reversed!! SEE: JT News.....
Joshua Tree National Park is one of the 10 most endangered national parks in the country.
The National Parks Conservation Assoc. states the main threat is the planned construction
of one of the largest landfills only 1.5 miles from the southern border of the park.
"The landfill will bring pollution to a desert area hugged on three sides by National Park
wilderness," said Brian Huse, Pacific regional director for the association, a nonprofit
group that focuses on national parks.
"Joshua Tree is a Class 1 air shed," Huse said. "It's supposed to be the cleanest air in
the country." However, that pristine air would be destroyed if Eagle Mountain Landfill and
its 20,000 tons of trash per day becomes a reality. The dust, blowing trash, noise, light
pollution and other impacts that would come along with a 24-hour trash operation would
destroy the wilderness character of the Park Service land. He also listed potential
groundwater contamination that could occur after the liners that would be built into the
dump break down.
A landfill of this size and scope poses significant threats to Joshua Tree National Park.
Construction, operation, and transportation activities associated with landfill operation
would jeopardize the protection of sensitive park resources. The development of Eagle
Mountain Landfill would:
- devastate significant portions of the park's 694,000 acres of wilderness with
noise, dust and lighting of the night sky; - impair desert vistas and destroy the solitude of the wilderness setting for
park visitors; - undermine efforts to help recovery of the threatened desert tortoise;
- result in trash blowing into park lands;
- upset the natural balance of the desert ecosystem by introducing artificial
amounts of food waste and water; and - introduce alien species that will overrun vulnerable native species.
The landfill would degrade wilderness experiences in Joshua Tree National Park and will
likely result in a host of environmental impacts to habitat, species, groundwater, air
quality and other resources. The area provides desert habitat for many species, including
the endangered desert tortoise, bighorn sheep, mountain lion, and a variety of other
mammals, reptiles, and birds. Remember that Joshua Tree National Park
surrounds the dump site on three sides.