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A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 21 august 2023

California's big bloom aids seed collectors as wildfires threaten

desert species

By AMY TAXIN volunteers head out on hik-
Associated Press ing trails when flowers are
JOSHUA TREE, Calif. (AP) — blooming to chart where
Flowers that haven't been plants are located and re-
seen in years bloomed turn to collect seeds when
across Southern California they are ready to harvest,
this spring after massive said Madena Asbell, the
winter downpours, creat- land trust's director of plant
ing not only colorful land- conservation programs.
scapes but a boon for The seeds are placed in pa-
conservationists eager to per bags or buckets, taken
gather desert seeds as an back and cleaned by hand
insurance policy against a or using an air-blowing de-
hotter and drier future. vice that removes chaff so
In the Mojave Desert, seeds they can be stored by the
from parish goldeneye and thousands in neatly labeled
brittlebush are scooped jars in refrigerators.
up by staff and volunteers Asbell said her organiza-
working to build out seed tion is ramping up collec-
banks in the hope these tion thanks to grant funding
can be used in restoration and just as the rainy winter
projects as climate change led plants like paper bag
pressures desert land- bush to bloom for the first
scapes. Already this sum- Madena Asbell, director of plant conservation programs at the Mojave Desert Land Trust, collects time in years.
mer, the York Fire burned seeds to preserve desert plants after the winter's historic rains, Wednesday, June 12, 2023, in the "2019 was the last wet year
Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree, Calif.
across the Mojave National Associated Press we had," she said.
Preserve, charring thou- Seed banking efforts are
sands of acres in the frag- communities, with residents range of habitats. Initially, tion might be needed in underway across the coun-
ile ecosystem including forced to evacuate and they were collected as a the Mojave National Pre- try through a program
famed Joshua trees. homes turned to ash. But way to preserve rare and serve, where firefighters aimed at putting seeds
"This definitely highlights they also can destroy large exotic plant species, but have largely contained the into long-term storage and
the importance of proac- tracts of land and wildlife efforts now also focus on blaze. But fires like these using them for projects
tive seed banking as a fire habitat in places such as gathering from commonly- encourage the land trust, aimed at bolstering resto-
management tool and the Mojave Desert, where found plants that are in- which buys desert land for ration. Funding for the fed-
how challenging it can be they are becoming more creasingly in demand as conservation, to expand eral Bureau of Land Man-
to keep up with the fire commonplace due in part climate change elevates its seed collection efforts, agement's program has
threats," said Cody Han- to the spread of invasive the risk of wildfires and the sending staff and volun- increased in recent years,
ford, joint executive direc- grasses prone to burning growth of invasive species teers out to gather seeds, though demand for seeds
tor of the Mojave Desert quickly, fueling flames, ex- that can crowd out native clean and jar them for stor- to restore lands burned by
Land Trust. Wildfires across perts said. Seeds long have vegetation. age. The process is man- wildfire or wildlife habitat
the West can be deadly been banked throughout Hanford said it's too soon ual and time-consuming. far outstrips the supply, ex-
and wreak havoc on local the United States in a wide to know what restora- In Joshua Tree, California, perts said.q

Starbucks told to pay $2.7 million in lost

wages to manager fired after arrest of

2 Black men

satory damages and $25 ing any amount, saying manager who also wasn't
million in punitive damages Philipps had not proven she involved on administrative
after a jury in New Jersey couldn't have earned the leave for reasons she knew
found that race was a de- same or more in the future. were false, according to
terminative factor in Phillips' In April 2018, a Philadelphia her lawsuit.
firing, in violation of federal store manager called po- Phillips, 52, said she was
and state anti-discrimina- lice on two Black men who fired less than a month
tion laws. The Philadelphia were sitting in the coffee later after objecting to the
The Starbucks sign is displayed in the window of a Pittsburgh Inquirer reports that U.S. shop without ordering any- manager being placed on
Starbucks, Jan. 30, 2023.
Associated Press district judge Wednesday thing. Rashon Nelson and leave amid the uproar, ac-
ordered Starbucks to pay Donte Robinson were later cording to her lawsuit.
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A ter alleging she and other Phillips another $2.73 mil- released without charges. The lawsuit alleged Star-
judge has ordered Star- white employees were un- lion in past and future lost Phillips, then regional man- bucks was instead taking
bucks to pay an additional fairly punished following earnings and benefits as ager of operations in Phil- steps to "punish white em-
$2.7 million in lost wages the high-profile arrests of well as compensation for adelphia, southern New ployees" who worked in the
and tax damages to a two Black men at a store in tax disadvantages due to Jersey, and elsewhere, area "in an effort to con-
former regional manager 2018. the lump sum, according was not involved with ar- vince the community that it
who was earlier awarded In June, Shannon Phillips to court documents. The rests. However, she said she had properly responded to
more than $25 million af- won $600,000 in compen- company opposed pay- was ordered to put a white the incident."q