Morrell Canyon is a beloved recreational spot for many southern Californians, for its beautiful oak forests where shady, streamside trails are popular with hikers, equestrians, and picnickers seeking solace from hectic urban life, and for its famous updrafts in the skies above which draw hang gliders from around the world. Morrell Canyon also borders a wilderness area and has been recommended by citizen's groups for wilderness designation.

But Morrell Canyon is in imminent danger of being completely obliterated. A private energy company, Nevada Hydro, is seeking to build a 180-foot high giant concrete dam and flood the canyon behind the dam in an ill-conceived plan to pump water from Lake Elsinore during the evening and release the water during peak energy-use hours in the daytime. The project is known as "LEAPS" – the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumping Storage project. The project would actually consume more energy than it produces, and would seriously impact not only the biological diversity and natural beauty of Morrell Canyon, but disturb nesting birds in Lake Elsinore, one of western Riverside County's important endangered species core reserves. Transmission lines leading south would further fragment the natural habitats of the area.

This project is one of the gravest threats to the integrity of the Cleveland National Forest – one of the country's smallest and most beleaguered public forests, yet a hotspot of biological diversity.

The Center for Biological Diversity and our partners, including the Sierra Club, have long opposed this project. We will continue to work together to fight the degradation of this area – but we need your help. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project, and we need to "flood" FERC with letters opposing the project. See sample letter. FERC has a complex e-filing system, so your letter will be addressed to FERC but emailed to a Center staff biologist who will print out and mail the letter for you.

In addition, two upcoming public meetings are being sponsored by FERC: one from 7-10 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at the San Juan Community Center, 25925 Camino del Avion in San Juan Capistrano; and one from 7-10 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, at the Lake Elsinore Cultural Center, 183 N. Main Street in Lake Elsinore. If you live nearby, please consider attending one of these meetings to tell FERC that you oppose the obliteration of Morrell Canyon for an ill-conceived energy boondoggle, and to ask them not to grant a license for Nevada Hydro anywhere in the Cleveland National Forest.

Volunteers will be stationed near the entrances to the hearing to hand out "Stop Nevada Hydro" stickers and to provide you with more information on what to say at the hearing.

For more information, please contact Monica Bond at mbond@biologicaldiversity.org