Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | The push to change racially offensive place names has reached the birthplace of western movies: the high-desert badlands of gullies, canyons and outcroppings at the foot of Mt. Whitney known as the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area.The 18,600 acres of rough and rocky hills on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, along Highway 395 and about 140 miles north of Los Angeles, have appeared in more than since the silent 1920 western “The Round Up,” starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.It was named by Southern sympathizers in the Owens Valley after the...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | The push to change racially offensive place names has reached the birthplace of western movies: the high-desert badlands of gullies, canyons and outcroppings at the foot of Mt. Whitney known as the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area.The 18,600 acres of rough and rocky hills on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, along Highway 395 and about 140 miles north of Los Angeles, have appeared in more than since the silent 1920 western “The Round Up,” starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.It was named by Southern sympathizers in the Owens Valley after the...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement A six-month investigation into the poaching of marine life from fragile tidal pools at White Point Beach in San Pedro has culminated with charges against 45 people, the Los Angeles city attorney announced Thursday.The extensive harvesting of edible marine life — including hundreds of pounds of mussels, turban snails and purple sea urchins — “has decimated the fragile ecosystem along the coast, and it is uncertain if it can recover,” L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer said.“We allege these defendants have jeopardized that future by...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement A six-month investigation into the poaching of marine life from fragile tidal pools at White Point Beach in San Pedro has culminated with charges against 45 people, the Los Angeles city attorney announced Thursday.The extensive harvesting of edible marine life — including hundreds of pounds of mussels, turban snails and purple sea urchins — “has decimated the fragile ecosystem along the coast, and it is uncertain if it can recover,” L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer said.“We allege these defendants have jeopardized that future by...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | More than a century after railroads, ranchers and hunters vanquished their ancestors, pronghorn antelope are returning to this unforgiving expanse of desert along the California-Nevada border. A photo of a lone male and a harem of five does shared on Death Valley’s Facebook page in late April was only the latest indication that the American pronghorn, North America’s land speed champion, may be extending its migratory range into the Mojave Desert once again from cooler seas of sage nearly 100 miles to the north and east.“It’s not all gloom and...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | More than a century after railroads, ranchers and hunters vanquished their ancestors, pronghorn antelope are returning to this unforgiving expanse of desert along the California-Nevada border. A photo of a lone male and a harem of five does shared on Death Valley’s Facebook page in late April was only the latest indication that the American pronghorn, North America’s land speed champion, may be extending its migratory range into the Mojave Desert once again from cooler seas of sage nearly 100 miles to the north and east.“It’s not all gloom and...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The state Fish and Game Commission on Thursday set the stage for a fierce environmental battle by granting temporary endangered species status to the several hundred cougars still roaming Southern California and the Central Coast.The protection came with the 5-member panel’s unanimous decision to consider a petition filed by environmentalists to list as threatened or endangered six, isolated clans of cougars hemmed in by sprawl and freeways.The move is considered preliminary under terms of the state Endangered Species Act. Next, the...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The state Fish and Game Commission on Thursday set the stage for a fierce environmental battle by granting temporary endangered species status to the several hundred cougars still roaming Southern California and the Central Coast.The protection came with the 5-member panel’s unanimous decision to consider a petition filed by environmentalists to list as threatened or endangered six, isolated clans of cougars hemmed in by sprawl and freeways.The move is considered preliminary under terms of the state Endangered Species Act. Next, the...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | This is a time of year that many rural towns in the Owens Valley usually celebrate — rodeo and fishing season.Normally, tourists from Southern California would be swarming into the eastern Sierra Nevada range, streaming into Old West facades and making cash registers sing. But the virus that locals have come to call “The Big Weird” has changed all that.Today, the towns of Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine and Bishop are silent except for the rumbling of passing trucks on U.S. Highway 395. Nearly everything is closed: tackle shops, art galleries,...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | This is a time of year that many rural towns in the Owens Valley usually celebrate — rodeo and fishing season.Normally, tourists from Southern California would be swarming into the eastern Sierra Nevada range, streaming into Old West facades and making cash registers sing. But the virus that locals have come to call “The Big Weird” has changed all that.Today, the towns of Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine and Bishop are silent except for the rumbling of passing trucks on U.S. Highway 395. Nearly everything is closed: tackle shops, art galleries,...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | As yet another season of drought returns to California, the mood has grown increasingly grim across the vast and fertile San Joaquin Valley.Renowned for its bounty of dairies, row crops, grapes, almonds, pistachios and fruit trees, this agricultural heartland is still reeling from the effects of the last punishing drought, which left the region geologically depressed and mentally traumatized. Now, as the valley braces for another dry spell of undetermined duration, some are openly questioning the future of farming here, even as legislative...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | As yet another season of drought returns to California, the mood has grown increasingly grim across the vast and fertile San Joaquin Valley.Renowned for its bounty of dairies, row crops, grapes, almonds, pistachios and fruit trees, this agricultural heartland is still reeling from the effects of the last punishing drought, which left the region geologically depressed and mentally traumatized. Now, as the valley braces for another dry spell of undetermined duration, some are openly questioning the future of farming here, even as legislative...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Breaking News Advertisement For two decades, the Tejon Ranch Co. has envisioned a community of 57,000 people rising just off Interstate 5 on the southern flanks of the Tehachapi Mountains, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.With that goal in mind, the company brokered an agreement with several major environmental organizations in 2008 to conserve 240,000 acres of undeveloped mountains, grasslands and twisted oaks that are home to such species as and . In exchange, the groups agreed not to oppose the company’s controversial Centennial project.For...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Breaking News Advertisement For two decades, the Tejon Ranch Co. has envisioned a community of 57,000 people rising just off Interstate 5 on the southern flanks of the Tehachapi Mountains, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.With that goal in mind, the company brokered an agreement with several major environmental organizations in 2008 to conserve 240,000 acres of undeveloped mountains, grasslands and twisted oaks that are home to such species as and . In exchange, the groups agreed not to oppose the company’s controversial Centennial project.For...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | When you’re as rare and vulnerable as a black toad, you can’t afford to be coy about romance.Surrounded by an unforgiving desert and forever isolated on a small patch of irrigated ranch land about 50 miles southeast of Yosemite National Park, black toads inhabit the smallest range of any North American amphibian. So when breeding season arrives, as it did last month, this high desert basin nestled between the Inyo and White mountain ranges resounds with the toad’s high-pitched chirrups, which are reminiscent of peeping of baby chicks.But this...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | When you’re as rare and vulnerable as a black toad, you can’t afford to be coy about romance.Surrounded by an unforgiving desert and forever isolated on a small patch of irrigated ranch land about 50 miles southeast of Yosemite National Park, black toads inhabit the smallest range of any North American amphibian. So when breeding season arrives, as it did last month, this high desert basin nestled between the Inyo and White mountain ranges resounds with the toad’s high-pitched chirrups, which are reminiscent of peeping of baby chicks.But this...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The California Coastal Commission has ordered an end to off-road driving at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area within three years as part of an effort to restore eight miles of fragile coastline to a more natural state. In a 10-0 vote late Thursday night, the panel ended a 40-year battle with the California Department of Parks and Recreation over at the only state park where vehicles can be driven along the beach. However, off-roaders vowed to take the matter to court.“The California coast won,” said Steve Padilla, chair of...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The California Coastal Commission has ordered an end to off-road driving at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area within three years as part of an effort to restore eight miles of fragile coastline to a more natural state. In a 10-0 vote late Thursday night, the panel ended a 40-year battle with the California Department of Parks and Recreation over at the only state park where vehicles can be driven along the beach. However, off-roaders vowed to take the matter to court.“The California coast won,” said Steve Padilla, chair of...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | There is little common ground in a decades-long battle over off-road recreation, economic freedom and the fate of California’s dwindling coastal resources. While the matter is likely to end up in court, the California Coastal Commission is scheduled Thursday to finally decide whether off-road riding will continue to be permitted at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area — the only state park where vehicles can be driven along the beach.Commission staffers have concluded that off-road vehicle use along the eight miles of shoreline near is...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | There is little common ground in a decades-long battle over off-road recreation, economic freedom and the fate of California’s dwindling coastal resources. While the matter is likely to end up in court, the California Coastal Commission is scheduled Thursday to finally decide whether off-road riding will continue to be permitted at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area — the only state park where vehicles can be driven along the beach.Commission staffers have concluded that off-road vehicle use along the eight miles of shoreline near is...WW…