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Bush plan targets dunes for environmental roll-back, balanced management at risk.
Gracefully stretching over 40 miles northward from the US-Mexico border in Eastern Imperial County, California is the United State’s largest dune system - the Algodones.
The name is taken from Spanish and English manipulations of the name of the Quechan (Yuman) Indian tribe that historically dwelt, and still does in limited numbers, on both sides of the Colorado River in the area of the nearby dunes and delta.
The Algodones are an active dune system that harbors many rare, threatened, and endemic species such as the Peirson’s Milkvetch, Sand Food, Algodones Dunes Sunflower, Flat-tailed Horned Lizard, Andrews Dune Scarab Beetle, Colorado Desert Fringe-toed Lizard and at least 9 endemic beetles.
Colorado Desert Fringe-toed Lizard, byBradford Hollingsworth
The Algodones are among the oldest dunes in California, likely dating back to the latter Pleistocene epoch, 10-20,000 years ago. Some geologists think the dunes were created from blowing sands of the ancient Lake Cahuilla, the predecessor of the Salton Sea. Others believe the sand blew in from beaches and alluvial deposits to the west.
Due to the extreme dryness and temperature swings, and their constantly shifting sands, the Algodones represent a very unique habitat type in the Sonoran desert of southeastern California. During rains, the eastern side of the dunes act as a natural dam to block waters flowing toward the Salton Sea from the Chocolate Mountains. This results in many unique desert pools and supports a diverse microphyll woodland community with large Ironwood and Palo Verde trees dominate and providing diverse habitat structure and cover.
Trouble in ParadiseUnfortunately, the ancient dunes are threatened by uncontrolled and intense off-road vehicle use. Algodones is ground zero for motorized recreation, annually drawing up to one million dune buggies, motorcycles, jeeps, ATVs and monster trucks. They regularly run over plants and animals and tear up the dune ecosystem.
Wildlife are not the only ones assaulted during massive ORV gatherings at the dunes. The infamous and growing Algodones melees are giving off-road enthusiasts throughout California a bad name. BLM rangers have been threatened and had dune buggies attempting to run them over. They have had beer bottles and bags of fecal matter thrown at them by crowds chanting “kill the cops.” Management of the dunes has become so dangerous that a recent Department of Interior “Law Enforcement Special Evaluation” concluded that Algodones is "unsafe for family recreation activity due to the use of drugs and alcohol, and the problems of lawlessness that occur with such use." It recommended that BLM rangers be issued riot helmets, batons, and gas masks for their own safety. (More, click here)
Historically, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allowed off road vehicles to dominate 85% of the 160,000 dune ecosystem, the largest in the U.S. Only the 25,800 acre North Algodones Dunes Wilderness was off limits. This area is far too small and isolated to protect wildlife and endangered plants. To give this and other desert ecosystems a fighting chance, the Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and the Sierra Club sued the BLM on 3-16-00, challenging the impacts of livestock grazing, off road vehicles, mining and other activities on 11 million acres of public lands within the California Desert Conservation Area. Settling the first round of the suit, the BLM agreed to temporarily ban off road vehicles from an additional 49,310 acres of the Algodones Dunes on 11-2-00. While the off road lobby cries foul, it still has 70,000 acres on which to play. The off-road industry challenged this ban in court, and lost badly as the Center intervened. The ban was to remain in effect until a permanent solution was developed to save the Peirson’s milkvetch from extinction at the hands of rubber tires and flying sand. But instead of a permanent solution, the Bush administration off-road plan ignores experts and the current balanced management and opens all conservation areas; the Center is fighting this. The State of California was so opposed to the one-sided Bush dunes plan that it withheld $1.1 million in dunes funding to BLM. Local Indian Tribes are also opposed to the Bush plan.
Peirson's Milk-vetch
Desert EvolutionPeirson’s Milkvetch (Astragulus magdelenae var. peirsonii) is a silvery, short-lived perennial plant. A member of the bean and pea family, it can grow to 2.5 feet tall and is notable among milkvetches for its greatly reduced leaves. It produces attractive, small purple flowers, generally in March or April, on stalks with 10 to 17 flowers per stalk. Peirson’s milkvetch also has the largest seeds of any milkvetch, an important adaptation to it’s dunes habitat. Large seeds provide a greater reservoir of stored food and enable a seedling to grow a greater distance before emergence and/or depletion of their stored energy. In the U.S., the plant is known only on the Algodones Dunes. It is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. On August 5, 2003, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed 53,000 acres of the dunes as critical habitat for the survival and recovery of the Peirson’s milkvetch.
Sand Food
Sand Food (Pholisma sonorac) is a most unusual plant. The sand food is a flowering plant that is parasitic on the roots of the few perennial plants found on the Algodones dunes, mainly the Dune Buckwheat (Eriogonum deserticola). Sand food was an important food source for the indigenous peoples of the lower Colorado River region. It is reported to taste similar to a sweet potato.



Why Sand Dunes Go Boom
Stefan Lovgrenfor National Geographic News
October 20, 2004
It sounds like a low-flying propeller plane or maybe the deep humming of an electric wire. The booming sound made by some sand dunes has been a mystery for centuries.
The sound is produced when sand on the surface of a dune avalanches. Scientists have long believed the friction between grains creates the strange noise.
But Melany Hunt, a mechanical-engineering professor at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, thinks there is something else at play too.
For the past three years she has been taking her students out to the desert of eastern California and Nevada. By sliding down the dunes on their bottoms—literally doing science by the seat of the pants—Hunt and her researchers set the sand in motion to measure the sound waves it makes.
They have found that the sound continues even after the movement has stopped. Also, the sound that a sand dune makes in winter differs from the sound it makes in summer.
Hunt believes that when the sand on the surface is disturbed, the friction between sand grains creates a noise that reverberates back and forth between dry sand on the surface and wet sand below.
"That may be why smaller dunes don't make sound," Hunt explained. "They haven't been around long enough to form that hard layer of [wet] sand."


Martian dunes hide water secret
By Olivia Johnson BBC News, Dublin

Sands dunes: Another part of the water story on MarsScientists have found evidence that large amounts of water-ice hide within massive sand dunes on Mars.
One of the dunes, called Kaiser Dune, which spans 6.5km and rises 475m above the Martian surface, is among the largest in the Solar System.
The icy dunes could be a valuable resource for any future manned missions to the planet, said Dr Mary Bourke.
The researcher presented her results to a science conference in Dublin.
"If you're looking for a source of water for any future landers," said Dr Bourke, "I am advocating that you march up to your nearest sand dune.
"Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to find a reservoir that can be used to produce fuel and to help the survival of humans," she told the British Association's Festival of Science.
Earth parallels
The Gamma Ray Spectrometer aboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft returned the first definitive detection of solid water on Mars in 2002.
Data from this mission allowed scientists to construct a rough map of the water content in the Martian soil. Mars' polar ice caps were found to contain up to 70% water by mass.
Dr Bourke, of the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, US, first identified sand dunes as another possibly important reservoir of water-ice by overlaying this water content map on detailed geologic maps of Mars.
She found that the regions containing sand dunes in the planet's northern hemisphere contained perhaps 40-50% water by mass.
"It came as quite a surprise to us to realise that there could be some frozen water in these sand dunes," Dr Burke explained.
"On Earth, you do find snow and ice within sand dunes, but they're not well understood or even studied. They are reported as an oddity."
Because the resolution of the Gamma Ray Spectrometer data was not high enough to confirm the water was associated with the dunes themselves, Dr Bourke looked to more detailed satellite imagery.
Examining aerial photographs of sand dunes in Earth's polar regions allowed her to identify distinctive signatures of icy dunes which are visible from above.
Youthful features
"We were keen to identify what sand dunes look like from satellites in Antarctica," Dr Bourke explained, "because all we have for regions on Mars is satellite data."
Earth dunes containing solid water are seen to have overhanging cornices, jagged steps, and exposed ridges which result from the ice and snow binding the sand grains together and strengthening them against erosion.
That similar features are observed in the Martian dunes suggests that they, too, are strengthened by water-ice.
Even stronger evidence comes from signatures of melting, according to Dr Bourke. In regions where ice warms and seeps through the sand, dunes develop cracks and fan-shaped depressions.
Both features have been found in the Martian dunes. One fan-shaped basin seen on Mars spans over 400m, suggesting it has lost an extremely high fraction of water.
Mars' largest dune, Kaiser Dune, may contain over 500 cubic metres of water alone.
While the icy dunes on Mars cannot yet be accurately dated, the lack of cratering from asteroid impacts indicates they are relatively recent.
Dr Bourke speculates they may result from Martian snowfalls occurring in the last 100,000 years, and suggests they may eventually allow investigation of the changing Martian climate.
The dunes may also provide a new venue for the search for life on Mars, as methods have already been developed for studying biological life in similar regions on Earth.
The ability to associate water-ice with surface features as discrete, and as common, as sand dunes may be of significant practical value to any future manned mission to Mars which will need a supply of local water to survive on the planet.


Beat a Speeding Ticket
One thing that no person wants to face is the prospect of receiving a speeding ticket. It's costly and if you're looking up at a police officer who has stopped you in traffic to write you a citation, it's embarrassing as well.
Today, with the advent of the photo radar ticket, you might not realize the damage your lead foot has done until days or possibly weeks later when you open your mail to find an image of your license plate on your vehicle that was speeding merrily along; if that's not enough you'll also find inside that envelope a hefty fine for breaking the law.
If you do happen to spot the flashing red and blue lights in your rearview mirror there are some important steps you can do at that moment that can help you to beat the speeding ticket and either pay a reduced fine or in some cases no fine at all. Anyone who has been pulled over for speeding knows how it's tempting to argue with the police officer. This isn't something that you want to do for a number of reasons.
There are however certain reactions that can help on the spot. It's an old belief that acting as though you don't know what you did wrong won't help. That might not be the case. The same can be said for acting scared or upset. Police officers are first and foremost people just like you and sometimes human nature takes over and they'll let you leave with just a stern warning. That's not to say that you should break into tears when the policeman comes to your car but showing some emotion certainly cannot hurt.
Depending on the size of the citation it might be in your best interest to consult with a traffic ticket specialist. These are normally attorneys who specialize in traffic violations or retired police officers who just want to help the average citizen. Their familiarity and expertise in the area of speeding and traffic affords them insight into some of the lesser known loopholes.
Another alternative to hiring someone to fight the speeding ticket fight for you is to do it yourself. Instead of paying the fine you attend court on the date specified on the original citation the officer presented to you. Your plea is of course going to be "not guilty." Again there are many small things the motorist can do in court to better their chances of not paying such a high fine.
When facing a speeding ticket it's important for the motorist to remember that the fine most likely isn't going to be the only price they pay for going above the posted speed limit. Speeding tickets often mean an increase in insurance premiums. In some cases, depending on the violation the fine can be hefty. Being clocked going well over the speed limit could cost in the hundreds of dollars when the ticket and the increase in insurance premiums are combined. Weighing all the options could result in lots of money saved.