Mitchell Caverns in Eastern Mojave reopening in November

California State Park officials have announced that remote Providence Mountains State Recreation Area and its popular Mitchell Caverns in the eastern Mojave Desert will reopen November 3 after nearly seven years. The recreation area will initially be open Friday through Sunday. (COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS)

By SUZANNE HURT
The Press-Enterprise

Popular Mitchell Caverns in the eastern Mojave Desert’s Providence Mountains will re-open on a limited schedule in early November, a state park official said Friday, Sept. 8.

Providence Mountains State Recreation Area between Barstow and Needles – and its limestone caves — have been closed since January 2011 over infrastructure issues, including a bad well.

Park officials are hiring, while fans of the caverns, one of only two public “show caves” in Southern California, are rejoicing via social media.

State parks’ Tehachapi District Acting Superintendent Russ Dingman said he was thrilled to announce the re-opening, which comes in time for the fall busy season.

“I think it’s one of the hidden jewels of the state parks department,” he said.

The remote park will be open for day use only from 8 a.m. Friday through Sunday and on holidays starting Nov. 3 until more staff is hired.

Two tours will be offered daily, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The campground is expected to open in about six months. The closest campground is nearby Hole-In-The-Wall Campground in Mojave National Preserve. There also are motels in Barstow and Needles, Dingman said.

Park officials are now hiring seasonal park aides and maintenance aides.

State park officials had hoped to reopen the state recreation area in May or June. That was delayed until a septic tank could be replaced and trail work finished after the heat of summer passed.

For more information, check out parks.ca.gov/ or call 760-928-2586.

Mitchell Caverns Reopening Efforts Update

Special Report by John Marnell
MDHCA representative for Mitchell Caverns

As Jack and Ida Mitchell gaze from the front porch of their home at the caverns into the brightness that is the east Mojave Desert, I believe that in the same way we are beginning to see the “light at the end of the tunnel” that is the reopening of Mitchell Caverns.

A good deal of the infrastructure was either damaged or destroyed by the theft and vandalism attack that occurred more than three years ago. Coupled with the same lack of maintenance that plagues most of California’s State Parks, and budget woes, the road to reopening has been a long and winding one.

This past week, I attended a meeting with the district superintendent for California State Parks and Recreation about Mitchell Caverns and some really heartening news was provided. As you may recall from previous articles, the primary delay has been with bringing a new well on-line. While not yet complete, a good volume of top quality water at a depth of 550’ has been reached, the casing is in place, and the pump has been ordered. Money has been approved and a contract is about to be awarded for the completion of the generator system upgrade. These are the final issues to be resolved.

A couple of months ago I got to see firsthand the refinished visitor center (the former home of Jack and Ida), the newly installed LED lighting within the caverns, newly sealed roadway and parking lots, and I was impressed by the enthusiasm of Andy Fitzpatrick the State Interpretive Ranger who is stationed at the park.

The State will not announce a formal reopening until all is ready but the timeline appears to be on schedule for perhaps a July date. The plan as of now is to have a formal “Grand Reopening” celebration at the park a month or two later, to be certain all systems are in good order, tour procedures are in place and working correctly.

Please visit the Committee to Reopen Mitchell Caverns on the web, and on Facebook for up to date information.

The State Parks website for Providence Mountains may also be updated regularly.

Arizona Historical Society soon could be history

Photo taken by C.S. Fly after Geronimo's surrender to General Crook in March 1886. Left to right: Yanozha (Geronimo's brother-in-law), Chappo (Geronimo's son), Fun (Geronimo's 2nd cousin) and Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache Tribe's legendary medicine man. (Photo: Arizona Historical Society)

Laurie Roberts
The Republic | azcentral.com

The Arizona Legislature is about to take aim at the state's history – or at least public access to that history.

A routine proposal to extend the life of the Arizona Historical Society for another 10 years has been slashed to two years, a move that the state historian says could be "a death knell" to the agency that operates seven museums around the state.

Marshall Trimble says he's puzzled by why the Legislature would want to stick it to the Historical Society, which collects, preserves and showcases the history of Arizona and the west.

"Our history is one of the most unique and colorful in the entire 50 states," he said. "Our story is so important to the state. We are a place that lives by our legends and our history."

Sen. Gail Griffin, the senator pushing a two-year rather than 10-year extension, says she wants to make sure that the agency corrects longstanding problems identified in a state audit last fall before giving it a longer life.

"I'm on their side," Griffin, R-Hereford, told me. "The issues that were brought up were serious concerns. I just want to make sure those concerns are taken care of."

The audit noted that the Historical Society needs to do a better job fund raising and managing its collection, problems that were also identified in state audits in 1995 and 1998.

Problems that I'm quite sure will be so much easier, now that the agency faces the possibility of extinction in two years.

The Arizona Historical Society was established in 1864 by the First Territorial Legislature. Arizona's leaders, in those days, understood that they were making history and that it was important to preserve a record of that history.

Among its 1.2 million artifacts are Geronimo's rifle and Wyatt Earp's shotgun and jewelry made in a Japanese-American internment camp in Arizona. There, you can learn about the people, places and events that shaped this state.

For now anyway.

The Historical Society – already by hobbled by budget cuts -- is due to sunset on July 1. After reviewing the agency's sunset audit, a House-Senate committee last fall recommended that it be reauthorized for another 10 years.

The 10-year extension breezed through the House. But Griffin amended the bill in the Senate, to terminate the agency in 2016.

It's now up to the House whether to go along with Griffin's plan.

Trimble, who has volunteered his services as state historian for nearly two decades, called Griffin's proposal "mean-spirited and really severe."

"The historical society doesn't deserve this kind of treatment," he said. "In recent years the Legislature has cut the budget in half and reduced the staff at AHS from 75 to 25 while at the same time insisting on unrealistic accountability on the part of the staff."

He says the historical society is already feeling the effects of Griffin's move. The family of the late Paul Harvey, a radio icon who lived part of each year in Phoenix, was set to donate his papers to the Arizona Historical Society, Trimble says. As a result of the Griffin's move to cut its lifespan to two years, he says the family has put that donation on hold.

He says fund raising also is being affected as donors wonder whether the agency will be around after 2016.

Trimble is hoping the Legislature comes to its senses. But then, he looks at what's happened to the state's parks, which have never recovered from a legislative gutting a few years ago.

"I see a pattern here among some of the people who have power down there," he said. "They think these things are not important. It really saddens me. I broke in as a young historian with John Hays and Joe Lane and Carl Kunasek and Stan Turley. … They really cared about Arizona and I don't feel there are enough of them down there that feel that way anymore."

Sadly, he's right. A lot of our leaders today are ideologues, interested in a good fight with the feds over state's rights.

But the state? Not so much.

Hesperia agencies to consider Victor Valley Museum support

Rene Ray De La Cruz
Victor Valley Daily Press

HESPERIA • The City Council on Tuesday will discuss its support of the financially struggling Victor Valley Museum in Apple Valley.

The council may give direction to staff for the joint-agency support of the museum, which would include the city, the Hesperia Unified School District and the Hesperia Recreation and Park District.

If approved by all agencies, funding could be allocated in a manner proportionate to each agency’s operating budget, with $10,000 coming from the city and HUSD, and $5,000 from the park district.

The city’s annual portion would be added to the budgets from 2014 through 2017, if approved by the council.

This item is also being presented by staff to both boards for consideration, a city staff report said.

The city received a request from 1st District Supervisor Robert Lovingood for an annual contribution of $25,000 for the next three fiscal years.

Allocations would support the museum as an education resource in the High Desert and allow the city to work with curators on a historical Hesperia display.

In 2013, the struggling museum continued to stay open with a portion of $200,000 in bridge funding from the county.

The county’s $4.4 billion budget for 2013-14 revealed limited one-time sources to fund certain costs as part of a multi-year plan to address a five-year structural deficit.

A few of those one-time fund issues include covering shortfalls in the county museum system Fire Department and underfunded programs and projects in Land Use Services and Public Works.

The 2013-14 county budget also revealed that the county will work with other government agencies to explore opportunities to “transfer the ownership/operation of the Victor Valley Museum to another entity.”

The museum opened as an independent nonprofit in 1992. It closed for a one-year renovation project after the county acquired it in February 2010 after declining revenue threatened its closure.

Financial shortfalls threaten local museum

After 20 years of operation, the struggling Victor Valley Museum in Apple Valley will continue to stay open with a portion of $200,000 in bridge funding from San Bernardino County. (SARAH ALVARADO)

Rene De La Cruz, Staff Writer
Victorville Daily Press

APPLE VALLEY • The future of a key educational facility in the High Desert hangs by a financial thread.

After 20 years of operation, the struggling Victor Valley Museum will continue to stay open with a portion of $200,000 in bridge funding from San Bernardino County.

Because of the county’s budget reduction for 2013-14, nine positions have been eliminated in the county’s museum budget, with additional bridge funding retaining the one paid employee at the museum in Apple Valley.

The county’s museum budget of $3.1 million reflects a reduction of nearly $770,000.

In May, Director of San Bernardino County Museums Robert McKernan said the local museum had to temporarily layoff one paid staff worker because of a lack of funds.

McKernan said the county was not planning on closing “any facility in our system of museums.”

On Friday, Facility Manager of the Victor Valley Museum Rhonda Almager said she was ecstatic to be back after being temporarily laid off for almost two weeks.

“It was touch and go, but I love this place,” said Almager, who has worked for the museum system for 24 years. “It’s me and about 14 volunteers. I’m grateful to still be here.”

Since May, news of the lack of museum funds spread, with the rumor mill lamenting the impending closure of the facility.

The county’s $4.4 billion budget for 2013-14, passed June 12, reveals limited one-time sources to fund certain costs as part of a multi-year plan to address a five-year structural deficit.

A few of those one-time fund issues include covering shortfall in the county museum system, Fire Department and underfunded programs and projects in Land Use Services and Public Works.

The budget also revealed that the county will work with other government agencies to explore opportunities to “transfer the ownership/operation of the Victor Valley Museum to another entity.”

One of those entities may be the newly formed Friends of the Victor Valley Museum, which held its inaugural fundraiser and reception in November to raise funds and promote community awareness and involvement in the museum.

During the event, Brad Mitzelfelt, the county’s 1st District supervisor at the time, pledged $125,000 of remaining discretionary funds as matching funds for the nonprofit group.

The museum opened as an independent nonprofit in 1992. It closed for a one-year renovation project after the county acquired it in February 2010 after declining revenue threatened its closure.

MITCHELL CAVERNS: Seeing state budget cuts up close

Mitchell Caverns are in the the Providence Mountains of eastern San Bernardino County (Mark Muckenfuss/staff photo)

BY JANET ZIMMERMAN
Press-Enterprise

California’s budget crisis hit me full-force recently when I realized Mitchell Caverns in the Mojave Desert’s Providence Mountains State Recreation Area are closed indefinitely.

These unique caverns, developed as a private tourist attraction in the 1930s, are not someplace I go often — I’ve only been there once. But on our spring break vacation in the desert, my husband and I wanted to take our children to see the caverns’ stalagmites, stalactites and other limestone formations.

We called, but the phone went unanswered. A little research turned up the reason.

The Providence Mountains State Recreation Area was closed in January 2011, along with 69 other state parks; 208 parks remain open. The area, which is within the boundaries of the Mojave National Preserve, became a state park in 1956.

According to the National Park Service, which includes notice of the closure in its newsletter for the Mojave preserve, said there were serious problems with the water system at the caverns, which coincided with state budget cuts.

The closures were necessary to meet $11 million in funding cuts that year, and $22 million this year, state officials said.

Sad to think, the only way my children may ever see this desert treasure is on video.

Shuttered California state parks may be vulnerable to vandalism

Damage to the visitors center and other structures at Mitchell Caverns in the Mojave Desert has officials working to improve plans to protect as many as 70 other California parks scheduled to close in July because of budget cuts.

Kevin Forrester, a superintendent with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, walks inside Mitchell Caverns at Providence Mountains State Recreation Area. Since the remote park's closure, intruders have cut fences, kicked doors off of hinges and shattered windows and display cases at the visitors center. Critics say it might be a harbinger of what's to come when 70 more state parks are closed because of budget cuts. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times / February 22, 2012)

By Louis Sahagun
Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Providence Mountains State Recreation Area, Calif. -- California parks officials closed a gem of the state park system last spring, sadly shuttering Mitchell Caverns, a natural wonder that for eight decades had drawn visitors to this remote spot in the Mojave Desert.

Workers hauled away the precious Native American artifacts and historical documents and locked the gates, assuming the area would sit undisturbed until the state could afford to reopen it.

But several times in the last four months, vandals traveled 16 desolate miles north from Interstate 40 to plunder and damage the park's isolated structures. Their actions left advocates for the caverns angry at the state and have officials working to improve plans to protect as many as 70 other California parks scheduled to close in July because of budget cuts.

The worst damage was to the 78-year-old rock-and-mortar visitors center at Mitchell Caverns, the main attraction of the 5,900-acre Providence Mountains State Recreation Area.

Intruders cut fences, kicked doors off of hinges and shattered windows and display cases. They stole metal signs and survival gear, including hand-held radios, flashlights and binoculars. They also stole diesel-powered generators and ripped out thousands of feet of electrical wire used to illuminate the only natural limestone caverns in the state park system, San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators said.

"What happened at the visitors center is devastating and heartbreaking," said Kathy Weatherman, superintendent of the California Parks and Recreation Department's Tehachapi District. She said the caverns themselves were not damaged. The state is taking steps to try to prevent more destruction, including searching for a full-time caretaker, Weatherman said.

The attacks have heightened concerns about possible vandalism at other state parks scheduled for closure. Those 70 parks are among the least used in the state. They represent one-quarter of the 278 that exist across California but tally just 8% of total visits. Many are in remote areas where they are particularly vulnerable.

Officials are seeking anyone with the clout and funds to keep them from being left unguarded after they are closed. "Now, amid budget constraints, we're looking for ways to get caretakers, guardians, local law enforcement and volunteers to protect these precious places," said Roy Stearns, a spokesman for the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

As with so many cuts in California government spending these days, the hope is that once the budget improves, the state will restore services and amenities that have long made the state a rich place to live. But there are no guarantees, especially because just 13 of the state parks and beaches are financially self-sustaining. Fans of many of the parks scheduled for closure are scrambling to try to find some combination of private funds and volunteerism to keep the gates open, fearing that if they ever close it could be for good.

The Mitchell Caverns visitors center, 220 miles east of Los Angeles, had been the home of the caverns' original owners, Los Angeles businessman Jack Mitchell and his wife, Ida. The couple moved to the desert to open the caverns as a tourist attraction in the 1930s and sold them to the state in 1954. A memorial plaque says the Mitchells wanted the state to preserve the area and the caverns "for future generations to appreciate."

Sue Ellen Patrick, 71, granddaughter of Jack and Ida Mitchell, said of the destruction: "My family feels betrayed because the state didn't do what it promised us, which is protect the caves and the heritage."

State Parks and Recreation Department officials decided to mothball the area last May because of two unrelated events. The park's two rangers retired and the state found serious problems with the water system, said Linda Slater, resource interpreter at the nearby Mojave National Preserve. The state couldn't afford the repairs needed to keep the park open.

After valuables were removed, the property was left unguarded, parks officials said.

"The state locked up the place and then walked away, leaving it wide open to troublemakers," said Dennis Casebier, executive director of the nonprofit Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Assn.

Said cattle rancher Rob Blair, 54, who lives within view of Mitchell Caverns: "It's disgusting what's going on out there. These intruders were pretty bold to cut the locks off a state park gate, then tear everything up and steal big-ticket items."

Park officials estimate the damage at $100,000.

Responding to a trespassing call on Feb. 5, sheriff's deputies arrested Christopher Alvarado, 48, of Azusa and Trisha Sutton, 36, of Covina. Deputies said they found stolen items at the couple's campsite near Mitchell Caverns. Alvarado and Sutton were booked on suspicion of burglary, receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled substance and possession of burglary tools, Sheriff's Lt. Ross Tarangle said.

The investigation continues, with police trying to determine whether other people were involved.

Although police reports indicate that a person interviewed at the site said vandals found a key to the cavern gates and destroyed natural features inside, Tarangle said those reports have yet to be confirmed, and parks officials insist they have no evidence the caverns were damaged.

From a distance, the entrance to the caverns resembles two large eyes on a massive rock. Their earliest inhabitants included a Pleistocene ground sloth that stumbled into the darkness 15,000 years ago and left claw marks on a wall. Later, the caverns were blackened with smoke from the fires of Chemehuevi Indians who used them for shelter, storage and ceremonial purposes for at least 500 years.

This week, Kevin Forrester, sector superintendent for the parks department, recalled memories of better times as he walked along a path to the visitors center.

"Look at it now," Forrester said with a sigh. "We've had to board up the windows and weld the doors shut.

"It's going to take a lot of money to bring this place back to life."