Friends of BMCP Forum

A forum for members of Friends, volunteers, and docents at BMCP to exchange information and post meeting notices and other activities related to the Preserve. The public is also welcome to browse and read the latest news and announcements and see a calendar of current events at BMCP.

Affiliated Organizations

U.S. Bureau of Land Management - Palm Springs
The Nature Conservancy

Birding Sites

Audubon California

The mission of Audubon California is to conserve and restore California’s natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. This site covers a wide range of information concerning California birding.

Big Morongo Birders

This is Barry Parkes' blog (Web log) which contains colourful commentary and bird lists from outings in Big Morongo and other Southern California birding spots. Barry is a docent at BMCP where he leads bird walks and is a member of the board of directors of Friends of BMCP.

California Rare Bird Alert

Hosted by The Virtual Birder, this site contains rare bird alerts for all of North America. This link sends you to the California section which includes Big Morongo Canyon Preserve. Click on "RBAs" then scroll down the page for various listings by geographical area. Recent sightings for Riverside, San Bernardino, and Imperial counties are listed under "San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society."

Open Directory Project: Birding California

This site has links to 80 Web sites related to birding in California. The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.

The Birder's Home Page

Birding is the most extensive section of this site. You will find checklists which span the globe, birding Hot Spots, and rare bird alert phone numbers. In the Backyard Birders section you can also find information on seeds to attract birds, building bird houses, and links to home pages of other bird watchers.

General Interest

The SummerTree Institute

Based in Morongo Valley, The SummerTree Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, organized to provide new and refreshing viewpoints toward our environment, our place in it, and our responsibility to it. SummerTree's executive director is Robin Kobaly, a former Preserve Manager at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve.

USGS aerial photo of BMCP (16 meter resolution)

USGS aerial photo of BMCP (2 meter resolution)

High-altitude US Geological Survey photos taken 1996 of Morongo Basin and hosted on Microsoft TerraServer.

Traveling Artist Wildflowers Project

The National Park Service sponsored website display of over 350 watercolor botanical illustrations from the American Southwest, including approximately 100 of the Pacific West from the Mojave National Preserve, Red Rock Canyon, and Ash Meadows NWR. This site is a great resource guide with cross referencing on common and scientific names as well as location.

Suggest a Site

We're always looking for Web sites of related interest to our Preserve and its visitors. Check back here often for new listings, and if you know of a site you think might be useful here, please send an email to: webmaster@bigmorongo.org.