By Ileene Anderson
I’m a biologist who was born and raised in Bakersfield, a product of our local schools. I was lucky enough to learn that the biodiversity and number of rare plants and animals found in our region are unparalleled in the continental United States.
Where do I go to see this abundance of classically California wildlife? California’s Serengeti, of course — the Carrizo Plain National Monument, just an hour’s drive west of Bakersfield. Today, this 206,000-acre preserve is at risk, as are all the plants, animals and petroglyphs within it. I fear for the Carrizo Plain, carelessly placed by President Trump on a “review” list of national monuments because of its size, without any regard for its scientific importance.
So, let’s review what’s at stake.
The Carrizo Plain is a remnant of the vast grasslands of the Great Central Valley, most of which has been converted into farmlands that feed our hungry nation. This modest national monument is the last, best place to see California’s iconic and endangered wildlife. The Carrizo has its charismatic megafauna — the skittery pronghorn that run like the wind across the open plain and the bugling Tule elk, a native subspecies found only in California.
But it is also home to the highest concentration of rare species in our state. Near the top of this grassland food web is the curious and adorable San Joaquin kit fox, a cat-sized canine that preys primarily on a rare rodent — the giant kangaroo rat, who drums with its large feet in its underground burrow to communicate with its neighbors.
And then there are the plants. Stunning spring wildflowers lure visitors, who this year flocked to the Carrizo by the thousands to see the “superbloom,” giving the often-overlooked monument some well-deserved celebrity. Satellites captured pictures of this vast riot of color from space.
Long before the Carrizo Plain National Monument was designated in 2001, the Carrizo was recognized as a special place worth protecting when I first visited it in the 1970s. The BLM recognized it as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern for years, and in the 1990s it was elevated as the Carrizo Plain Natural Area.
Biology isn’t the only spectacular feature of this landscape. Bisected by the San Andreas Fault, which is laid bare in this arid environment, the area was used extensively by the first Californians, who left a treasure trove of petroglyphs and pictographs on rocky outcrops.
Sadly, Trump isn’t evaluating this unique and irreplaceable landscape for its biological values or even the economic bonanza generated by the booming tourism trade. Instead, he’s looking at its potential to produce planet-destroying fossil fuels. The oil industry has explored here numerous times over the decades but has never uncovered economically viable deposits. Despite some nearby oil fields, oil and gas appear negligible under the Carrizo Plain.
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