The Removal of Wild Palms
In MOAPA Warmsprings, Nevada
& Why we should care!
WSpencers, - ©1994-2011
Citations allowed properly credited
© 1994 - 2011 this covers ALL 245 pp of this document, including peripherals
Info regarding the Controversial removal of palms
from Dace habitat in Moapa Warm Springs, NV:
BACKGROUND:
The Research:
The following information is the culmination of years of exhaustive research by Spencer, beginning with observations taken in 1980 through 1997 and again in August 2007. To current Date no one else has EVER collected or compiled this information into one place. This information culminating in this discourse concerns large scale removals of Wild Palms at Moapa Warm Springs Dace Habitat by the Fish and Wildlife, based on their undersubstantiated Claims that Washingtonia filifera Palms are not native plants in the area.
The Setting:
The Fish and Wildlife have a mandate to protect the endangered aquatic species:
Moapa Coriacea or Moapa Dace and other fish. Studies by visiting Authors/Botanists and Ichthyologists were published which collectively concluded that Wild stands of Washingtonia filifera palm trees -[AKA Desert Fan Palms]- were likely to have been an 'introduced' or 'recently adventive' Nuisance species of Plant imported by an early Settlers within the last 114 years.
These Published studies however fail to provide adequate documentation and proof supporting such a drastic conclusion. To Date, NO scientific Study may be used to EXCLUDE this palm as a Native Plant species. This Palm was condemned as a Nuisance Exotic Plant not based on verifiable facts but on conjecture and supposition. Even so, these reports are now resulting in a 'massive' removal policy which is permanently changing the Oasis environment.
Spencer is a naturalist who came to the area about 30 years ago and was told by old timers that the Palms were said to be ancient by local Native Americans. He followed up on this claim and discovered that not only was this a fact but also that certain Mormon families with numerous generations in the area also had important things to say about the issue. He collected these claims, presented them to the local Agencies removing palms in 1996. They countered with silence. Spencer then rigorously compared the documents provided by the Government Agencies and Botanists to the neglected information he had uncovered only to find that no one had ever acknowledged this very important alternative historical information. The more he found the more it became evident that Palms were being removed by local government agencies based on deficient and outdated information. During his research major flaws in the condemning reports also surfaced which needed to be addressed. This has never been done.
The alternate information available would likely result in this Palm obtaining 'protected' status as a native Plant.
Instead, current policy is now fully funded to remove as many palms as possible from local Riparian habitat. Meanwhile new information has also surfaced: the Western Yellow Bat: Lasiurus xanthinus - a bat whose habitat is almost without exception found in Wild Washingtonia filifera groves has been located in Moapa warm springs among the palms. The removals of the palms and dead palm fronds will likely hurt this rare species by destroying its preferred habitat. Furthermore, the Fish and Wildlifes' own Dace Counts may indicate that recent palm removals may have caused Dace populations to plummet by as much as 50% in two separate counts.
Spencer, has been fighting this -hard-to-follow- logic since 1994 and is continually being met with the standard: 'NO COMMENT'. Meanwhile he uses the Governments' own collected data to demonstrate that Washingtonia filifera are actually native plants in Moapa Warm Springs NV.
This is a synopsis of important information to help clarify the issue to the general public.
More Detailed arguments are found in links below this Article.
A Synopsis of the Information:
The Funding of the removal of the Palms
The Large amounts of Tax dollars to remove the palms was obtained for the most part, by inviting a botanist to visit the area for three days and write an official paper. Other papers were written by this botanist as well.
This was done and in these papers it was claimed that the Palms in Warm Springs were likely to have been introduced to the area by Mormon settlers.
The main official paper was printed in Desert Plants, Vol. 8 - no. 4 - 1986
It completely failed to address the fact that numerous Moapa band of Paiute members had claimed the palm predated White man to the area. The claim of one White person rather is taken as proof that no palms existed in Warm Springs in 1865.
This is refuted by numerous other claims by people who kept journals or had family in the area around that time, but they were not consulted. The numbers of mature palms the paper claims to have counted is directly refuted by photographic evidence as well. Other parts of the paper and the other documents by the same Scientist are directly refuted by well documented arguments.
The main scientifically based arguments the official papers make, namely the lack of presence of a Beetle and question over the Taxon of a fossil find are refuted using the scientists' own contradictory published writings and little else was needed to refute him.
The funding was made official because protecting the endangered Dace fishes habitat was a critical mandate from Congress and By using the aforementioned papers the palm has now been tagged as an encroaching un-natural exotic nuisance Plant species fouling the endangered Dace habitat. Yet no science has ever been able to back up this claim.
If the palms are the Dace's real habitat, then the FWS is guilty of harming the Dace. Their counts before and after the fire and after removing the palms documents this in their own literature, much to their discredit.
This Palm is also found in other places:
There are protected areas in: Castle creek AZ, KOFA canyon AZ, 29 palms CA, Turtle Mountains CA, Thousand Palms CA, Anza Borrego CA, Tahquitz canyon CA, and many other places too numerous to mention. Some are protected as parts of Desert state parks, some are on Sacred Indian lands, Some set aside by the Nature Conservancy where fish are also protected.
Fossil Records of Fan Palms:
NO fossil palm may be positively identified to Taxa by leaf remains alone - even perfect fossils. This however is only because Plant taxonomy is not based on leaves - which vary- but on the flowers. Existing Palm species however, may be ruled out as NOT being the subject taxon of a fossil.
So with this in mind, you should know that all existing palm species except for W. filifera may be ruled OUT by the current existing fossils.
Therefor the fossils must be: either Washingtonia or they are another ancient extinct species which happens to possess identical leaf parts to Washingtonia. Simply because Washingtonia filifera is ONLY found naturally in the Western United states today, it has been assumed by Daniel Axelrod [an expert] that they are indeed Washingtonia fossils.
The Mendis Cooper Story:
Subsequent speculation by both FWS and others presumed that Mendis obtained palms or seeds in Mesa AZ. However this is not possible since there were no palms in Mesa in 1893. Spencer found that this latter fact is documented by four researchers in AZ. [Carmony, Lowe, Brown and Turner - AZ Academy of Sciences].
It is more likely that Mendis Cooper found his plants or seeds locally at one of the nearby Springs where palms already existed in 1893. While He may indeed have been the first local Overton NV resident to plant the palms in a landscape situation, he was certainly not the one who introduced palms to Overton or to Moapa nearly 40 miles away. His palms still exist in a straight line on the front of the historical property and they are positively dwarfed by the tallest Palms at Warm Springs which are twice as tall in many cases. Yet it is this speculative story that a botanist actually used to condemn the massive groves of Wild Palms at Moapa Warm Springs Nevada, nearly 40 miles northwest of Coopers original homestead.
Areas Where the Palm: Washingtonia filifera are present in Nevada:
Up until present day, an imaginary Climate line has been claimed [without factual basis] where Natural groves of this species are considered to arbitrarily end in other published work. This is an arbitrary location of the edge of the Colorado Climate zone somewhere around Bullhead City - to which W. filifera was assigned. This illogical assignment ignores the Palms documented hardiness and the fact that it was discovered in AZ more than a hundred and fifty miles from the Colorado Climate zone. Those using this line fail to note that the ancient distribution of Fan palms encompassed most western states extending from Wyoming down to the Mexican border. This is known from fossils.
One must understand that in Victorian times -early 1830's through 1920 - people became fascinated with palm trees. Palms were associated with the exotic tropics and were imported from exotic places for landscapes in mild winter areas. In 1849 the West Coast was being settled by people from the East Coast and yet the majority of the West's interior was unsettled - particularly the Desert southwest as well as Moapa. This palm is not native to coastal California, but only to widely distributed remote Southwestern Desert Warm Springs.
For that reason this Palm went undiscovered by Whites settling the west until late 1800's. By this time the west coast was already being planted by many Palms from exotic tropics.
Although it's appearance is very similar to some of these palms brought in from Mexico, Australia and China this newly discovered palm was NOT exotic and certainly NOT tropical and it is furthermore unrelated to these other exotic palms. Many think that the tall palms found in California are California Fan palms or Washingtonia filifera when in truth they are Mexican fan palms and come from Mexico. FWS published information regarding the Palms at Warm Springs recently referring to them as Mexican Fan Palms. This is deliberately misleading to cause the uninformed public to believe the palms are from a distant place when in reality the only thing from a distant place at the Moapa Warm Springs is the Fish and Wildlife service itself and their insistance on ignoring the facts.
Still, By the time Mormons settled Moapa, people viewed ALL Palms as Tropical plants and this palm was no exception, even though it is only found naturally in U.S. Deserts. MOST people still think this palm is a tropical import and must be educated to understand that this palm is found naturally no where else on earth. The Fish and Wildlife KNOW this confusion persists among the uninformed public and USE it to further their agenda to remove the palms by continually referring to it as Exotic and Mexican. This palm is only found naturally in a couple of very small locations in northern Mexico. Beyond that point the genus changes mostly to Brahea which is a similar looking but unrelated genus of Palms.
Mexican Fan Palms (Washingtonia robusta) IS found around the area but NOT at the warm springs. It is however widely planted at Lake Mead Marina, Lake Mead Visitors center and Echo Bay but is almost non-existant at Moapa Warm Springs and other natural springs. This Palm looks very similar but is NOT as cold hardy, is taller and thinner and the petticoat of old leaves is usually ragged and messy looking and for this reason People usually cut the lower dead leaves off. This is also the main tall palm found in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It IS imported from Mexico and NOT a native plant in the U.S. It IS a related species to Washingtonia filifera but is NOT found at Warm Springs, Blue Point or Rogers Springs. The Botanists at LMNRA and FWS know the difference [or should] between this palm and W. filifera and are NOT confused about what is growing here. Their references to palms on a website are confusing however since they have labeled the Warm Springs Palms as being Mexican Fan Palms - The Botanists know full well that they are NOT Mexican Fan Palms.
The Fish & Wildlife contentions:
Waterway restriction and Fire hazard.
Lets take waterway restriction first.
This claim made by FWS is very counterintuitive.
Facts and figures are given on water flow etc. largely ignoring the fact that if Water is constricted too severely, it will do what it has done since water was invented:
It will go around the offending structure.
Palms do not have the ability to pick up roots and move to the newly created channel except as new palms.
Secondly, Palm roots are actually quite small [ratio to top] compared to the root masses of cottonwoods and Salt Cedar which are also along water channels. Anyone who has spent time in the Warm Springs Moapa area can attest to the fact that the water runs swiftly and without restriction right by the palms roots. FWS cannot make any scientific claims which provably demonstrate that Palm roots harm the Dace by restriction of water flow. So this claim is a rather obscure one. Likely meant to remain obscure by those who drafted it.
--------
Now regarding Fire.
First of all, Where ever there are burnable plant materials, dead cottonwood limbs, dry Pluchea arrow-weed, whatever...there will be fire danger. Filifera palms however, hold onto their dead leaves for many years... these are extremely flammable so the danger to Humans can be great. IT is NOT clear however that they have ever posed a great danger to the Dace.
The FWS makes two fantastic claims regarding the great Warm Springs Palm Fire of 1994.
One Claim is regarding official and unofficial counts where they claim fire killed fish based on those counts and the other claim is a question of science fiction style thermodynamics.
In the first FWS claim, an ichthyologist [Scoppettone] 'unofficially' counted 500 dace at the three springs on the FWS refuge itself just prior to the June 1994 fire and subsequently was only able to FIND 15 [again unofficially] immediately following the fire, so he made the statement: [which was printed into the research paper which helped get their funding] that the FIRE had 'extirpated' [sic] nearly 500 fish. (Scoppettone et al - p.21 - 1995. Recovery Plan for the Rare Aquatic Species of the Muddy River Ecosystem)
There are many problems with Scoppettones statements, not the least of which; the count of 500 and the subsequent count of 15 were NOT officially documented controlled counts. The Official counts by the NBR were considered the most accurate method of counting to date and was accomplished by actually 'snorkeling' through Dace habitat and counting individual fish.
The problems we have with Scoppettone's unofficial count are several fold:
- a. ---Firstly The official counts earlier in 1987 followed by an official one two months AFTER the fire, soundly demonstrate that the Dace population actually INCREASED. Instead of dying the Dace were alive and well all the way up to and AFTER the fire.
- b. ---Scoppettone made that quick count of 15 but fails to acknowledge that the Dace may have been hiding under palm roots, or that they may have escaped down stream temporarily only to be included in the later official count made one month later.
- c. ---Scoppettone never documented observing any actual DEAD FISH after the fire. Dead fish usually float making them easy to count. He makes this amazing claim without a single report of a documented Dead fish. The numbers prove Dace were not harmed.
Here is where FWS could have used a primer in simple thermodynamics before printing their claim for everyone to see.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt however, Spencer uses Studies with other hot springs fish in Tecopah to give this idea some reasonable latitude.
The studies in Tecopah have shown that quick rises in temperature of 15 degrees- from 89 f to 105 f - do NOT harm endangered cyprinodon fishes in any way.
[order cyprinodontiformes].
It is likely that Dace [a different order: cyprinoformes] would equally be unaffected by a 15 degree rise in temp. from 89 f., - the temperature of Warm Springs at Moapa.
To raise the ENTIRE body of water by 15 degrees [which still may not have killed the fish] would have taken massive amounts of energy for a very long time... and that is IF the water would just please remain still for the ichthyologists.
This fire was over quickly and the water moves at well over 3 cubic feet per second however. So they apparently are talking about bending the rules of time and space - or at least simple thermodynamics.
Even if the temperature WAS indeed heated to that extreme [from a fire occurring several feet ABOVE the water] - surely the fish could still have escaped by using deeper cooler channels of the stream as the water became heated. The palm roots in the stream were undamaged and unburned in fact! The fish may have hidden in their very insulative WET bundles. To us, this argument from the FWS is so incredulous as to beg honoring it with a serious reply.
The MOST amazing post-script however to the fire question is that the FWS's actual OFFICIAL counts a month AFTER the fire show that the numbers of Dace actually ROSE from 1987.
This fact is very hard to ignore yet the FWS HAS indeed ignored the more OBVIOUS implications of this count and they have not admitted they could have it wrong.
In fact the FWS started removing palms by the hundreds after the fire, never mind this data glitch that was supposed to have indicated that a fire in the Palms killed the fish but instead showed that the Dace numbers had risen. After all, They had already published that the fire had 'extirpated' 500 fish, and the plan was 'signed'.
The NEXT official count came three years later after the fire and after hundreds of Palms had been removed. The new information was stunning.
Dace numbers had PLUMMETED.
But there had been NO fire and they had removed hundreds of palms which, -according to their theory- were Harming the Dace. But the mass removals of Palms in fact is ALL that had changed since the Fire of 1994 during which numbers of Dace had previously increased contrary to their theories.
So Let's reiterate this and let the IMPACT hit you:
First the Fish and Wildlife hypothesize that the Palms were Non-native and therefor harmful to the fish.
A fire PROVED to FWS just how dangerous the Palms were and they Hypothesized that the Fire must have KILLED many fish.
However official Counts proved otherwise and showed that Dace numbers had actually RISEN.
So they Hypothesize that the Palm ROOTS MUST STILL harm the fish and so they remove hundreds of palms, both to remove the roots and to prevent fire.
This time numbers should REALLY increase since they are removing the nuisance weed in the Dace's habitat, RIGHT?
But when they count again after removing hundreds of the offending Palms, Dace numbers instead have plummeted!
SO everything they predict now has been the opposite of what actually happens! Do they re-THINK the original premise that predicted the wrong thing? NO, they blame something else for the fact their hypotheses and the numbers don't agree. In this case they blame Tilapia.
Never mind that the Tilapia should have ALSO been destroyed by the fire, if Fire is being blamed for killing the Dace.
Tilapia are a KNOWN introduced species from Africa. They eat the Dace so it only makes sense that Tilapia would be harming the Dace right? But why weren't the Tilapia destroyed by the same fire they were claiming harmed the Dace?
ANSWER: They weren't harmed and neither were the Dace.
The only difference in 1997 is that Fish and Wildlife started mass removals of Palm trees.
So again, QUESTION: Why would Dace numbers Plummet after removing the palms while Tilapia did NOT. ANSWER: You are removing the Dace's Natural habitat: the palm roots. The Tilapia being an introduced species now has the advantage over the home team since it did not need the palm roots in the first place!
But it gets even worse:
Yet again, more palms were removed and in 2001 another official count took place. This time it is very grim. This Count showed that Dace numbers had plummeted yet again! Directly after the fire the official count of Dace was 3800 individuals. Now in 2001 after removing massive numbers of Palms the count is at less than 1,000 Dace.
So in other words, the FWS's own data demonstrates that FIRE did NOT kill the fish, but rather ONLY the act of 'removing' the palms correlates perfectly with declining numbers of the Dace. Their figures absolutely cannot exclude this distinct and frightening possibility. The Fish and Wildlife may actually be destroying what they have been mandated to protect using millions of Tax dollars.
Throughout the entire last century, when ever Dace were counted, it's numbers were considered plentiful, (whether the counting methods were right or wrong) and all along they were right there along with the palms. THOUSANDS of Palms. Dace were even considered common at several points in Moapa history. And in every case thousands of palms swayed in the breeze above the fish, living in harmony with them.
Only after a completely unfounded new idea that the palm was a nuisance and the subsequent removal of the palm have the counts begun to plummet as they continue to remove hundreds of palms from the area. Of course many other factors DO INDEED harm this fish, such as introduced fish and chlorine as well as changing stream beds and dams. But it is interesting to know that Palms have never played a role in any kind of finding until now. It is only the latest counts however which indicate the opposite of what the FWS have predicted: The removal of the palms may have actually contributed to the greatest percentage decline in the Dace's recent history. At least this possibility may NOT be excluded by looking at the numbers.
They appear to be unwilling to objectively handle this information because they have already decided without scientific basis that the palms are an Introduced species. The logic runs thus: How could removing an 'invasive species' hurt the Dace?
This logic is created to fit an already established agenda. Because FWS cannot see past this agenda they are unable to see the possible uncomfortable truth of what they actually may be doing...and that it is killing the Dace. They decline to comment. In the meantime the Dace pay the price and they get their millions of dollars to build 'viewing blinds' and pathways and print massive amounts of materials condemning the palms as a nuisance introduction. All with ZERO proof.
Rather than face that the decline of Dace numbers may be due to the more OBVIOUS act of removing the palms (the only thing that changed) it is more convenient to blame imported fish like Tilapia on the now rapidly declining numbers as they remove yet more palms.
This logic fails to answer two simple questions however:
IF Fire can kill the Dace
[which is contradicted completely by the official counts] -
then why didn't that same fire also kill the Tilapia which they now blame for the subsequent drop in Dace numbers?
And Why did no one document finding ANY Dead Fish, either Dace, Tilapia or otherwise?
In the meantime those persons attempting to STOP the destruction of Palms have been said to have an agenda. They are 'palm lovers'. However, in all fairness, if Agencies could demonstrate that the palm is NOT native Spencer and Others would have no argument against their removal policies. Spencer himself has spent huge resources of time to document this on his own dime. There is no pay off for him save to see the truth acted upon before it's too late.
They have not provided adequate proof however and removing the palms is a permanent solution to a claim with no provable basis.
In the meantime Fish lovers work for the Fish and Wildlife. And their jobs depend on that. So who really has an agenda? Nothing wrong with liking both fish and Plants, I say.
Meanwhile in other desert Fan palm groves which are officially considered natural, Fan Palms live in harmony with small endangered fish AND fire danger is very real yet both species are protected.
The FWS has full knowledge of these areas.
On a side note: A rare Bat has been found to live in the Palms at Moapa. This Bat is almost ALWAYS found in wild Washingtonia filifera groves. The dead palm skirts appear to be it's preferred habitat. Trimmed palms such as landscape trees do not harbor the bat. The presence of this Bat, the Western Yellow Bat may actually demonstrate that this palm is supposed to be here. See the index for more info to this question here:
IN the end, we all pay. The FWS will pay with the loss of their beloved Dace and of course WE lose too. Those who used this palm anciently and considered these springs sacred and the palms sacred Lose their legacy. And in the end the Dace loses and the Western Yellow Bat loses too since ancient habitat is being removed because some people were too proud to admit they were wrong before it was too late.
I would very much like to make sure they are held accountable for putting their fingers in their ears like children and making loud noises... while the very things they swore to protect dies at their hands.
Interesting Petroglyphs:
There IS a petroglyph which bears a remarkable resemblance to the trunk of a palm possessing fruit bearing stalks on Atl Atl rock in the Valley of Fire.
This has never been identified as a Palm, but it is interesting and complete details are in the Full report below as well as a photo showing this petroglyph superimposed over a mature Palm with fruiting stalks - it is nothing short of spectacular. The resemblance is uncanny.
Spencer avidly read the documents which were used by area agencies to label Washingtonia filifera an exotic nuisance introduction. This palm is found naturally only in southern NV in springs Like Moapa and in AZ and CA in similar remote springs. Instead of supporting their claims Spencer discovered their documents were very deficient on key points. Those documents became the very material by which to best refute the claims being made.
He has presented the FWS, Lake Mead NRA their botanists and others claiming to be experts with this documentation and has been systematically ignored by most from the beginning with a few notable exceptions.
In 1997, Botanist Dr. Bill Bittle [an expert on Washingtonia filifera Fan Palms - with 20 years experience in Palm Springs and president of the International Palm Soc. S. Texas] read and endorsed Spencer's research and published it in the International Palm Society journal. The Archaeo-Nevada society - a society of preservationists - also voted unanimously to support Spencer's work. Spencer's documents also may still be found at the Overton Library in Overton Nevada, Moapa Valley.
Fish and Wildlife originally USED a Botanist to make claims which are the basis of the removal of this palm from natural areas around Moapa, but the information which needs to be corroborated actually turns out to be beyond a botanical field of expertise. A historian from the Overton Area is really what is needed since using the Botanical science of this Plant is incapable of making such determinations.
The reason is simple: All of the botanical information for this palm in Warm springs is identical to the botanical information where-ever this plant is found in nature. This includes: climate, companion plants and Native American presence with similar culture and language among other things. Therefore if anything - the botanical information SUPPORTS Spencer's conclusions and is incapable of excluding this Palm as a native plant here.
What has not been clear however is documentation of the Palms' recent history in Moapa over the last 200 years. For that - old photos and journals would be more qualified than botanical science to decide whether this plant is native to the area.
Spencer, currently lives in Tucson. and lived in the Moapa area around 1980.
Please - let your voice be heard.
We feel we should err on the side of caution not ignorance.IF you would like to make your voice heard, you can tell the Fish and Wildlife offices yourself by writing to the manager at the following e-mail address:
To E-Mail Fish and Wildlife Click Here
Be sure to get all the other facts regarding this issue:
Follow the Links below to read the supporting documentation and arguments. You may also visit the second index which helps to clarify these points.
Links to all the reports follow:
Articles about the Moapa Palms and Related articles:
11 QUICK CONDENSED FACTS may be found HERE.
A FIVE PAGE INTRODUCTION is HERE.
A MORE in depth EIGHT PAGE INTRODUCTION is HERE.
A TEN PAGE PREFACE TO THE FULL REPORT is HERE.
the 100 PAGE FULL REPORT HERE
[ please note: The full report does not include recently discovered information regarding the Bats or Counts ]Rebuttals to existing Articles re: W. filifera:
| GLOBAL WARMING, NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PALMS SPREAD! |
| W.FILIFERA: EVIDENCE POINTS TO A RELICT SPECIES!' |
Links to Moapa tribal Info:
| MOAPA TESTIMONIALS | MOAPA TRIBE INTRO | THE MOAPA TRIBE |
| CAHUILLA FACTS | THE CAHUILLA |
The Moapa People | The Cahuilla of Palm Springs | Global Warming: Palm Rebuttal
W. FILIFERA Palms -a Relict Species ? | Moapa Indian Memories of Palms |