Next week's meeting of the Desert Advisory Council of the Bureau of Land Management has been canceled. It was scheduled for Friday, June 18 and Saturday, June 19, but the agency was unable to release an agenda to the public within 30 days of the meeting.

For more information click here to see the BLM website for the Desert Advisory Council.

In May of this year the National Park Service (NPS) announced it was initiating a Wilderness Stewardship Plan for the Congressionally designated wilderness areas within Death Valley National Park (DVNP).  The first public input opportunity on the plan will conclude on June 30, 2009.

There are 3.1 million acres of designated wilderness within Death Valley National Park, comprising 93% of the Park.  This planning process only applies to these designated wilderness units and, according a DVNP press release, "does not includes non-wilderness backcountry concerns, such as: backcountry road corridors and campsites, backcountry cabins near roads, Saline Valley hot springs, private inholdings or other non-NPS lands, and developed campgrounds."

Although among only a fraction of DVNP visitors, those who spend time in the backcountry wilderness should see this as a good opportunity to be heard on your concerns about the management of Park's wilderness units.

Click here to see the Request for Public Input on the NPS website. 

A popular historic attraction in Death Valley National Park has been closed to human entry.  The Keane Wonder Mine and its associated complex of mines, mining structures, equipment and ruins is now off limits to both motorized and foot travel.

The rather large closure of approximately 4,250 acres was issued by the Park Service in the interest of public safety.  The closure area does not include the Chloride Cliffs and Chloride City sites above the Keane mine complex, but does includes the Big Bell and King Midas Mines, as well as the much visited springs to the northwest of the mill site.

The Keane Wonder Mine was one of Death Valley's most prolific gold mines, rich in both history and production.  During our last visit in February 2002, the lower mill site was largely in tact and well interpreted with signs and displayed.

The closure order remains in effect indefinitely and will not reopened, according to the Park Service, until "the site can be made safer while preserving its historic features" and "it is hoped that funding is available within the next few years."

For more information on the Keane Mine closure order and closure area, see the National Park Service release dated September 11, 2008 . 

     The desert held him for her own as she does all old-timers. He was under the "terrible fascination," wrote Edna Brush Perkins about her encounter with Francis Marion "Shady" Myrick, the famous Death Valley gemstone prospector. Perkins'The White Heart of Mojave (1922) is a noted desert classic about two wealthy women traveling across the Mojave Desert to Death Valley. Admitting that in the rush of things she did not even learn his Christian name, Mrs. Perkins nevertheless acknowledges Shady Myrick with four pages in her book. Obviously, she was deeply impressed by the man. "Everyone knew Shady," she told her readers. Shady was not, however, the stereotypical miner we often encounter in Western tales, the cranky, miserly misanthrope who had turned his back on civilization, but a kindly, trustworthy sort. Mrs. Perkins recalled Shady's gifts of gold and jasper just before she and her companion departed for their journey to Death Valley.

     We’ll never know exactly why Joe Simpson shot Jim Arnold that Easter Sunday, April 19, 1908. It’s hard enough to tell exactly what happened because there are conflicting accounts that have been embellished in numerous retellings.

     When it comes to the story of Joe Simpson, most writings published since have focused on his death and the treatment of his remains afterward. After all, he was lynched by vigilantism in Skidoo, California, and the legend of his disinternment and re-hanging for benefit of the press is deeply entrenched. The newspapers of the day focused on Simpson’s murder of Jim Arnold and the subsequent lynching, but are mute regarding his remains afterward. This author wanted to focus on Simpson’s life prior to his appearance on the scene in Skidoo’s history, as well as his murderous actions, death and aftermath. It’s truly wondrous that when the subject of Joe Simpson comes up among historians, what usually follows is spirited dispute.