Precious Water in the Mojave

Bird Spring, still flowing at the end of spring, 2024.

Bird Spring is one of the two seasonal springs we have in the Freemont-Kramer Critical Habitat Unit. This area is a multi-purpose area designated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for desert tortoise conservation, recreation, and resource extraction. This can often pose difficulties in protecting habitat in this region. We work very closely with our local Barstow BLM office and assist them with habitat restoration and any issues we find in this region. We finished up a multi-year OHV grant this year, awarded by the State of California Parks Department. Part of the work we completed for this grant was assisting the BLM with officially decommissioning a route running through Bird Spring.

The BLM’s most recent record of decision had officially closed route BM6361 as it ran through Bird Spring Canyon, with the road actually cutting through part of the running spring. This road, however, physically remained open to OHV usage. The Barstow BLM donated fencing materials, signage, and training to us so that we could accomplish the physical closure of the road. We installed kiosks and maps with information almost 1 year before our work commenced, so that those riding to the Husky Memorial would be able to use the many alternate routes to access the memorial (A well-loved and cherished site). The Canyon itself remains open to hiking and public use other than OHV recreation, but the spring is now safe for wildlife to utilize. Because the drought has been long-lived in this region, with some swing-cycles of life-giving rain, the spring is ephemeral. Because of the lack of water resources in this area, it is more important than ever to save what we have here.

BM6361 is closed to OHV use (seen in red) through Bird Spring Canyon. Riders can utilize all other routes seen on this map to access the region and Husky Memorial.

“The Harper Valley Groundwater Basin is within the Mojave River adjudicated area and is an area of former agricultural land use that is transitioning to renewable energy. This valley has been historically over-drafted and groundwater levels in some areas of basin continue to decline (Andy Zdon & Associates, Inc., 2014). The alluvial portion of the basin is quite large covering approximately 640 square miles. The basin is bounded by the Fremont Peak, Black Mountain and the Gravel Hills on the north and east, by the Lockhart Fault and Kramer Hills on the west and by the Waterman Hills and Mount General area on the south. This basin is hydraulically connected to the Mojave River basin with underflow toward Harper Valley.” (Andy Zdon & Associates, Inc., 2016).

We worked with over a dozen American Conservation Corps (ACE) members, THC staff, BLM staff, and the Friends of Jawbone in order to accomplish this work. We installed cable fencing, gates, signage, and left the kiosks in place to explain the closure to the public.

THC staff Allie Anderson and Wesley Skelton hard at work installing the fencing posts.

Numerous methods of signage and reflectors were installed after the kiosk notice in order to make this installation safe and well-known.

Both the north and south ends of the canyon were fenced and signed in order to protect this precious desert water.

We conducted an outreach day at Husky Memorial during the peak of the riding season in order to talk to the public about the protection measures, in addition to the kiosks we had installed. We also cleaned up the route systems on the northern and southern boundaries of the fence lines. Some illegal trails had been created off of the main BLM routes, so we restored these areas using natural materials in a technique called “vertical mulching”. This helps the land heal in years rather than nearly a century if left untouched. This helps decompact the soil that has been compacted by riders, and the branches help catch wind-blown seeds; giving plants a place to grow in shade and with a little more water and cover.

THC Executive Director Sam Easley working to coordinate the massive effort, with ACE providing habitat restoration of illegal routes.