An occasional feature of BLM California's News.bytes

Spotlight on Partners: Friends of the Desert Mountains

For more than 20 years Friends of the Desert Mountains has been the Coachella Valley's preeminent nongovernmental organization working to protect biological diversity and preserve open space, primarily through land acquisition in the local area. (text continues below)

Fourth-graders on a three-mile trek throught the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, to reach a desert oasis.  Friends volunteer Peta Henderson, center is an active instructor with the Friends of the Desert Mountains HIKE (Healthy Initiative for Kids in the Environment) program.

The Friends frequently purchases lands themselves when governmental processes would be too slow to react and lands could be lost to development, or works in partnership with a variety of other nongovernmental organizations and government agencies, including the Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, to enhance funding opportunities.

The Friends is also the primary nonprofit support organization for the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. They provide financial and volunteer support for a variety of activities within the Monument including environmental education and interpretation, cultural preservation, scientific research, and community outreach.

To learn more about the Friends of the Desert Mountains visit: http://www.desertmountains.org/index.html

John Warden leads a Leave No Trace activity for HIKE volunteers

Volunteer HIKE instructor Bill Green visits many fourth-grade classrooms to teach skills in rock identification and nature study...

...and here he helps a students with his rock survey list, while a group of students explores a desert wash.

Drew Leader staffs a table to outfit Friends volunteers on a work project

- Photos by Tracy Albrecht, BLM-California, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument

BLM-California News.bytes, issue 403