Winter Rains Bring Lush Green to Desert
January 2012 - Photos from the wind project site taken in January, after a December rain event when nearly an inch of rain watered this part of the desert. The Ocotillos (Fouquieria splendens) responded by leafing out in a lush display of mid-winter greenery, and many also flowered.
^Ocotillos in the eastern part of the proposed project.
^Ocotillo blossoms after a December rain.
^Lush ocotillos on the wind project site, part of the Colorado Desert in western Imperial Valley.
^The rains also brought up Desert lily (Hesperocallis undulata) leaves from underground roots.
^Looking westward across the project site towards Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
^Ocotillo flowers.
^The project site is vast.
^Leaves sprout out of woody stems of the Ocotillo plant within weeks after a good rain storm.
^Agaves (Agave deserti) grow over the western part of the proposed project site.
^Agave flowers. The rains brought some tall flowering stalks up.
^Agave leaves.
^Ocotillos leafing out.
^Barrel cacti (Ferocactus acanthodes) also grow on the project site.
^Cholla (Cylindropuntia sp.).
^Ancient clonal creosote rings (Larrea tridentata) are present on the wind project site. These could be thousands of years old.
^Green flowering desert garden of Ocotillos.
^January flowers of the Ocotillos.
^Meteorological tower for the proposed wind project in the midst of Ocotillos.
^Met tower is a few hundred feet high.
^Met tower.
View from Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Tall steel wind turbines would be visible from within the park boundary, as seen in this panorama looking eastward to the wind project site along Highway S2.
