Thanks to a partnership forged four years ago between the California Conservation Corps and the U.S. Forest Service – establishing a work-training program for post-9/11 military veterans – public lands are being restored and vets are gaining valuable experience and developing skills that are helping them gain jobs as they transition back into the civilian workforce. One of the most recent examples of this partnership-in-action took place a couple of weekends ago in the Rodman Mountains Wilderness southeast of Barstow.

Seeing water in the desert is a reminder to Danielle Segura, executive director at the Mojave Desert Land Trust, that monument protections are not just for what’s on top of the land. “We’re protecting not just what we see, but everything above it and below it,” said Segura, whose group purchases land and donates it to the government for conservation. “That’s important as we stare down problems like Porter Ranch and Flint, Mich.”

Section 33, located just south of California Highway 62 between La Contenta Road and Joshua Tree Memorial Park, is scheduled for the fourth annual cleanup effort between Combat Center Marines and Morongo Basin community members April 23, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. until noon. The land was purchased by the Mojave Desert Land Trust in conjunction with the Combat Center, The Trust for Public Land and the California Wildlife Conservation Board.

Mary Joe Burger, 19, from Maine, is in the yard of the Mojave Desert Land Trust picking out mustard weed, an invasive plant that inserts itself into the desert, strangling native plants. Burger doesn’t mind the work. She loves gardening, and it gives her a sense of helping.

Members of this community were more than ready to welcome the new Sand to Snow National Monument. Conservation groups and the chamber of commerce unveiled a new sign proclaiming Morongo Valley “Home of the Sand to Snow National Monument” Tuesday, just four days after President Barack Obama designated the new monument.

For years, a sign on the road that descends into Morongo Valley declared the town the “future home” of the Sand to Snow National Monument. That future has arrived, and now Morongo Valley has a new sign. For the crowd that turned out to celebrate the unveiling of the sign on Tuesday, the occasion marked a victory after years of pushing for the national monument and a time to be proud of their town and its desert vistas stretching from the oasis of Big Morongo Canyon to snow-capped Mount San Gorgonio.