One Ranger's Quest To Save His Beloved Desert

·27 min·1 clip

Vic refused to “look the other way” when BLM officials told him to ignore firearms and off-road vehicle violations.

1. Nature and Science Podcast follows Don Murphy as he tells the story of Vic Maris and Red Rock Canyon in California. 2. Don Murphy is the host, and Vic Maris is the former California State Parks ranger whose 30-year career shaped the episode. 3. The episode asks how one ranger’s attachment to Red Rock Canyon led to protecting the desert through park management and legislation. 4. Vic says he first visited Red Rock Canyon at age 14, saw the Red Cliffs, and camped in Scenic Canyon. 5. He describes seeing a gray fox, a white owl, and a desert tortoise on that early trip. 6. The episode says hikers, birders, artists, authors, and photographers advocated for Red Rock Canyon beginning in the 1920s. 7. Vic notes that more than 150 motion pictures were filmed at Red Rock Canyon. 8. He says off-highway vehicles damaged the area before it became a state park, especially after he began hiking and camping there in 1966. 9. Vic explains that Red Rock Canyon holds more than 150 bird species, numerous mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and rare plants. 10. He also describes spring wildflowers covering the desert floor beneath red, pink, or white cliffs. 11. Vic says quiet in a remote canyon can be total, and that city listeners are often surprised by that silence. 12. He says he began his California State Parks career at Red Rock Canyon State Park in 1974. 13. Vic recounts how dirt bikes generated extreme noise and drove traditional park users away. 14. He says California later acquired a 26,000-acre ranch next to Red Rock and turned it into a state vehicular recreation area. 15. Vic describes a BLM dispute over about 4,000 acres, scenic cliffs, and Scenic Canyon, and he says the land contained geology, Miocene fossil beds, and archaeological sites. 16. He says scientists working with the Peregrine Fund linked nesting failures of golden eagles and prairie falcons to dirt-bike noise. 17. Vic recounts the 1980s seasonal closure that protected nesting birds after Audubon Society member Don Moore contacted Senator Alan Cranston’s office. 18. He says that closure led to a confrontation with BLM officials, a hearing in Lancaster, and a decision to enforce state park rules as written. 19. Vic recalls the California Desert Protection Act passing on October 31, 1994, protecting 9.2 million acres and adding to Red Rock Canyon State Park. 20. He ends by saying returning to Red Rock showed him hardened fencing, recovering Last Chance Canyon, and staff who still protect the park mission.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Nature and Science Podcast