresh perspectives on conservation and community engagement. Visit desertmountains.org to discover how you can experience and support this vital ecosystem preservation work yourself.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome to the Community.
Heroes of Hope, a podcast wherewe shine a light on the
remarkable individuals andprojects in Rotary District 5330
that bring hope and change toour local and global communities
.
I am Judy Zelfikar, yourco-host and the current District
Governor of Rotary District5330.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And I'm Niren McLean, the Rotary District
Governor-Elect.
Together, we're diving deepinto the heart of the community
service, showcasing the impactof dedication and collaboration
in addressing some of the mostpressing challenges our
communities face.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Each episode will tell stories of incredible
people making a difference,innovating solutions and
inspiring others to take action.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
We'll also be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at
the projects that aretransforming, making a
difference, innovating solutionsand inspiring others to take
action.
We'll also be giving you abehind-the-scenes look at the
projects that are transformingtheir lives, and we'll discuss
how you, too, can get involved,contribute and be part of the
positive change.
Whether you're a seasonedRotarian or just looking to give
back, this podcast is for you.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So join us as we explore the journeys, challenges
and successes of people likeyou who have stepped up to make
a difference.
Let's celebrate the spirit ofcommunity and the power of hope
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Speaker 2 (01:13):
Don't forget to subscribe to the Community
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Stay with us on this journey ofinspiration and let's spread
the message of hope further thanever.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Thank you for tuning in.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, karen, it is.
I don't remember, I don't knowif you remember this, but I saw
you.
I happen to have been out atthe Palm Desert Rotary Club when
you were doing a presentationthere and I was just very, very
much interested in your friendsof the Desert Mountain and the
work you were doing and I saidI'd love to have you come and
(01:47):
speak in Riverside.
We were never able to put thattogether, but I'm excited to
have the opportunity to have youtalk to our district and tell
them about what are you doing,what's going on and the needs
out in the Coachella Valley, inthe desert, because that's such
an important part of ourdistrict and our state and I
love that.
The desert, because that's suchan important part of our
district and our state and Ilove that.
(02:07):
So, governor Judy, that's how Imet Karen and it was really a
fascinating, fascinating talkthat she gave at the Palm Desert
Rotary Club.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, that's why I love this podcast, because I get
to learn new things every day.
And I don't know, karen, Idon't know anything about what
you're doing.
So this is very exciting and Ihope to ask lots of questions.
So forgive me if I jump in andstart asking questions.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
No, that's okay.
Adhd is my specialty, so let'skeep it interesting.
Yeah, my kind of gal.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So, Karen, if you could tell us exactly the
Friends of the Desert Mountainsand how you got started and what
is your focus and share withour district Rotarians who went
out there at Palm Desert sodon't know anything about your
organization.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Absolutely, and we find that a lot of people don't
always know what we're doinghere.
We're one of the secrets thebest kept secrets of Coachella
Valley.
My name is Karen Jaffe.
I am the Marketing andDevelopment Associate for
Friends of the Desert MountainsFriends of the Desert Mountains.
Our mission is we connectpeople to the land through
conservation, education andresearch, all of which are
(03:13):
really big concepts, so I reallylike being able to break it
down for people into bite-sizedpieces, right.
So our desert is pretty bighere and a lot of people think
there's nothing going on outthere, but it actually plays a
really pivotal part in keepingour air and our water clean.
And when we talk aboutpreserving species and
biodiversity, people think we'retalking about our endangered
(03:36):
species, which we have thepeninsular ranges, bighorn sheep
.
We have desert tortoises.
We have all kinds of plants andlizards that exist no place
else but here, which indicatesright there there's a lot of
things growing and living in thedesert, but one of our most
important species that we alsohelp protect are humans.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, we're kind of important a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, we're one of those species that keeping clean
air and water and protectingbiodiversity actually benefits
our community now and in thefuture, and that is what we
really are excited about.
For the most part, it's onething that we're saving big
swaths of the desert and peopleget to go out and play in them,
and everything but the land thatFriends conserves is pretty
(04:18):
unique.
It's not just wide open,beautiful spaces, it is places
that protect, specifically here,our water supply.
Coachella Valley is a big bowl.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It's all very important and you know, one of
the big areas of focus, arecently added area of focus of
Rotary which is probably whythat we had you were speaking at
a Rotary club is theenvironment, and it is a very
obviously very important part ofall of us creatures, human and
otherwise, being able to liveand sustain on this planet.
(04:51):
So I'm really excited to hearabout what you're doing out in
the desert to serve all of us,both the people and the planet.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Judy, yeah, you nailed it with sustain.
That is what we're doing here,yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So, Karen, normally you hear the forest or the
Amazon being the lungs of theearth and cleaning it.
Tell us how the desert does it,because that's not something
you typically hear.
At least I haven't.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I haven't either.
I'm excited to hear that.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Exactly.
We flip that, we flip that.
So our desert is a forestunderground.
So when you see, like the littletiny tip of a plant here, like
our creosote the ubiquitouscreosote that's everywhere,
underneath it is an entireforest of roots that are doing a
really great job of pulling inthat CO2, the carbon from the
(05:43):
air air and then sticking itdown in that calique clay so it
doesn't ever come up again.
So our desert actually does abetter job of that than the
rainforest and it holds it downreally well too.
So that's part of the reasonwe're, like you know, stay on
the trail and don't bust thecrust, and why we do get
concerned when big parts of thedesert get torn up for
development and stuff, we'rere-releasing all of that carbon
(06:04):
right back into the air.
So when you see space aroundthose plants, that big open
space that's kind of around thecreosote, that's because its
roots are out there and they'rekind of holding hands with the
plant next to it saying, hey,let's keep our desert clean.
So that's why we love creosote,besides the fact that it smells
fantastic after the rain.
But yeah, our desert does areally good job of taking care
(06:27):
of us if we take care of it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So what is unique, then, about the desert?
You've explained about the air,which is fascinating.
I did not know that.
What is unique about the desertas far as the water is
concerned?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know there's a song that talks about I miss you
, like the desert's missed therain, and the desert's like,
well, we don't know when it'sgoing to come again, so I can't
really wait around for that.
And there are things that wethink of as a cyclical like.
We think of like April showersbring me flowers no, not here.
We need that rain back inOctober to soften up seeds that
they'll be able to bloom whenthe springtime comes.
(07:02):
And our water stuff.
Here it's a complicated story,right, our valley used to have
wetlands.
It used to have flowing riversand wetlands that came down into
it.
But one of the things thathappens when development happens
is we go up and we try and damup those water areas so they
don't flood our low-lyingcommunities.
You know, rancho Mirage is kindof down there, and further on
(07:25):
down the valley those areas arelower and in the middle, and
when we develop around thoseareas we don't want them to
flood.
So we dam up our waterways andwe dam up a lot of other stuff.
By doing that, there's only twoways that sand can get across
the valley.
It's constantly breaking downfrom our mountains, that's what
water does to it, and then itflows down the mountains and the
water drops off and goes intoour aquifer.
(07:48):
Yay, nice, clean water.
And then the sand just kind ofsits there and says how do I get
across the valley to hang outin the sand dunes so that the
fringe toad lizards have a placeto live?
Well, I've got two fun words,because they always give me the
fun words to say you can either.
Sand can either travel fluvianor aeolian.
Fluvian is by the river and bywater flow.
(08:09):
Aeolian is in the air.
So when you dam up the waterflow, there's only one place
left.
They can't take Uber or Lyft.
Those sand grains hit the air.
And that's what we see whenpeople are like oh, the air is
so dirty here.
Sandstorms happen in the desert.
We all know that we have magicwords for it haboobs, they
really happen.
But we are contributing to thatby damming up our waterways so
(08:31):
that we can kind of control theland, and you can't.
I mean, the desert's alwaysgoing to win.
It was here before us, it'll behere after us.
Right, it'll be here after us,right, yeah, but we have a right
and a privilege to take care ofit while we're here and leave
it in the best condition for thegenerations that will follow us
.
You know, there's a reason thedesert looks so good is the
(08:52):
Cahuilla didn't try to fight it.
They learned to live with it.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
So they're such a great example and that's why
we're so excited to be workingmore like with our tribal
leaders and learning their waysof knowledge and trying I mean
even like forest management.
They have gone and said youknow what?
The tribes had it right in thefirst place.
So it's kind of exciting to beable to learn from the people
who've been here since timeimmemorial and to partner with
(09:15):
them.
And, you know, try and takecare of the desert in the same
way, because they've got kids,we've all all got kids.
I don't have kids, but peoplehave children.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
People have children, some people have children, some
people, some people havechildren and.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I want this desert to be here for them.
I really do.
I grew up here, I was born herein Southern California and I
have pictures of my parentsdriving around on my dad's
motorcycle tearing up the sanddunes.
There's a shotgun strapped tothe front forks.
He's a korean war vet andthere's a lot of vets who come
here to the big open spaces ofthe desert to just kind of let
(09:49):
go and be and process theexperience and I get that and I
want that place for them heretoo.
That's why I love chuckwallaright.
Lots of space out there in thechuckwalla national monument for
off-roading and hunting andhiking and still respecting the
culture and the nature andeverything that's out there in
the Chukwala National Monumentfor off-roading and hunting and
hiking and still respecting theculture and the nature and
everything that's out thereDesert has so much wonderful
(10:09):
space.
I just get excited about it.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I'm a cheerleader for Chukwala and I want to talk
about it and you talked a lotabout, you know, working with
the local tribes, which I thinkis incredibly important.
How else can our communityconnect with you, Rotarians or
non-Rotarians, to help toachieve the goals of preserving
our environment and preservingthis particular wonderful thing
(10:34):
that we have in our valley?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Right.
So we've talked aboutconservation and the reasons
that we do conservationEducation.
You nailed it.
That is the next thing.
If we cannot convince people tofall in love with the desert and
help us take care of it the 109of us that are friends of the
Desert Mountains, which is likenine staff and 100 volunteers we
can't do it all.
We need people's help.
So we do it in really insidiousways.
(10:57):
We take people out hiking andwe show them how beautiful it is
out there.
We do educational seminarswhere we talk to people about
things like water and the impactthat it has, planting native
plants and the impact they have.
There's these conservation isthis really big concept?
But there's little, tiny stepsthat everyday people can do to
help.
You can be an advocate.
(11:18):
I mean, that doesn't cost youanything.
That's just opening your mouthand saying I believe that this
is important.
But you can also come on a hikewith us.
Again, that's free.
We love donations.
I'll never say that we don'tlove donations, but our hikes
are free and we have a varietyof them and a variety of
capacities.
We actually lead hikes forpeople with disabilities as well
, all because we know that theywant to be, and deserve to be
(11:41):
outside as much as anybody else,so like if you're older and
you're a little concerned about,maybe, your abilities my
abilities.
Thank goodness we have sometrails that are out there and
you can go check them out.
There's several places likemorongo, big morongo preserve.
We have a quarter mile trail uphere at the santa rosa, san
jacinto mountains nationalmonument that you actually, if
(12:02):
you're using a walker or awheelchair, you can still go out
here in the desert a little bitsee the plants.
I was out there this morningfor five minutes and saw like
bunnies and white-tailedsquirrels and two different
kinds of lizards.
I did see a snake but honestlyhe's the office snake and he
works here, so he doesn't reallycount.
(12:26):
Robbie's kind of a ringer, buthe's a ambassador, so that's
like the open part of the public.
We love for you guys to comeout and get involved with us.
We also have volunteer projects.
Sometimes they're one-offs,like a national public lands day
or earth day.
We'll do a big cleanup here atthe visitor center so that
people can come and get theirhands in the dirt and feel that
ownership that comes with beinga part of your public lands.
(12:46):
Right, we're always like, yeah,these are your public lands,
and today is your day to helpclean it up.
So there's ways that we getpeople involved all the time,
and the really sneaky part thatwe're doing now is we're
actually bringing more and morekids out to the land too,
because they need to understandthis is their future and they
have to invest in it To be goodenvironmental stewards of their
(13:07):
land.
Yeah, yeah, because you knowwhen they're little and we hear
such stories that I would neverwant to stomp on any kid joy.
But you hear stories about howfun it was to maybe kick a
cactus down the hill and watchit roll, but like that cactus
was the desert bighorn's food.
Or that people like to takefountain grass and it has that
(13:28):
wonderful feathery stuff on itand it's so fun to throw it and
let it walk, you know, waft offin the wind Again, awesome.
But fountain grass is anon-native species that really
likes to plant itself here, suckup the water from the other
local plants, then die off andbecome a fire hazard, right.
So it's like an education thingwhere I think when people know
(13:51):
better, they want to do better,they want to be part of the
solution, and we are so here forthat.
We love giving people the bigwords to say so they can be the
cool person at the cocktailparty, whatever it takes.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I'm taking that Pluvian word just saying I know,
Aeolian, Pluvian, right.
What was the other one, Aeolian, Aeolian.
That makes me I'm thinking likeAeoli which is mayonnaise.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
but that's okay, I'll remember it.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Pluvian and Aeoli.
Now I have big words.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
See, my work is done here.
I'm going to go, but yeah, wejust love getting people excited
about the desert.
You can see that it gets megoing, but it got you going.
It gets you going, we're doinggreat.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Let me ask you just from a perspective is there any
difference between the desertthat and not just in a
topography, but the kind ofdesert that's up in the 29 Palms
area, down into Coachella,going all the way out to Arizona
?
Is there differences in thetype of desert?
(14:53):
Is there such a thing as a typeof desert?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
There really is a difference in the type of desert
and these actually havedifferent names as well.
So the area you're talkingabout a little north of here and
heading out towards Vegas andup towards Southern Utah, that's
the Mojave.
That is the world famous MojaveDesert.
There's a Mojave River thatruns through it.
There is all kinds of waterthat happens in the desert.
Sometimes it's seasonal, a lotof times it's underground but
(15:17):
constantly flowing.
There's even like frogs thatknow to wait in the mud and wait
until it rains again and showup.
So the desert has its lifecycles like that.
Now our desert here in theCoachella Valley is actually
considered the lower Coloradodesert because the Colorado
splits us.
The Colorado River is right atthe edge of California here,
(15:38):
like 50 miles from us.
Who knew right?
So we are below that lowerColorado and so we're actually
kind of like the Sal and it'scalled the salt and sink.
We're a very low point here.
The mountains on the other sideof us, which is the santa rosa,
san jacinto mountains nationalmonument and san jacinto being
like one of the second, uh,tallest mountains here in
(15:59):
california, and we live in therain shadow of that.
So if you'll look at it, if yougo to like lake kimmett, which
is just on the other side of themountains.
Here it's covered in trees,there's a lake, there's grass,
everywhere.
It's all very pastoral and nice.
It's because the rain stopswhen it hits the back side of
the mountain.
You don't get the rain here.
So that is the reason ourdesert exists is because there's
(16:22):
a combination of the coloradoriver kind of flowing and taking
all of the water down towardsthe gulf of mexico, and then
we're in the rain shadow.
So we create this whole littledry dip here, which is why we
have this wonderful aquifer downbelow us and that's why the
land that we get as the watercomes off the sides of our
mountains and flows down intothe aquifer, we want to keep
(16:42):
that land clean from development.
We believe in development aslong as it's smart and there's
places for it.
Here in the valley we havewhat's called the and here's
another one, not exactly a bigfun for cocktail parties, but
the Coachella Valley MultipleSpecies Habitat Conservation
Plan.
Wow, part of those species ishumans, land, part of those
(17:05):
species is humans.
So we have a thoughtful planthat has decided here's a good
place for development.
Here Maybe not so much becauseyou're.
Here's right where themountains meet the land and we
want to keep that clean forwater.
But over here in this area,where it might be a little
windier but it's a good placefor development.
Now they're going to tell youcan only develop like three
quarters of the land so thatthere's still a place for sand
and lizards and snakes and birdsto move through, because the
(17:26):
desert is not deserted.
We are part of the pacificflyway, so when all these birds
are flying to and from theirplaces for the winter or the
summer, they pass through here.
Right right, there's constantly, as it gets hotter, the animals
that are down low know to moveup the hills and if we have
blocked them from moving upthose hills, those animals will
not thrive and they will die.
(17:47):
So we have all of these kindsof things in place that
sometimes people think like landconservation, you're doing it
because you don't likedevelopment.
Like no, we do.
We like thoughtful development.
We know people are going tocome to this valley and we know
that we have I mean, accordingto our water authorities, we
have the resources toaccommodate people.
So we want to work togetherwith that because we know
(18:08):
everybody wants to come and liveon the desert.
So that's what we're doing.
When we get visitors here, weeducate them.
When we get school kids here,we educate them.
We appreciate so manyopportunities the Rotary, you
guys, have given us a chance totalk to like a different group
of people than we've reached ina long time and we really
appreciate having that, becausewe get excited and we get so
(18:29):
insulated and we talk to eachother all the time about all the
magic that's going on here.
But we have to tell otherpeople about it and let them
know that they have a chance tohelp.
I moved here back down here.
As you know, you always end upwhere the wife is from.
(18:51):
I moved back here from NorthernCalifornia where I lived in an
apartment building for 30 yearsthat was older than any building
here in Coachella Valley.
So, judy, when you said sustainliterally the valley and the
development and the concept hereis so new, we all have a chance
to really make this a verysustainable place.
We've seen what happens whenthey build up the hillsides of
other places.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And then it really isn't sustainable.
So you're doing well.
First of all, I want to say Idon't know how many clubs you've
visited in Coachella Valley,but there's more than one.
There's like 18 of us, so Ihope you get a chance to visit
more of them.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah call them right.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And, secondly, I love that we have.
You have free opportunities,you have opportunities for kids,
but I'm going to ask you aquestion Because of the area
focus of environment being whatwe do, one of the things that we
do, and because we dointernational grants all over
the world, including in our ownbackyard is there a big project
(19:49):
that you're working on thatmight be something that Rotary
can engage with you and work,and I'm talking a project that's
, you know, $30,000 or more?
Is there something like thatyou're working on that Rotarians
might be interested incollaborating with you and
working with you?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, I love that you are asking that, because we do
actually have something thatwould be really neat.
Now, mind you, friends of thedesert mountains, our land is
conserved in perpetuity, so thelands that we have there's not
going to be development on there.
There might be an occasionalnew trail or something through
that.
But where we live, where ouroffices are, right out here that
(20:26):
you can see when you look overthis way that thing, that's
actually where our deserttortoise lives.
Here we have a resident deserttortoise and just beyond these
green trees is our parking lot.
We have so many people.
Since COVID, Our visitorship hasquadrupled literally from like
20,000 people a year to almost100,000 people a year thousand
(20:53):
people a year.
And in between that parking lotin here there's no shade, no
place to sit down and take alunch and have a break and just
enjoy the desert.
So, working with our Bureau ofLand Management partners, we've
identified an area out therethat we would like to put in
just a few shaded structures sothat families could come here
and enjoy some time in thedesert, especially if you're not
a big hiking kind of family butyou still want to be outside.
(21:14):
And from where we sit, if youlook across to the mountains up
there with binoculars, you'llsee desert bighorns, we've got
lizards, we've got tortoise,We've got all kinds of things
going on.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
So if we could talk to you guys about maybe making
that kind of you know, I don'tknow what we call it a desert
island just a place to take abreak and again, I'm not making
any promises, but I always liketo open the conversation because
environment we're working on acouple of environmental projects
throughout our district and Ijust kind of like to open these
(21:46):
conversations and we can maybeat least start the conversation
with maybe some of the clubsthat are in the area.
Niren's going to be taking overthis next year.
He's got district-designatedfunds and clubs that are going
to be trying to put thosedollars to use and we want to
put them to use in a sustainablemanner that follows our areas
of focus.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, absolutely Do you have, Karen.
Do you have and you might havementioned this but do you have
functions or events whereRotarians can come out and help,
like you said, clear a trail,clean up, you know whatever
types of things, but Rotarianslike to be hands-on?
(22:28):
We like to come roll up oursleeves and grab a rake, grab a
shovel, whatever you need us todo.
So do you have those kinds ofthings that maybe we could be
plugged in and maybe you couldtalk a little bit about your
website and mention that sopeople can go there, because
this is going to go not only inthe Coachella Valley but, as I
mentioned to you when I met you,I'd like to get that knowledge
(22:48):
out to the rest of the InlandEmpire who may not be as aware
of the Coachella Valley anddesert.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Absolutely.
I mean literally.
We couldn't get anything doneif it were not for volunteers.
Public lands take public handsright.
So we have on the daily.
There are regular volunteers whocome here and do everything
from watering plants around thedesert because we're actually at
a visitor's dinner so thewatering of the plants, but we
(23:15):
help maintain over 310 miles oftrails throughout Coachella
Valley.
Some of them are in theNational Monument and some of
them are on our other publiclands.
We have, so that used to,that's normally called like
Trail Tuesdays.
So we have our trail masterwill get together with a bunch
of people and go out and takecare of the trails.
We have weed warriors who do acombination of things.
(23:35):
Sometimes they go out and theyhike and they're just looking
for the invasive species ofplants that shouldn't be there.
They come back and they reportit to the Bureau of Land
Management.
Then we coordinate what it'sgoing to take to monitor and
maintain and perhaps get rid ofthat species of plants.
So if you're somebody whoreally likes to kind of just
take a hike but make it a hike,that counts, that's a great way
(23:56):
of doing it.
Hike with purpose, right,because not everybody's into
pulling plants.
I enjoy it in my own yard, butI don't do it too much here.
But we do have National PublicLands Days and Earth Days, and
this year it's actually the 25thanniversary of the santa rosa,
san jacinto mountains nationalmonument, so there'll be some
stuff coming up later in theyear with that.
(24:18):
So we do have, if you've everbeen to, the coachella valley
wildflower festival, whichhappens the first weekend in
march in palm desert, that is abig event literally.
We get about 5 000 people inabout four hours who come
through there, yeah, and so wealways need volunteers to help
with that.
There's volunteers that helpset up, there are volunteers
(24:39):
that work the day of the event.
There's a whole kid zone thathas to be staffed.
There is walking around andeven just welcoming people and
helping them get to theinformation that they want to
find.
That's all very good for us.
We staff the visitor center hereat the National Monument.
It's open Friday, saturday andSunday and we often need people
who are willing to sit in thereand look out at the most amazing
(25:03):
view and then just tell peopleabout how wonderful it is and
where they can go to find whatthey're looking for the part of
the desert they would like toexperience.
So there's ongoing commitments,there's one-time commitments.
We have our one annualfundraiser a year called Friends
and Champions, and that is inLa Quinta this year at Silver
Rock Park on November 12th andthat actually takes again more
(25:27):
hands because we do.
There's a live auction, asilent auction.
We actually have a caterer whocomes in and everything.
So we don't expect you to servepeople dinner, but getting it
all set up and being the peoplewho stand there and wave a
little glowing stick whensomebody is raising their paddle
to help us, you know, fundwhatever project we've got going
on, whether it's working withyouth or taking care of a new
(25:47):
piece of land, or one of our newfavorite things is donating
land to the tribe, but that'sanother story for another time.
There is all kinds ofopportunities for people to
volunteer and if you want to seethem, you would go to
desertmountainsorg and that'smountains plural, because it's
all of them, not just oneDesertmountainsorg and you can
(26:07):
click on any of the thing inthere.
It's a new website, so we'restill developing it out some,
but you've got a little bit ofour history, the things that
we've accomplished here so thatyou can feel good about
participating with our group,and you'll see that our
volunteers, for the most part,are people that look like us.
Right, they're people our age,so we're trying to get younger
people involved too.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So I know there's hey , what are you saying about me?
No, I'm just saying, I'm saying, as people are age and that's
really awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
But and this is our legacy that we have actually
gotten so many more kidsinvolved in this now that
there's.
So there's other organizationsthat are starting, like Audubon
is working with young people,other groups, MDLT working with
young people.
We're all starting to reallyunderstand that if we don't
convince the young people thatthe work that we did is
important, they'll let it go,They'll let it slide and they
(26:59):
won't ever understand until it'stoo gone.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
It's been very insightful.
I really enjoyed learning moreabout the desert and about what
you're doing there and helpingour environment in the Coachella
Valley.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Again.
For me it's been fascinatingand I learned a lot more than I
did the first time I heard you.
So I'm going to continue to dothat.
But I really am excited thatsome of our other Rotarians who
are not out in the CoachellaValley can learn the importance
of the desert and what they cando to assist with that and
certainly a place they can taketheir kids or their families and
(27:38):
go and safely hike and learn alot, et cetera.
So thank you very much for that.
I did want to ask you aquestion without getting
political, but I know that therehave been some challenges to
funding.
That goes to either Bureau ofLand Management or some of the
national forests, et cetera, thenational park designations.
(28:01):
Has that affected you at all inany way?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
It has a little bit.
Yes, we have a memorandum ofunderstanding with the Bureau of
Land Management that we workwith here.
That has gone away for a whileand that impacts us somewhat.
But let me tell you it justmade us want to double down and
know that the work that we do issuper important and we're going
(28:27):
to find any way to do it.
And we're going to find any wayto do it.
So if we can't necessarily findthe resources for a bus to
bring the kids up here, we'regoing to go meet them and go to
the nearest natural space thatwe can with them and get them
excited about it.
Still, we're not going to letthat get in our way, not
whatsoever.
Like I said, we have anobligation.
The desert needs us and we needit.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Well, the passion is definitely there and we really
enjoyed you connecting with ustoday.
I hope you keep connected withthe Rotary and all of those that
are in our Valley.
I know that I'm going to bringmy mom to see you because she
would love this stuff.
And maybe my grandbaby.
So we'll get both sides of thatspectrum right.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Summertime things get a littlequieter down at the lower levels
because it's so hot, but that'swhen we encourage people to go
up to some of our higherlocations.
Go to Lake Hemet.
I will tell you and I'm like Ican't show it to you on my phone
because the phone never reallyworks on this as well but I
actually got to go help band twobaby eagles at Lake Hemet on
(29:29):
Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
That is so cool at Lake Hemet on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
That is so cool.
It is pretty cool because thatis one of those species that was
on the brink and darn it.
Humans worked together andbrought them back, and they're
doing really well.
Now we are starting to see sometoxins in the birds again, so
we're just going to have to keepon it, keep on it, keep on it,
because people forget have tokeep, keep on it, you know, keep
(29:53):
on it.
Keep on it because you know,yeah, people forget and it's
it's really easy for people toforget how much they impact
nature.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Well, we're glad that you're able to assist us with
that, and and rotary is iscertainly open to helping you in
any way that we can, both theindividual clubs as well as at
the district level.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
So please, uh, please , let us know how we can help oh
yeah, now that, now that we'vehad any kind of conversation
about my, my dream island outthere, but, literally call us um
.
We have so many different kindsof presentations that we were
happy to share with you.
We have a new native plantingguide that we've been sharing
some out.
We do have a presentation aboutwater.
(30:30):
We talk about all the work thatwe do been sharing some out.
We do have a presentation aboutwater.
We talk about all the work thatwe do and why our environmental
education program is differentthan a lot of education programs
.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
So call us.
Thank you, we're happy to share.
Thank you, we'll talk to yousoon.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Thank, you have a great day Thanks guys Bye.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope.
We are so happy that we have anaudience out there listening.
We want you to subscribe, shareand tell your friends about the
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the
word out about the impact we'rehaving in this world.
Hello and welcome to the Community.
Heroes of Hope, a podcast wherewe shine a light on the
remarkable individuals andprojects in Rotary District 5330
that bring hope and change toour local and global communities
.
I am Judy Zelfikar, yourco-host and the current District
Governor of Rotary District5330.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And I'm Niren McLean, the Rotary District
Governor-Elect.
Together, we're diving deepinto the heart of the community
service, showcasing the impactof dedication and collaboration
in addressing some of the mostpressing challenges our
communities face.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Each episode will tell stories of incredible
people making a difference,innovating solutions and
inspiring others to take action.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
We'll also be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at
the projects that aretransforming, making a
difference, innovating solutionsand inspiring others to take
action.
We'll also be giving you abehind-the-scenes look at the
projects that are transformingtheir lives, and we'll discuss
how you, too, can get involved,contribute and be part of the
positive change.
Whether you're a seasonedRotarian or just looking to give
back, this podcast is for you.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So join us as we explore the journeys, challenges
and successes of people likeyou who have stepped up to make
a difference.
Let's celebrate the spirit ofcommunity and the power of hope
together.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Don't forget to subscribe to the Community
Heroes of Hope on your favoritepodcast platform.
Stay with us on this journey ofinspiration and let's spread
the message of hope further thanever.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Thank you for tuning in.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, karen, it is.
I don't remember, I don't knowif you remember this, but I saw
you.
I happen to have been out atthe Palm Desert Rotary Club when
you were doing a presentationthere and I was just very, very
much interested in your friendsof the Desert Mountain and the
work you were doing and I saidI'd love to have you come and
(01:47):
speak in Riverside.
We were never able to put thattogether, but I'm excited to
have the opportunity to have youtalk to our district and tell
them about what are you doing,what's going on and the needs
out in the Coachella Valley, inthe desert, because that's such
an important part of ourdistrict and our state and I
love that.
The desert, because that's suchan important part of our
district and our state and Ilove that.
(02:07):
So, governor Judy, that's how Imet Karen and it was really a
fascinating, fascinating talkthat she gave at the Palm Desert
Rotary Club.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, that's why I love this podcast, because I get
to learn new things every day.
And I don't know, karen, Idon't know anything about what
you're doing.
So this is very exciting and Ihope to ask lots of questions.
So forgive me if I jump in andstart asking questions.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
No, that's okay.
Adhd is my specialty, so let'skeep it interesting.
Yeah, my kind of gal.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So, Karen, if you could tell us exactly the
Friends of the Desert Mountainsand how you got started and what
is your focus and share withour district Rotarians who went
out there at Palm Desert sodon't know anything about your
organization.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Absolutely, and we find that a lot of people don't
always know what we're doinghere.
We're one of the secrets thebest kept secrets of Coachella
Valley.
My name is Karen Jaffe.
I am the Marketing andDevelopment Associate for
Friends of the Desert MountainsFriends of the Desert Mountains.
Our mission is we connectpeople to the land through
conservation, education andresearch, all of which are
(03:13):
really big concepts, so I reallylike being able to break it
down for people into bite-sizedpieces, right.
So our desert is pretty bighere and a lot of people think
there's nothing going on outthere, but it actually plays a
really pivotal part in keepingour air and our water clean.
And when we talk aboutpreserving species and
biodiversity, people think we'retalking about our endangered
(03:36):
species, which we have thepeninsular ranges, bighorn sheep
.
We have desert tortoises.
We have all kinds of plants andlizards that exist no place
else but here, which indicatesright there there's a lot of
things growing and living in thedesert, but one of our most
important species that we alsohelp protect are humans.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, we're kind of important a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, we're one of those species that keeping clean
air and water and protectingbiodiversity actually benefits
our community now and in thefuture, and that is what we
really are excited about.
For the most part, it's onething that we're saving big
swaths of the desert and peopleget to go out and play in them,
and everything but the land thatFriends conserves is pretty
(04:18):
unique.
It's not just wide open,beautiful spaces, it is places
that protect, specifically here,our water supply.
Coachella Valley is a big bowl.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It's all very important and you know, one of
the big areas of focus, arecently added area of focus of
Rotary which is probably whythat we had you were speaking at
a Rotary club is theenvironment, and it is a very
obviously very important part ofall of us creatures, human and
otherwise, being able to liveand sustain on this planet.
(04:51):
So I'm really excited to hearabout what you're doing out in
the desert to serve all of us,both the people and the planet.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Judy, yeah, you nailed it with sustain.
That is what we're doing here,yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So, Karen, normally you hear the forest or the
Amazon being the lungs of theearth and cleaning it.
Tell us how the desert does it,because that's not something
you typically hear.
At least I haven't.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I haven't either.
I'm excited to hear that.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Exactly.
We flip that, we flip that.
So our desert is a forestunderground.
So when you see, like the littletiny tip of a plant here, like
our creosote the ubiquitouscreosote that's everywhere,
underneath it is an entireforest of roots that are doing a
really great job of pulling inthat CO2, the carbon from the
(05:43):
air air and then sticking itdown in that calique clay so it
doesn't ever come up again.
So our desert actually does abetter job of that than the
rainforest and it holds it downreally well too.
So that's part of the reasonwe're, like you know, stay on
the trail and don't bust thecrust, and why we do get
concerned when big parts of thedesert get torn up for
development and stuff, we'rere-releasing all of that carbon
(06:04):
right back into the air.
So when you see space aroundthose plants, that big open
space that's kind of around thecreosote, that's because its
roots are out there and they'rekind of holding hands with the
plant next to it saying, hey,let's keep our desert clean.
So that's why we love creosote,besides the fact that it smells
fantastic after the rain.
But yeah, our desert does areally good job of taking care
(06:27):
of us if we take care of it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So what is unique, then, about the desert?
You've explained about the air,which is fascinating.
I did not know that.
What is unique about the desertas far as the water is
concerned?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know there's a song that talks about I miss you
, like the desert's missed therain, and the desert's like,
well, we don't know when it'sgoing to come again, so I can't
really wait around for that.
And there are things that wethink of as a cyclical like.
We think of like April showersbring me flowers no, not here.
We need that rain back inOctober to soften up seeds that
they'll be able to bloom whenthe springtime comes.
(07:02):
And our water stuff.
Here it's a complicated story,right, our valley used to have
wetlands.
It used to have flowing riversand wetlands that came down into
it.
But one of the things thathappens when development happens
is we go up and we try and damup those water areas so they
don't flood our low-lyingcommunities.
You know, rancho Mirage is kindof down there, and further on
(07:25):
down the valley those areas arelower and in the middle, and
when we develop around thoseareas we don't want them to
flood.
So we dam up our waterways andwe dam up a lot of other stuff.
By doing that, there's only twoways that sand can get across
the valley.
It's constantly breaking downfrom our mountains, that's what
water does to it, and then itflows down the mountains and the
water drops off and goes intoour aquifer.
(07:48):
Yay, nice, clean water.
And then the sand just kind ofsits there and says how do I get
across the valley to hang outin the sand dunes so that the
fringe toad lizards have a placeto live?
Well, I've got two fun words,because they always give me the
fun words to say you can either.
Sand can either travel fluvianor aeolian.
Fluvian is by the river and bywater flow.
(08:09):
Aeolian is in the air.
So when you dam up the waterflow, there's only one place
left.
They can't take Uber or Lyft.
Those sand grains hit the air.
And that's what we see whenpeople are like oh, the air is
so dirty here.
Sandstorms happen in the desert.
We all know that we have magicwords for it haboobs, they
really happen.
But we are contributing to thatby damming up our waterways so
(08:31):
that we can kind of control theland, and you can't.
I mean, the desert's alwaysgoing to win.
It was here before us, it'll behere after us.
Right, it'll be here after us,right, yeah, but we have a right
and a privilege to take care ofit while we're here and leave
it in the best condition for thegenerations that will follow us
.
You know, there's a reason thedesert looks so good is the
(08:52):
Cahuilla didn't try to fight it.
They learned to live with it.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
So they're such a great example and that's why
we're so excited to be workingmore like with our tribal
leaders and learning their waysof knowledge and trying I mean
even like forest management.
They have gone and said youknow what?
The tribes had it right in thefirst place.
So it's kind of exciting to beable to learn from the people
who've been here since timeimmemorial and to partner with
(09:15):
them.
And, you know, try and takecare of the desert in the same
way, because they've got kids,we've all all got kids.
I don't have kids, but peoplehave children.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
People have children, some people have children, some
people, some people havechildren and.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I want this desert to be here for them.
I really do.
I grew up here, I was born herein Southern California and I
have pictures of my parentsdriving around on my dad's
motorcycle tearing up the sanddunes.
There's a shotgun strapped tothe front forks.
He's a korean war vet andthere's a lot of vets who come
here to the big open spaces ofthe desert to just kind of let
(09:49):
go and be and process theexperience and I get that and I
want that place for them heretoo.
That's why I love chuckwallaright.
Lots of space out there in thechuckwalla national monument for
off-roading and hunting andhiking and still respecting the
culture and the nature andeverything that's out there in
the Chukwala National Monumentfor off-roading and hunting and
hiking and still respecting theculture and the nature and
everything that's out thereDesert has so much wonderful
(10:09):
space.
I just get excited about it.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I'm a cheerleader for Chukwala and I want to talk
about it and you talked a lotabout, you know, working with
the local tribes, which I thinkis incredibly important.
How else can our communityconnect with you, Rotarians or
non-Rotarians, to help toachieve the goals of preserving
our environment and preservingthis particular wonderful thing
(10:34):
that we have in our valley?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Right.
So we've talked aboutconservation and the reasons
that we do conservationEducation.
You nailed it.
That is the next thing.
If we cannot convince people tofall in love with the desert and
help us take care of it the 109of us that are friends of the
Desert Mountains, which is likenine staff and 100 volunteers we
can't do it all.
We need people's help.
So we do it in really insidiousways.
(10:57):
We take people out hiking andwe show them how beautiful it is
out there.
We do educational seminarswhere we talk to people about
things like water and the impactthat it has, planting native
plants and the impact they have.
There's these conservation isthis really big concept?
But there's little, tiny stepsthat everyday people can do to
help.
You can be an advocate.
(11:18):
I mean, that doesn't cost youanything.
That's just opening your mouthand saying I believe that this
is important.
But you can also come on a hikewith us.
Again, that's free.
We love donations.
I'll never say that we don'tlove donations, but our hikes
are free and we have a varietyof them and a variety of
capacities.
We actually lead hikes forpeople with disabilities as well
, all because we know that theywant to be, and deserve to be
(11:41):
outside as much as anybody else,so like if you're older and
you're a little concerned about,maybe, your abilities my
abilities.
Thank goodness we have sometrails that are out there and
you can go check them out.
There's several places likemorongo, big morongo preserve.
We have a quarter mile trail uphere at the santa rosa, san
jacinto mountains nationalmonument that you actually, if
(12:02):
you're using a walker or awheelchair, you can still go out
here in the desert a little bitsee the plants.
I was out there this morningfor five minutes and saw like
bunnies and white-tailedsquirrels and two different
kinds of lizards.
I did see a snake but honestlyhe's the office snake and he
works here, so he doesn't reallycount.
(12:26):
Robbie's kind of a ringer, buthe's a ambassador, so that's
like the open part of the public.
We love for you guys to comeout and get involved with us.
We also have volunteer projects.
Sometimes they're one-offs,like a national public lands day
or earth day.
We'll do a big cleanup here atthe visitor center so that
people can come and get theirhands in the dirt and feel that
ownership that comes with beinga part of your public lands.
(12:46):
Right, we're always like, yeah,these are your public lands,
and today is your day to helpclean it up.
So there's ways that we getpeople involved all the time,
and the really sneaky part thatwe're doing now is we're
actually bringing more and morekids out to the land too,
because they need to understandthis is their future and they
have to invest in it To be goodenvironmental stewards of their
(13:07):
land.
Yeah, yeah, because you knowwhen they're little and we hear
such stories that I would neverwant to stomp on any kid joy.
But you hear stories about howfun it was to maybe kick a
cactus down the hill and watchit roll, but like that cactus
was the desert bighorn's food.
Or that people like to takefountain grass and it has that
(13:28):
wonderful feathery stuff on itand it's so fun to throw it and
let it walk, you know, waft offin the wind Again, awesome.
But fountain grass is anon-native species that really
likes to plant itself here, suckup the water from the other
local plants, then die off andbecome a fire hazard, right.
So it's like an education thingwhere I think when people know
(13:51):
better, they want to do better,they want to be part of the
solution, and we are so here forthat.
We love giving people the bigwords to say so they can be the
cool person at the cocktailparty, whatever it takes.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I'm taking that Pluvian word just saying I know,
Aeolian, Pluvian, right.
What was the other one, Aeolian, Aeolian.
That makes me I'm thinking likeAeoli which is mayonnaise.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
but that's okay, I'll remember it.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Pluvian and Aeoli.
Now I have big words.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
See, my work is done here.
I'm going to go, but yeah, wejust love getting people excited
about the desert.
You can see that it gets megoing, but it got you going.
It gets you going, we're doinggreat.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Let me ask you just from a perspective is there any
difference between the desertthat and not just in a
topography, but the kind ofdesert that's up in the 29 Palms
area, down into Coachella,going all the way out to Arizona
?
Is there differences in thetype of desert?
(14:53):
Is there such a thing as a typeof desert?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
There really is a difference in the type of desert
and these actually havedifferent names as well.
So the area you're talkingabout a little north of here and
heading out towards Vegas andup towards Southern Utah, that's
the Mojave.
That is the world famous MojaveDesert.
There's a Mojave River thatruns through it.
There is all kinds of waterthat happens in the desert.
Sometimes it's seasonal, a lotof times it's underground but
(15:17):
constantly flowing.
There's even like frogs thatknow to wait in the mud and wait
until it rains again and showup.
So the desert has its lifecycles like that.
Now our desert here in theCoachella Valley is actually
considered the lower Coloradodesert because the Colorado
splits us.
The Colorado River is right atthe edge of California here,
(15:38):
like 50 miles from us.
Who knew right?
So we are below that lowerColorado and so we're actually
kind of like the Sal and it'scalled the salt and sink.
We're a very low point here.
The mountains on the other sideof us, which is the santa rosa,
san jacinto mountains nationalmonument and san jacinto being
like one of the second, uh,tallest mountains here in
(15:59):
california, and we live in therain shadow of that.
So if you'll look at it, if yougo to like lake kimmett, which
is just on the other side of themountains.
Here it's covered in trees,there's a lake, there's grass,
everywhere.
It's all very pastoral and nice.
It's because the rain stopswhen it hits the back side of
the mountain.
You don't get the rain here.
So that is the reason ourdesert exists is because there's
(16:22):
a combination of the coloradoriver kind of flowing and taking
all of the water down towardsthe gulf of mexico, and then
we're in the rain shadow.
So we create this whole littledry dip here, which is why we
have this wonderful aquifer downbelow us and that's why the
land that we get as the watercomes off the sides of our
mountains and flows down intothe aquifer, we want to keep
(16:42):
that land clean from development.
We believe in development aslong as it's smart and there's
places for it.
Here in the valley we havewhat's called the and here's
another one, not exactly a bigfun for cocktail parties, but
the Coachella Valley MultipleSpecies Habitat Conservation
Plan.
Wow, part of those species ishumans, land, part of those
(17:05):
species is humans.
So we have a thoughtful planthat has decided here's a good
place for development.
Here Maybe not so much becauseyou're.
Here's right where themountains meet the land and we
want to keep that clean forwater.
But over here in this area,where it might be a little
windier but it's a good placefor development.
Now they're going to tell youcan only develop like three
quarters of the land so thatthere's still a place for sand
and lizards and snakes and birdsto move through, because the
(17:26):
desert is not deserted.
We are part of the pacificflyway, so when all these birds
are flying to and from theirplaces for the winter or the
summer, they pass through here.
Right right, there's constantly, as it gets hotter, the animals
that are down low know to moveup the hills and if we have
blocked them from moving upthose hills, those animals will
not thrive and they will die.
(17:47):
So we have all of these kindsof things in place that
sometimes people think like landconservation, you're doing it
because you don't likedevelopment.
Like no, we do.
We like thoughtful development.
We know people are going tocome to this valley and we know
that we have I mean, accordingto our water authorities, we
have the resources toaccommodate people.
So we want to work togetherwith that because we know
(18:08):
everybody wants to come and liveon the desert.
So that's what we're doing.
When we get visitors here, weeducate them.
When we get school kids here,we educate them.
We appreciate so manyopportunities the Rotary, you
guys, have given us a chance totalk to like a different group
of people than we've reached ina long time and we really
appreciate having that, becausewe get excited and we get so
(18:29):
insulated and we talk to eachother all the time about all the
magic that's going on here.
But we have to tell otherpeople about it and let them
know that they have a chance tohelp.
I moved here back down here.
As you know, you always end upwhere the wife is from.
(18:51):
I moved back here from NorthernCalifornia where I lived in an
apartment building for 30 yearsthat was older than any building
here in Coachella Valley.
So, judy, when you said sustainliterally the valley and the
development and the concept hereis so new, we all have a chance
to really make this a verysustainable place.
We've seen what happens whenthey build up the hillsides of
other places.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And then it really isn't sustainable.
So you're doing well.
First of all, I want to say Idon't know how many clubs you've
visited in Coachella Valley,but there's more than one.
There's like 18 of us, so Ihope you get a chance to visit
more of them.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah call them right.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And, secondly, I love that we have.
You have free opportunities,you have opportunities for kids,
but I'm going to ask you aquestion Because of the area
focus of environment being whatwe do, one of the things that we
do, and because we dointernational grants all over
the world, including in our ownbackyard is there a big project
(19:49):
that you're working on thatmight be something that Rotary
can engage with you and work,and I'm talking a project that's
, you know, $30,000 or more?
Is there something like thatyou're working on that Rotarians
might be interested incollaborating with you and
working with you?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, I love that you are asking that, because we do
actually have something thatwould be really neat.
Now, mind you, friends of thedesert mountains, our land is
conserved in perpetuity, so thelands that we have there's not
going to be development on there.
There might be an occasionalnew trail or something through
that.
But where we live, where ouroffices are, right out here that
(20:26):
you can see when you look overthis way that thing, that's
actually where our deserttortoise lives.
Here we have a resident deserttortoise and just beyond these
green trees is our parking lot.
We have so many people.
Since COVID, Our visitorship hasquadrupled literally from like
20,000 people a year to almost100,000 people a year thousand
(20:53):
people a year.
And in between that parking lotin here there's no shade, no
place to sit down and take alunch and have a break and just
enjoy the desert.
So, working with our Bureau ofLand Management partners, we've
identified an area out therethat we would like to put in
just a few shaded structures sothat families could come here
and enjoy some time in thedesert, especially if you're not
a big hiking kind of family butyou still want to be outside.
(21:14):
And from where we sit, if youlook across to the mountains up
there with binoculars, you'llsee desert bighorns, we've got
lizards, we've got tortoise,We've got all kinds of things
going on.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
So if we could talk to you guys about maybe making
that kind of you know, I don'tknow what we call it a desert
island just a place to take abreak and again, I'm not making
any promises, but I always liketo open the conversation because
environment we're working on acouple of environmental projects
throughout our district and Ijust kind of like to open these
(21:46):
conversations and we can maybeat least start the conversation
with maybe some of the clubsthat are in the area.
Niren's going to be taking overthis next year.
He's got district-designatedfunds and clubs that are going
to be trying to put thosedollars to use and we want to
put them to use in a sustainablemanner that follows our areas
of focus.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, absolutely Do you have, Karen.
Do you have and you might havementioned this but do you have
functions or events whereRotarians can come out and help,
like you said, clear a trail,clean up, you know whatever
types of things, but Rotarianslike to be hands-on?
(22:28):
We like to come roll up oursleeves and grab a rake, grab a
shovel, whatever you need us todo.
So do you have those kinds ofthings that maybe we could be
plugged in and maybe you couldtalk a little bit about your
website and mention that sopeople can go there, because
this is going to go not only inthe Coachella Valley but, as I
mentioned to you when I met you,I'd like to get that knowledge
(22:48):
out to the rest of the InlandEmpire who may not be as aware
of the Coachella Valley anddesert.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Absolutely.
I mean literally.
We couldn't get anything doneif it were not for volunteers.
Public lands take public handsright.
So we have on the daily.
There are regular volunteers whocome here and do everything
from watering plants around thedesert because we're actually at
a visitor's dinner so thewatering of the plants, but we
(23:15):
help maintain over 310 miles oftrails throughout Coachella
Valley.
Some of them are in theNational Monument and some of
them are on our other publiclands.
We have, so that used to,that's normally called like
Trail Tuesdays.
So we have our trail masterwill get together with a bunch
of people and go out and takecare of the trails.
We have weed warriors who do acombination of things.
(23:35):
Sometimes they go out and theyhike and they're just looking
for the invasive species ofplants that shouldn't be there.
They come back and they reportit to the Bureau of Land
Management.
Then we coordinate what it'sgoing to take to monitor and
maintain and perhaps get rid ofthat species of plants.
So if you're somebody whoreally likes to kind of just
take a hike but make it a hike,that counts, that's a great way
(23:56):
of doing it.
Hike with purpose, right,because not everybody's into
pulling plants.
I enjoy it in my own yard, butI don't do it too much here.
But we do have National PublicLands Days and Earth Days, and
this year it's actually the 25thanniversary of the santa rosa,
san jacinto mountains nationalmonument, so there'll be some
stuff coming up later in theyear with that.
(24:18):
So we do have, if you've everbeen to, the coachella valley
wildflower festival, whichhappens the first weekend in
march in palm desert, that is abig event literally.
We get about 5 000 people inabout four hours who come
through there, yeah, and so wealways need volunteers to help
with that.
There's volunteers that helpset up, there are volunteers
(24:39):
that work the day of the event.
There's a whole kid zone thathas to be staffed.
There is walking around andeven just welcoming people and
helping them get to theinformation that they want to
find.
That's all very good for us.
We staff the visitor center hereat the National Monument.
It's open Friday, saturday andSunday and we often need people
who are willing to sit in thereand look out at the most amazing
(25:03):
view and then just tell peopleabout how wonderful it is and
where they can go to find whatthey're looking for the part of
the desert they would like toexperience.
So there's ongoing commitments,there's one-time commitments.
We have our one annualfundraiser a year called Friends
and Champions, and that is inLa Quinta this year at Silver
Rock Park on November 12th andthat actually takes again more
(25:27):
hands because we do.
There's a live auction, asilent auction.
We actually have a caterer whocomes in and everything.
So we don't expect you to servepeople dinner, but getting it
all set up and being the peoplewho stand there and wave a
little glowing stick whensomebody is raising their paddle
to help us, you know, fundwhatever project we've got going
on, whether it's working withyouth or taking care of a new
(25:47):
piece of land, or one of our newfavorite things is donating
land to the tribe, but that'sanother story for another time.
There is all kinds ofopportunities for people to
volunteer and if you want to seethem, you would go to
desertmountainsorg and that'smountains plural, because it's
all of them, not just oneDesertmountainsorg and you can
(26:07):
click on any of the thing inthere.
It's a new website, so we'restill developing it out some,
but you've got a little bit ofour history, the things that
we've accomplished here so thatyou can feel good about
participating with our group,and you'll see that our
volunteers, for the most part,are people that look like us.
Right, they're people our age,so we're trying to get younger
people involved too.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So I know there's hey , what are you saying about me?
No, I'm just saying, I'm saying, as people are age and that's
really awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
But and this is our legacy that we have actually
gotten so many more kidsinvolved in this now that
there's.
So there's other organizationsthat are starting, like Audubon
is working with young people,other groups, MDLT working with
young people.
We're all starting to reallyunderstand that if we don't
convince the young people thatthe work that we did is
important, they'll let it go,They'll let it slide and they
(26:59):
won't ever understand until it'stoo gone.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
It's been very insightful.
I really enjoyed learning moreabout the desert and about what
you're doing there and helpingour environment in the Coachella
Valley.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Again.
For me it's been fascinatingand I learned a lot more than I
did the first time I heard you.
So I'm going to continue to dothat.
But I really am excited thatsome of our other Rotarians who
are not out in the CoachellaValley can learn the importance
of the desert and what they cando to assist with that and
certainly a place they can taketheir kids or their families and
(27:38):
go and safely hike and learn alot, et cetera.
So thank you very much for that.
I did want to ask you aquestion without getting
political, but I know that therehave been some challenges to
funding.
That goes to either Bureau ofLand Management or some of the
national forests, et cetera, thenational park designations.
(28:01):
Has that affected you at all inany way?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
It has a little bit.
Yes, we have a memorandum ofunderstanding with the Bureau of
Land Management that we workwith here.
That has gone away for a whileand that impacts us somewhat.
But let me tell you it justmade us want to double down and
know that the work that we do issuper important and we're going
(28:27):
to find any way to do it.
And we're going to find any wayto do it.
So if we can't necessarily findthe resources for a bus to
bring the kids up here, we'regoing to go meet them and go to
the nearest natural space thatwe can with them and get them
excited about it.
Still, we're not going to letthat get in our way, not
whatsoever.
Like I said, we have anobligation.
The desert needs us and we needit.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Well, the passion is definitely there and we really
enjoyed you connecting with ustoday.
I hope you keep connected withthe Rotary and all of those that
are in our Valley.
I know that I'm going to bringmy mom to see you because she
would love this stuff.
And maybe my grandbaby.
So we'll get both sides of thatspectrum right.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Summertime things get a littlequieter down at the lower levels
because it's so hot, but that'swhen we encourage people to go
up to some of our higherlocations.
Go to Lake Hemet.
I will tell you and I'm like Ican't show it to you on my phone
because the phone never reallyworks on this as well but I
actually got to go help band twobaby eagles at Lake Hemet on
(29:29):
Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
That is so cool at Lake Hemet on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
That is so cool.
It is pretty cool because thatis one of those species that was
on the brink and darn it.
Humans worked together andbrought them back, and they're
doing really well.
Now we are starting to see sometoxins in the birds again, so
we're just going to have to keepon it, keep on it, keep on it,
because people forget have tokeep, keep on it, you know, keep
(29:53):
on it.
Keep on it because you know,yeah, people forget and it's
it's really easy for people toforget how much they impact
nature.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Well, we're glad that you're able to assist us with
that, and and rotary is iscertainly open to helping you in
any way that we can, both theindividual clubs as well as at
the district level.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
So please, uh, please , let us know how we can help oh
yeah, now that, now that we'vehad any kind of conversation
about my, my dream island outthere, but, literally call us um
.
We have so many different kindsof presentations that we were
happy to share with you.
We have a new native plantingguide that we've been sharing
some out.
We do have a presentation aboutwater.
(30:30):
We talk about all the work thatwe do been sharing some out.
We do have a presentation aboutwater.
We talk about all the work thatwe do and why our environmental
education program is differentthan a lot of education programs
.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
So call us.
Thank you, we're happy to share.
Thank you, we'll talk to yousoon.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Thank, you have a great day Thanks guys Bye.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope.
We are so happy that we have anaudience out there listening.
We want you to subscribe, shareand tell your friends about the
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the
word out about the impact we'rehaving in this world.
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