Mojave National Preserve

High noon and the desert is hot as a wok, yet Tim Duncan is wearing body armor under his uniform. A handgun and a Taser hang from his belt. Next to him in the truck are a shotgun and an M-16 assault rifle with extra magazines. "Out here, you have to be prepared," he said.

A long-running dispute over a cross in the Mojave National Preserve in Southern California may give the Supreme Court a chance to shift the law on church-state separation. Bush administration lawyers urged the justices last week to take up the case and to reverse a series of rulings that would "require the government to tear down a cross that has stood without incident for 70 years as a memorial to fallen service members." The appeal may be well timed.

THE upper-elevation snows of late winter have led to a delayed blooming season in the Mojave National Preserve. In addition, lightning strikes fed by winds last June burned 70,000-plus acres -- one of the largest fires ever in the Mojave Desert region, about 170 miles northeast of Los Angeles In a backdrop that looks like a set for a black-and-white movie, there are still pockets of green.

A quarrel over waterholes in the Mojave is pitting hunters against naturalists, the needs of game animals against those of federally protected wildlife, and is resurrecting decade-old differences over the purpose of a national preserve. Until recently, the dispute has been limited to mule deer and bighorn sheep hunters who favor the creation of more desert water sources and conservationists who argue that man-made waterholes draw predators that prey on the threatened California desert tortoise.

A Newberry Springs man who pointed a loaded gun at National Park Service rangers in February pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count of assaulting, resisting, intimidating and impeding federal law enforcement officers. Leo H. Spatziani, 62, pointed a loaded M-1 carbine at park rangers Feb. 12, as they photographed a friend of Spatziani's operating a trenching machine on federal land in the Mojave National Preserve, according to federal prosecutors. Spatziani was arrested Feb. 17.

A group of fires in the eastern Mojave Desert was 65% contained Saturday after burning about 65,200 acres of dry brush and destroying five homes and six trailers, authorities said. About 935 firefighters from throughout the state battled the five fires, which were started by lightning Wednesday in the sprawling Mojave National Preserve about 40 miles west of the Nevada border, said Capt. Greg Cleveland of the Southern California Incident Management Team.

A long-awaited visitor center has finally opened at the refurbished Kelso Depot at Mojave National Preserve. The sprawling desert park between Baker, Calif., and the Nevada and Arizona borders has lacked a focal point to attract visitors since it opened more than a decade ago. After two years and $3.

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that a large white cross in the middle of the Mojave National Preserve violates the the U.S. Constitution. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena "took a look at this issue and concluded that the case couldn't be clearer; a religious symbol on government property violates the Constitution," said Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney for the ACLU of Southern California.