For the tenderest desert plants, search in places where ground water is close to the surface. There the vegetation will appear greener, larger, or markedly different from the surrounding types. Also search in dry river beds or other low areas. The damp sand in such spots will support a more abundant vegetation and, possibly, some water will be found a few feet below the surface.

SURVIVAL DIET

In the desert, food is of secondary importance to water. If your water ration is less than a quart per day, don't eat foods such as birds, fish, meat, beans and cheese. Eat only sugars, starches, and fats such as fruit bars, hard candy, biscuits or special survival kit pemmican found in emergency rations, with less than one pint of water per day, eat nothing. If you have one quart of water per day, you can eat anything.
- Anonymous magazine article - B.B.

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- CONSERVATION -

RAINBOW BRIDGE CONTINUES IN DANGER: The protection provided by the Colorado River Storage Project Act of 1956 has not yet been given Rainbow Bridge, although present plans call for closing of the diversion tunnels of the Glen Canyon Dam by January 21.
The Sierra Club last month joined the National Parks Association and the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs in a suit seeking to enjoin the Secretary of the Interior from closing the diversion tunnels. The District Court of the District of Columbia denied the request on the grounds that conservation organizations, having no financial interest in the national monument, had no standing in court. An appeal to the Circuit Court is being made this week.
The District Court did rule, however, that the provisions of the Colorado River Project Storage Act--which provide that Rainbow Bridge must be protected and that no dam or reservoir shall lie within a national park or monument-- remain in force and their execution lies within the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior. The Department of the Interior has contended that the failure of Congress to appropriate funds nullified the requirement that protection must be provided.
Conservationists are asked to write the President at the White House at once urging that the provisions of the law be carried out without further delay. The safety of all national parks and monuments is endangered if a precedent is set here for disregard of the law by a government agency entrusted with some of the nation's irreplaceable natural resources.
- SC Council Editorial Committee

RECOMENDED READING: The Place NO One Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado.
Eliot Porter's picturesque story of a magnificent land soon to be inundated by the waters of Lake Powell. Published by Sierra Club, San Francisco.


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THE D.P.S. NEWSLETTER

Published bi-monthly (October thru June) by the Desert Peaks Section, Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club.
Editor: John Robinson, 418 E. 20th St., Costa Mesa, California
Subscriptions: $1.00 per year. Send remittance to Robert Greenawalt 2643 N. Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead, California.
 
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