april on the desert - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

COUNTY DEFIES PARK
SERVICE; BUILDS ROAD
Indio, Calif.—Ignoring the National
Park Service's stand against a direct
road from Coachella Valley through
Joshua Tree National Monument, Riverside
County has widened and improved
a two-lane jeep trail up Berdoo
Canyon in the Little San Bernardino
Mountains to the Monument boundary.
There the new road connects with an
old desert trail not maintained by the
Park Service.
Commercial interests in Coachella
Valley and the Twentynine Palms area
long have advocated a direct route between
the two areas. The Park Service,
fearing that such a road would destroy
the wilderness aspect of much of the
Monument, has steadfastly refused to
go along with the county's road plans.
The Desert Journal, published in
Joshua Tree, reports that the "Monument
personnel is rather unhappy
about this new road, as the Park Service
is concerned with its 'wilderness
program' for posterity."
NEVADA SENDS TECHNICIAN
TO INDIA FOR GAME BIRDS
Carson City, Nev.—Glen Christensen,
the Nevada Fish and Game Department
upland game technician who
recently won national recognition
among professionals in the wildlife
field for his successful planting of
chukar partridges in the state, has
been sent to India on a three-year program
aimed at securing new exotic
bird species for Nevada.
In the few years that the chukar has
been in Nevada, it has become the
state's number one upland game bird.
Experts say it is flourishing under the
often difficult conditions imposed by
the Silver State habitat.
Almost every state in the Union has
tried through the years, some since
the late 1800s, to obtain foreign sporting
birds to add to their existing game
populations or to replace native birds
which have become extinct. The obtaining
of these birds has been a hit
or miss proposition, with people from
this country having to depend on overseas
exporters on sight-unseen deals.
This is the major obstacle Nevada
hopes to overcome by sending Christensen
to India.
Extensive research already has been
done by Nevada and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service on what species
are the most promising for the state.
Among these are sand grouse, black
and gray francolins and seesee partridge.
Old Town, Albuquerque
Tucked away in the rapidly growing
city of Albuquerque, preserving its
quaint atmosphere which nothing has
been able to change completely, is Old
Town, the original Spanish settlement.
Around the square are shops and
restaurants, with the old Church of
San Felipe de Neri at one side. A
bandstand graces the center of the
shady grass plot where descendants of
the early Spanish founders (1706) put
on their gayest of petticoated dresses
to dance, and lively songs are offered
by caballeros in Spanish garb.
San Felipe Mission in Albuquerque's
Old Town. This lovely old mission,
carefully preserved, belongs to the
Spanish-Indian days of New Mexico.
HISTORIC PANORAMAS
By JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH
Tourists find unusual items including
custom-made Southwestern clothes
in the little shops, Spanish food in
the restaurants, and the handicrafts of
native artisans who once supplied all
the essential needs of their' adobe
households with utensils 'made with
their own hands.
APRIL, 1959 25