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Aratina Solar Project to Destroy Joshua Trees
Aratina Solar Project to Destroy Joshua Trees
June 11, 2024 - A solar developer has received approval to construct a photovoltaic solar power plant on private lands in Kern County near the town of Boron, California, in the weset Mojave Desert this month. 4,200 old-growth and young trees are slated to be removed to make way for a solar facility, despite the objections of local residents. Some of the trees are giant.
The blue dots represent Joshua trees over 8-feet tall on the solar project site and associated areas. Red dots indicate young Joshua trees under 2-feet tall--which means this Joshua tree population is healthy and reproducing, not in danger of dying out (excpet by bulldozers). These trees will be measured for diameter, and a compensatory mitigation cost applied to each tree. They will then be bulldozed and masticated, and mitigation fees collected from the developer will then be used to protect Joshua trees somewhere else. Destroying this old growth Joshua tree forest is unacceptable when solar panels can easily go on rooftops and over parking lots in the built environment!
Our post on X (Twitter) went viral.
What you can do
What you can do
Sign the petition by WildEarth Guardians to save Joshua trees, sent to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This will not halt construction on this approved solar project, but can send a message to the State of California and Kern County that we want old growth Joshua tree woodlands conserved!
200-Year-Old Joshua Trees Will Not Be Salvaged
200-Year-Old Joshua Trees Will Not Be Salvaged
See the story in the Los Angeles Times.
Nearly 4,700 Joshua trees were found on the site during surveys, according to the Environmental Impact Review. More than 500 of those trees are at least 16 feet tall.
“I’m not aware of other projects where this many trees will be removed,” said Kevin Emmerich of Basin and Range Watch, an environmental group. (Los Angeles Times)
To mitigate the damage from Aratina and several other solar projects, Avantus has also purchased the grazing rights on 215,000 acres of federal land in Kern County and is working with government officials to preserve it. The power will be shipped off to coastal California urban community choise aggregates: Silicon Valley Clean Energy and Central Coast Community Energy.
The Western Joshua tree is not protected under the California Endengered Species Act nor the federal Endangered Species Act. California state legislators passed the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act last year, which bans unpermitted killing of the trees, while also providing a mechanism for the construction of green energy and housing projects.
See the project developer Avantus website: https://www.aratinasolar.com/faqs
See our 2021 email alert on the Aratina Solar Project when it was in the environmental review stage under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review:
Basin and Range Watch web archive of older material: https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/West-Mojave.html
West Mojave Joshua Trees Bulldozed for Solar Projects
West Mojave Joshua Trees Bulldozed for Solar Projects
June 8, 2016 - We believe this new solar project is called the Astoria Solar Project being built on about 2,000 acres of private land in the West Mojave Desert near Rosamond, California. Who needs biological diversity when you can bulldoze it all for a "green" solar project? This is the classic example of killing the planet to save it. More >> https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/West-Mojave.html
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