CA: BLM Desert Advisory Council to Meet in Ridgecrest

BLUERIBBON COALITION LAND USE UPDATE

CALIFORNIA - BLM Desert Advisory Council to Meet in Ridgecrest

Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,

The next field trip and meeting of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) California Desert Advisory Council (DAC) will be held April 20-21, 2012, in Ridgecrest, CA. The council will participate in a field tour of nearby BLM-managed public lands on Friday, April 20 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and meet in formal session on Saturday, April 21 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Carriage Inn, 901 N. China Lake Blvd., Ridgecrest, CA.

Agenda topics for the Saturday meeting will include updates by council members, the BLM California Desert District manager, five field office managers, and council subgroups.  Friday tour information and final agenda topics will be posted on the BLM California state website, www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/ info/rac/ dac.html.  

All DAC meetings are open to the public. The public will be invited to comment at the beginning of the meeting Saturday morning, during the presentations, at the discretion of the DAC chair and at the end of the meeting.  While the meeting is tentatively scheduled to conclude at 4:30 p.m., it could wrap up earlier should the council conclude its presentations and discussions.

Written comments may be filed in advance of the meeting and should be addressed to the Desert Advisory Council, c/o Bureau of Land Management, External Affairs, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553. Written comments also are accepted at the time of the meeting and, if copies are provided to the recorder, will be incorporated into the minutes.

For more information regarding the DAC meeting, contact David Briery, BLM California Desert District External Affairs at (951) 697-5220 or dbriery@blm. gov.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact BRC.

Thanks in advance for your support,

Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition


Source: LA Rocks post and email notification

CFMS - Half a Million Nickels Drive!

Hi everybody! My husband, Ray and I are chairpeople for the CFMS Endowment fund.

If you don't know what that is...well, the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies is a part of the American Federation, which is a collection of 7 Regional Federations in America! The CFMS covers California, Nevada, and Hawaii! The other seven Federations cover the rest of America. Each Federation is a collection of local clubs from the area that they cover.

So, if you belong to a club or society in your area, you are probably a part of one of the Federations! If not, you should be!

Our job as the CFMS Endowment Fund chair people, is to collect donations for the Endowment Fund. The Endowment Fund is the life blood of the CFMS, the money goes into a fund that earns interest, and the CFMS lives on the interest earned.

Now, I am sure that you all know what interest rates are these days, so you know that unless our endowment fund is pretty big, we don't have much to live on!!

Ray and I are trying to come up with some fun fund raisers for the year, something that will get all the clubs and societies involved!

This year we have come up with the Half a Million Nickels Drive!  We are going to raise half a million nickels (hence the name) for the Endowment Fund!

That's where you all come in! If you belong to a CFMS affiliate, then you should have already known about the drive, if not, then you do now!

We need each of you to go to your club/society members and let them know of the drive!

There are going to be some really cool prizes for the winning club too! The prizes are currently being collected, and will be announced at the CFMS Show in Riverside in July. The club that collects the most nickels, PER MEMBER, will win!

We are also looking for donations of rock items to sell at the shows. We are running very low on supplies!

I have noticed a whole bunch of estate sales lately, and would like to appeal to all of you that go to these sales, or hold these sales!

If you could find it in your hearts to donate anything that you have left over, or Whatever, it would be greatly appreciated!

Ray and I don't have a lot of free weekends these days, but Ray is retired and can go just about anywhere during the week to collect donations.

I am only asking that you keep us in mind! We have had some really nice donations in the past from private collections, and it really helps us to have SOMETHING to sell during the shows!

I am also collecting show/club pins for an Endowment Fund project, so if you have any old pins from shows or clubs/societies, that you don't want or need, or have found at one of these sales, please consider donating to the CFMS Endowment Fund!

OK, I am done...thanks for reading all the way through, and thanks for your donations*, past and future!!!

CJ and Ray Quitoriano


* if you or your club would prefer to send in a direct donation the form is at: http://www.cfmsinc.org/forms10/endow/endfund.htm

ALAA ALERT - Clear Creek

The Clear Creek district of central California has long been a popular rockhound destination for a variety of beautiful and rare minerals, including some found nowhere else on earth, such as our California State Gem, benitoite.  Also found there:  jadeite boulders, green garnets, amethyst, cinnabar, neptunite, natrolite, swirling green plasma agate, and more.  It was also once a major source of asbestos, which was mined there for many years, and that's where problems have arisen.  Although the mines have been shut down, asbestos rock and fibers remain and can be kicked up by vehicles traveling the roads in this remote area.  As a result, the entire area was shut down to vehicular travel and various studies have been conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency.  Some believe, however, that any danger to a casual collector traveling in the area for just a day or two of rockhounding is minimal, and there's a move to have the area reopened--not just for rockhounds, but for hunters, off-road enthusiasts, and others.  Shirley Leeson is an officer of the American Lands Access Association (ALAA), a lobbying branch of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies, and OGMS has a society affiliation with ALAA.  Shirley has issued the following alert.....

CORVA has a meeting on February 22nd with the new State Director of the BLM, along with his Associate State Director and Deputy State Director. There are a lot of issues, but I think we can get some traction on Clear Creek, and defend the right of rockhounders to access Clear Creek.

We've started a petition that we will present to them showing them all the people who want Clear Creek reopened.

Please send this to everyone on your email lists  - we need thousands of signature to make a difference.

Send this link out far and wide: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/help-corva-reopen-clear-creek/

If you’re concerned about Clear Creek, and you and your club and your friends want to help, we have time sensitive  information below….please help.  YOU can make a difference.  Do it now.

Shirley Leeson, ALAA

Rockhound Activist