The Mojave Desert

Luckily, humans have put in efforts to understand and sometimes reverse the damage done. Wilcove describes ecosystem restoration, where usually humans put concentrated effort into recreating original habitats to restore indigenous populations. This is, unless “a very different assemblage of species has taken hold of the land and cannot be dislodged,” also known as a new “steady state” (Wilcove, 2000, p. 12). Wilcove himself joined the effort by studying the impacts humans have caused on woodland critters. He surveyed an area in Maryland to detect predators by setting cardboard coated in masonry powder to record footprints. He concluded that there were “six predators: opossum, raccoon, striped skunk, dog, cat, and blue jay. All are animals that benefit mightily from their association with people”(Wilcove, 2000, p. 42). He also mentions how extensive data can only be collected when looking at the observations of many people over the generations. He talks about “generational blindness,” which means how observers of a current generation cannot make conclusions on populations without the help of data collected from the past (Wilcove, 2000, p. 13).

Long ago, the middle of the North American continent was a treeless prairie covered by tall grasses and roaming buffalo. When European settlers came, they called this area the Great American Desert. Today, this "desert" is covered with fields of wheat, corn, and alfalfa made possible by center-pivot irrigation. My grandfather used to sell center-pivot systems and when my family drove to my grandparent's home in Nebraska, we would count how many "sprinklers" were watering each section of land. At the time, I didn't know that this water was being pumped from somethng called the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge underground water supply. Throughout the years, this aquifer has made the Great American Desert one of the best farming

However, they disagree on whether or not it is harming the wildlife populations in those areas. Terris says “roads and sprawling neighborhoods are replacing pristine wildlife habitats at an alarming pace, putting the survival and reproduction of plants and animals at risk.” Terris also believes it may be “the problem for U.S. wildlife in the 21st century”. (Terris) According to Terris, one victim of sprawl is the Florida panther, which has been reduced to a population of 30 to 50 adults. Furthermore, in the Sonoran Desert many plant species are affected, which also affects the animals that rely on those plants. She goes on to give numerous examples of animals and plants that are being harmed that spreads across the U.S., supporting the fact it is widespread.

One threat to the Mojave Desert today is off-road vehicles. These vehicles end up causing damage to wildlife and cultural resources. Unfortunately when these vehicles are driven throughout areas such as Johnson Valley, they cause damage the wildlife on the protected land. These off-road vehicles are driven recklessly and for the most part the driver will not stop. Consequently, the plant or animal that was in the way of the drivers course is crushed and dies. When this happens in areas like this, the while entire environment can be affected. One single plant or animal killed by an off-road vehicle starts begins a chain reaction of resource loss. These off-road vehicles are actually churning up the soil and this causes damage to the plant roots

The native americans had many things that helped them survive today,you will learn about the desert regions

Since the settlement of the Lake Tahoe Basin people have deforested mountain sides, and killed almost all natural life within the waters. Just as the Lake Tahoe area has felt the

The Central Valley of California, United States, is a notable structural depression which covers around 32,187km2 (Figure 1), and is bounded by the Cascade Range in the north, the Sierra Nevada in the east, the Tehachapi Mountains to the South, and the Coast Ranges and San Francisco Bay to the west (Planert 1995).

The Chihuahuan is the largest desert in North America-from southwestern United States all the way to Central Mexican Highlands. The Chihuahuan desert has something called the big bend region, which consists of important parts of the Rio Grande watershed in the United States and Mexico. This Amazing landscape is threatened by humans. People are living all in the desert and misusing the water supply, messing up the terrain with the overgrazing of cows and goats. The human population there is messing with the beautiful

When thinking of a desert, one would think of a large, dry, and sandy area like the Sahara Desert. The Great Basin Desert is different because it is a cold desert. A cold desert is completely different from the typical desert with average temperatures of 55-57 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, and in winter it averages around 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold deserts will normally have much more water. Water is the lifeline of The Great Basin Desert (Pellant), which is a good thing and a bad thing. The term “basin” is used with the meaning no water from the ocean ever reaches this region (National Park Service). Water rights to the Great Basin Desert have been a problem for a long time and with the risk of water loss and risk of losing groundwater.

In his book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Marc Reisner’s main thesis is to show the inefficiency, greed, and inherent difficulty in the American West’s never-ending struggle to turn its unwelcoming desert into a lush garden. One of his main sub-points is that the West is not meant to support millions of people. It has a wide range of geographic challenges throughout the entire region. Its inconsistency and diversity is a primary cause of its water problems. For example, Reisner notes that the West consists of “plains so arid that they could barely support bunchgrass; deserts that were fiercely hot and fiercely cold; streams that flooded a few weeks each year and went dry the rest; forests with trees so large it might take days to bring one down; . . . hail followed by drought followed by hail;” (23).

As a historically semi-arid environment, California has also suffered heavily from several environmental impacts as a result of the current drought conditions. The first of these is on its forests. The US Forest Service estimates that 12 million trees have died in the past year due to drought; this combined with the drying of forest floor material greatly increases the flammability of the landscape. The result of this is the numerous devastating wildfires that have swept through the state throughout 2015, costing not only wildlife and habitat but also human property (CBS News, 2015) (Lustgarten, et al., 2015) (Google, 2015). Aside from wildfires, the drought and associated loss of habitat is said to be having a negative effect on both flora and fauna due to their contribution to the spread of West Nile Virus, whilst also threatening populations of geese, ducks, salmon and Joshua trees (Lustgarten, et al., 2015) (Beaudry, 2015). Finally, with groundwater contributing up to 50% of stream flow in drought, there is a worry that over usage near the coast could result in irreversible salinization through the drawing in of salt water (USGS, 2016) (Kasler & Reese, 2015).

But every year it lose 8.41 millions acres of land due to deforestation and fires. The more the people cut down the trees ,the less habitats animals have .The trees releases air into the atmosphere, so the more they cut the land the less are they have. The increase animal's death would also have a toll in this as well.

You will find the Salinas Valley in Central California. It is considered the coastal Reign but is located between the two mountain ranges, the Gabilan and Santa Lucia. The Salinas Valley is known around the world for its agricultural produce, including, artichokes, lettuce, strawberries, and wine grapes. The climate in the Salinas Valley is crucial in growing crops because the winter was mild in contrast to the winter further north of the valley. The Salinas Valley is a sand river; water only appears after heavy rains and/or from the upstream reservoirs.

As lack of water and a particularly dry climate out competes shrubs, trees, and grasslands across Colorado, erosion rates increase reducing the infiltration of moisture into the soil. Causation is believed to have come from heavy livestock grazing, fire suppression, and the introduction of exotic annual plants. Habitat problems for animals and communities that rely on ranching and hunting have been directly affected by these desertification effects. Desertification has had large ecological impacts on the state of Colorado. Vegetation and ecosystems are among the most crucially impacted by the effects of desertification. While Colorado continues its dry drought like climate, restoration of soil becomes one of the major solutions to fight off desertification. Because of the overuse of our land in past generations, we are continuing to see the harmful effects due to desertification. The overall impact on humans produced by desertification is best noticed by a diminishing food production as well as a wealth of water sources becoming dry. People in affected areas are likely to experience poor water quality, dust storms, and pollution. More importantly, as soil loses its nutrients, it no longer becomes farmable; thus, impacting local businesses, livestock, and the many people in that community. If desertification continues in Colorado, an increase of lost farmlands and livestock will pose an economic decease within agriculture markets, farmers will be forced to move to find better

The term desert is strongly connected to the image of an extremely harsh environment void of any life. The sand dunes at the Gulf of California would fit this description of a desert biome, but for large parts the Sonoran Desert has a stunning array of different organisms.