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The Metamorphosis of Zzyzxz

Motorist traveling to Las Vegas from Southern California puzzle over the exit off the I-15 freeway named Zzyzx Road, the last turn off before Baker, CA. At Zzyzx, where the Boulevard of Dreams ended for founder Curtis Howe Springer, botanical students now study flowers.

story by Dave Reid

As those who stop know, the exit leads to the former Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa that has evolved into the Desert Studies Center, a scientific field station in the eastern Mojave Desert.

The center is 170 miles by car from the Fullerton campus, and a gateway to opportunities for the students, researchers and scientists who travel here to study geology, archeology, paleontology, climatology, astronomy, the flowers and animals of the desert and the area’s intriguing natural history.

The initial surprise for first-time visitors is that the Zzyzx Road exit travels just a quarter-mile on pavement, then abruptly morphs into a washboard-gravel road. The surprise is not the moderate jostling of the car on gravel, but the view from the driver’s side. The desert is all around. But to the left side, the view is a vast, flat expanse with the Old Dad Mountains looming in the background. The ground is snow white to the base of the mountains.

It’s the white, salt-encrusted bed of Soda Dry Lake, a winter-like scene that persists even when the thermometer hits 120 degrees, as the road hugs the edge of the dry lake.

After bumping along the gravel road for about four miles, visitors stumble upon the second surprise – stubby palm trees and a series of low stucco buildings intersected by streets with colorful names such as the “Boulevard of Dreams.” In the midst of this unlikely complex in this improbable setting is Lake Tunedae, the home of the Mojave Tui Chub, a tiny fish on the state’s endangered list; remnants of a large outdoor bath in the shape of a cross; a large solar panel installation and various outbuildings. Near the lakeshore is the hull of a decaying launch that grows rustier by the year. Mud hens, also known as coots, frolic along the shores.

The Desert Studies Center is as colorful as its notorious history and Zzyzx’s first developer. Yet today, it is dedicated to serious science and community service.

Established in 1976 under a cooperative management agreement with the Department of the Interior, it is operated for the California State University by the California Desert Studies Consortium, an organization of seven CSU campuses: Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Northridge, Pomona and San Bernardino. Facilities are available to educational institutions, government agencies and public or private groups. Cal State Fullerton faculty members have been directing or coordinating studies at the center almost from the beginning.

The resort began its shift to becoming a scientific resource in 1974, when the notorious Curtis Howe Springer era ended and Cal State San Bernardino biologist Dalton Harrington first proposed the concept of a Desert Studies Center on the site. Through the efforts of Harrington and James Crum, dean of the university’s School of Natural Sciences, negotiations were begun with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) concerning the vacated buildings and surrounding land. In 1976, the BLM signed a cooperative management agreement with the consortium to manage 1,280 acres.

Cal State Fullerton faculty members and graduate students were instrumental in bringing the dream of the center to fruition. Lon McClanahan, emeritus professor of biological science, was an early director. William Presch, professor of biological science and an expert in desert reptiles, has directed the center since 1991. Last spring, Interior Secretary Gail Norton appointed Presch to the BLM’s Desert District Advisory Council as a public-at-large representative.

Rob Fulton, who participated in work parties to refurbish the facility while a graduate student, is the center’s only resident manager and has lived there for 17 years. Fullerton students are the facility’s heaviest users and typically travel to the site for course study in ecology, ecophysiology, biology, geography, geology and science education.

A series of weekend classes available through the College of Extended Learning at CSU San Bernardino includes courses in sketching under the desert skies; astronomy; fundamentals of photography; bird life in the eastern Mojave; bats of the Southwest; natural history of the Mojave Preserve; desert insects; desert plants and flowers; lizards and snakes; and flint knapping, the art of chipping stones into arrowheads and spear heads.

Classes are taught by experts in these fields, such as botanist and CSUF alumnus Alan Romspert, past center coordinator, who can tell visitors volumes of information about the survival strategies and origins of even the tiniest desert plants. The center can accommodate 75 students and visitors in dormitory-style rooms that hold two to 12 persons, plus a small number of private/faculty rooms, as well as a long-term “researcher residence.” Over the years, the center has attracted scientists and students from around the world who come to study the desert.

Eric Lindermann, a chef, carpenter and bluegrass musician from Riverside, has been providing the food service at the center for the past seven years.

Unlike the food, which must be brought in, the center is self-sufficient in many ways, given that there are no power or telephone lines or water pipes coming from the outside.

The center’s power is supplied by one of the world’s largest photovoltaic substations, a 10-kilowatt substation installed by Southern California Edison in 1995. It is supplemented by wind generators and propane/diesel generators. Water is produced from a well. The natural salt and mineral content is fine for showering and dishwashing, but not for drinking. The center produces its own potable water on-site by reverse osmosis. Unlike the days of the ’49ers or even the Zzyzx era, communications are provided by cell phones and the Internet via satellite.

In addition to earthly subjects, such as geology, the Desert Studies Center has served planetary scientists from JPL (the Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and the University of Washington, St. Louis for many years as a base of operations in connection with research on robotic vehicles destined for Mars and related projects. Several generations of Mars rover vehicles have been developed and then tested and operated on terrain near the center.

Two Mars rovers – “Spirit” and “Opportunity” – that were launched in June and July 2003 are on their way to the red planet. Spirit is scheduled to land on Mars Jan. 4, 2004, and Opportunity is scheduled to land Jan. 25, 2004. When the two rovers land and begin sending back important data, it may well be that the Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx will have had the last word in making the rover’s mission possible.

 

Cal State FullertonProduced by Strategic Communications.
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