Guided UTV Ecological
Observation Tours 
Chuckwalla
National Monument
Chiriaco Summit, CA
Manioba Valley
 

What is an Ecological Observation Tour?

Desert Stewards offers fun and enlightening ecological engagements on mostly private lands within the newly designated Chuckwalla National Monument and Desert Tortoise Linkage Reserve Special Recreation Management Area.  As part of the engagement, we tread lightly on our journey, traveling 10-25 mph through established roads and approved trails stopping throughout the Plateau to observe key plant and tree species like Creosote, Smoke Tree, Palo Verde, Ironwood, Desert Lavender, Cholla Cactus, Ocotillo forests, Microphyll Woodlands, and view exposed minerals and geologic earth forces of the San Andreas Fault Tectonics.  Wildlife may or may not be present, based on the time of day and season.  Your guide will drive the vehicle with up to 5 people at once in your group.  Max 11 people at once with 2 six seater Yamaha Vikings.  One in your party may drive the second vehicle if desired.

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Where is Chiriaco Summit, CA?

Chiriaco Summit, is a microclimate of the Colorado Desert (part of the Sonoran Desert) about 1700 feet above sea level, 30 minutes east of Indio and the San Andreas Fault at the top of the Mecca Hills Conservation Area, north of the Orocopia Mountains Wilderness, and south of Joshua Tree National Park. The land with the reserve area is mixed public (BLM) and private lands.  Development has been discouraged and inhibited by the CVMSHCP in cooperation with the Coahella Valley Association of Governments and County of Riverside, CA.

 

Desert Tortoise Linkage Reserve Special Recreation Management Area

This protected area outlined in (Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan) is a mix of private and public land (including Mountain Wilderness), and prime habitat for the Endangered Desert Tortoise, and threatened Big Horn Sheep, as well as the Chuckwalla lizard, including other wildlife and plant species outlined within the CVMSHCP.  

 

Two main ecotypes intertwine and dance together through hydrological events. Creotose Forest, and Dry Wash Microphyll Woodland ecosystems.  This hydrological watershed area is called the Desert Tortoise Linkage Reserve Management Unit, because Interstate 10 and other utility roads are massive habitat linkage bisectors for all of the desert wildlife between Joshua Tree National Park, and the Wilderness lands of the Orocopia Mountains and Mecca Hills.  Linkage also refers to the gradient from the valley to the mountains on north and south side which provides critical elevated and potentially cooler habitat for tortoise and other species as climate changes, including drought and increased temperatures.

 

Essentially, there are two populations of animal species inhabiting the same ecosystem but divided by a moving  transportation highway wall, with only a few key bridge portals for them to cross underneath.  Additionally, levy's created on the north side to project the Colorado River Aqueduct in the early 30s keep surface water from being evenly and naturally distributed to the lands on its south side.  Conversely, bridges on SR 60 Pinto Rd and associated levy's created in 1941 at the start of WWII to project Camp Young and the highway from being flooded, keep surface water runoff unevenly distributed along the south side of Pinto Rd. 

 

Desert Stewards provides safe and conscious observation and study of this area, to provide and maintain access for the Coachella Valley communities, scientists and tourists visiting the Valley.

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​Exciting and Fun rides ....but, Not a "rip it up" adrenaline experience

Desert Stewards' Ecological Engagements are not a place to "rip it up" or go faster than 25 miles per hour.  You can find other organizations that offer these exhilarating benefits, at Johnson Valley, Glamis, and Ocotillo Wells riding areas.  We offer meaningful and environmentally sensitive desert ecosystem engagement with jaw dropping views with a feeling of fresh, safe outdoor wilderness trail riding engagement.  Please call if you have questions.  Reservations only, please call or book ahead.

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Land Acknowledgment

The land on which Desert Stewards operates is the ancestral homelands of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi/Mission, Serano, and Southern Paiute Native peoples, and also formerly Mexico prior to 1850.  Cahuilla and Mission Native Nations are still thriving in and around the Coachella Valley, notwithstanding federally mandated assistance from the government, they were forced to work with conservators in the 1950s and 60s.  Spanish colonization and missions in the mid 1700s and English Setter colonial expansion in the 1850s brought genocide, bounty on killing native people, and forced removal from their lands.  Spanish colonization began the enslavement and persecution of natives peoples in the Southwest and Mexico.  18 Treaties were signed in 1851,52, that were supposed to protect native lands and maintain access to the coastlines as well as mountain and desert landscapes.  These 18 treaties were taken back to Washington and put into a drawer, unratified.  Native people in California and Oregon thought they were protected, but they were not.  They continued to be killed and their land stolen.  It was only by 1900, 50 years later that investigations were started to uncover where these treaties had gone to.  By then, massive tracts of land were stolen and given to railroad barrons, land investors and the State and Counties.  Land was finally provided to native tribes, yet small fractions of what the treaties layed out. Most notible is the loss of access and native owned land along the Southern California Coastline.  Large institutions own much of the coastline along with private landowners.  

"Land Back" is a term that describes the need to return land to the Native people that are still here and have been since time immemorial.  Coastline in Southern California needs to be returned to Native Nations. 

Chuckwalla National Monument is an opportunity to co-steward the land including native voices and traditional exological knowledge, to preserve sacred lands and traditional village sites east of the Coachella Valley all the way to the Colorado River.  Nearly 650,000 acres are preserved for recreation, and ecological and cultural protection. 

Niwah.  ("May you be blessed", Cahuilla language).

Wanishi.  ("Waves of Love",  Nanticoke language).

Light, Love and Peace

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