Dispatch: Week of January 15
LA wildfire resources in the high desert, plus Joshua Tree volunteer opportunities
The devastation in and around Los Angeles due to wildfires has been heartbreaking to watch. So many people are putting their safety at risk to help contain, combat, and document the horror unfolding across the city. You are all heroes. If folks near and far are able to and looking for ways to help, I recommend donating to World Central Kitchen, Pasadena Humane Society, and Los Angeles Mutual Aid.
Hello from California’s high desert, where the wind and windchill have both settled, for the time being. Here’s hoping some rain is in the forecast soon.
In case you missed it: The first essay of 2025 aptly explored how I think about resolutions, goals, and what I’m hoping to accomplish in the coming year. You can read it here.
And now, onto this week’s news:
In local news:
Here is a handy list of local initiatives to help folks displaced by the wildfires in Los Angeles County. Many folks who fled the fires and are in town until the danger passes.
Crews have officially broken ground on the new Joshua Tree Art Museum near Copper Mountain College, the Los Angeles Times reports. Once completed, the museum will house a gallery, outdoor exhibits, and community programs, according to founder Shane Townley.
The San Bernardino County Office of Emergency Services held a power outage resource fair in Yucca Valley on Monday following multiple days of SCE-enabled service disruptions around the Basin.
For more information regarding power outage preparedness from the County, see here. If you are interested in volunteering throughout the Basin during disaster events, you can learn more and sign up here.
Pioneertown will host a fire preparedness session at the Firehouse on January 27 at 5:30 p.m. for residents and business owners.
The Morongo Unified School District laid off 42 part-time employees due to lack of funds, Z107.7fm reports. The majority of affected employees are classified as instructional assistants, but other positions affected include custodian, nutritional service, and the noon supervisor.
Joshua Tree National Park has three open volunteer positions as well as a public service day on January 20 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., day.
The three volunteer positions include: Desert Institute Field Program Assistant, Cottonwood Campground Host, and Emergency Incident Training Actor. The duties of each position can be found at the links above.
In state news:
Parts of Southern California are still under Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches as winds continue across the bone-dry part of the state. Conditions are expected to improve later this week, though no measurable precipitation is expected in the near future.
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend getting Watch Duty to monitor fire activity. The team runs the free app and are dedicated to providing timely, accurate information to the best of their abilities. The latest for both the Eaton and Palisades Fires can be found in the app.
Republicans in Washington seem poised to withhold relief funds for California residents, though Speaker Mike Johnson has not specified the “conditions” to which he said California should adhere in order to receive the funds.
Of note, California contributes by far the most in tax revenue to the federal government due to its population.
Do! Not! Fly! Drones! Near! Fire! Fighting! Operations!
Alternatively, do not ever share drone footage from a fire zone without confirming it is from an official source and not a backyard enthusiast who grounded a necessary firefighting aircraft, one of just two available.
Eaton Fire victims are suing Southern California Edison following footage that suggested the blaze was started by the utility group’s equipment. SCE has denied its role in starting the blaze.
President Joe Biden has authorized one-time payments of $770 to victims of the Eaton and Palisades Fires in an effort to ease the immediate burden of replacing necessities and securing temporary lodging. Here’s how to claim the funds if you qualify.
There is just an unreasonable amount of misinformation circulating about the wildfires, the efforts to fight them, and a whole host of other claims without merit. Here is a good article that debunks the worst of the misinformation out there.
In other news:
The U.S. government looks poised to stand by its January 19 deadline for Chinese company ByteDance to sell off or shut down the popular social media app TikTok. A small group of senators supports extending the deadline further, though it is unclear if the bill has support to move forward.
I, for one, have been frantically saving the years’ worth of recipe videos I’ve collected and of course, have never tried.
Vice President-elect JD Vance has indicated he is interested in skipping his own inauguration on Monday, January 20, in favor of attending the CFP National Championship game on the same evening to root for the Ohio State Buckeyes. They will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the title.
Pupdate of the week: Today is Heartguard day for both dogs, which amounts to a monthly holiday for them both. Thankfully they love the meat treats, as we call them, and don’t question whether or not the treats have medicinal value.
Trail tip of the week: Though some of our new guests in the Basin seem to struggle with understanding what’s to love about the desert, I think a hike is the best way to get to know all of the desert’s many quirks and fascinations. Even a short hike is a great chance to see wildlife, notice the small differences of our many plants and reptiles, and, yes, look at cacti and rocks. We may not be the city, but we’ve got a pretty special place here if you know where and how to look.
Read of the week: I’m nearly through Max Chafkin’s ambitious book The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Purpose of Power, and it has earned a recommendation with nearly 100 pages left to go. The book is an unsparing look at Thiel’s rise to power as a multi-billionaire tech founder and investor, from his college days at Stanford through to his involvement in the 2016 election. I say it’s ambitious because, as many journalists know, Thiel is responsible for bankrupting a media website against which he had a vendetta, and Chafkin’s book is a sober, factual telling instead of overly laudatory. Given the state of politics and Thiel’s direct involvement, The Contrarian is required reading.
Watch of the week: The first season of Apple TV drama Severance aired nearly three years ago, so we’ve been rewatching the series to prepare for the Season Two premiere later this week. The show follows a group of employees who have had their work and personal selves surgically separated, but are coming to terms with what that means for their whole selves as well as their employer. It’s one of the better shows of the last few years, and I’m extremely excited to see what the second season has in store.
That’s it for this week! I hope you have a lovely weekend that includes plenty of time outside.
- Megan