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In honor of the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Center for Western Priorities is excited to share a podcast episode in partnership with the Hispanic Access Foundation that illustrates the benefits and ecological importance of creating the Western Riverside National Wildlife Refuge in southern California. The podcast includes an interview with Brenda Gallegos and Juan Rosas of the Hispanic Access Foundation. The podcast is part of our Road to 30 Postcards campaign to share the stories of people behind efforts to protect special places across the country.
In July, U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla of California introduced the Western Riverside National Wildlife Refuge Act, which would establish the Western Riverside National Wildlife Refuge. The proposed refuge would protect around 340,000 acres southeast of Los Angeles in southern California, helping preserve habitat for around 150 native species—over 30 of which are endangered—as well as green space for the county's largely Latino population.
Riverside County is currently one of the fastest growing regions in the country, with housing and development replacing agricultural fields and open space every day. That means the county’s residents are quickly losing access to nature. The refuge would help preserve and restore green space close to underprivileged communities, giving residents a safe and accessible way to get outside.
To learn more about the Postcards campaign and to read, listen to, or watch other stories, please visit www.RoadTo30.org/postcards. More postcards are coming your way this fall!
Controversial California water pipeline proposal dealt legal setback
A controversial water pipeline proposal in California has been dealt another legal setback. A federal judge ruled that the Bureau of Land Management acted properly when it remanded two rights of way permits granted to Cadiz, Inc. during the Trump administration, paving the way for BLM to withdraw the approvals for the project.
The Cadiz pipeline project proposed to transport water through an existing 64-mile gas pipeline that runs across federal lands as part of a plan to extract water from a desert aquifer and sell it to urban areas near Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge George Wu wrote in his ruling of the Trump administration's decision, “there is no Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Statement or accompanying record of decision…only what appears to be a rushed, cursory decision to grant the rights-of-way.”
Environmentalists who opposed the Cadiz pipeline hailed the decision. “Cadiz’s water-privatization scheme would dry up irreplaceable desert springs and seeps that are crucial to wildlife, even more so now because of climate change,” said Lisa Belenky, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.
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All national parks are located on Indigenous ancestral lands and this policy will help ensure tribal governments have an equal voice in the planning and management of them.”
