Plan allows development in Southern California deserts

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The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The federal government announced the nation's largest conservation plan for 9.5 million acres of desert in Southern California that would protect wildlife but make development easier in fast-growing regions.

The 30-year plan unveiled Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management seeks to balance an ancient landscape of rugged volcanic mountains, 11,000-year-old creosote bushes and more than 100 species, including the threatened desert tortoise and the Mohave ground squirrel, with developers' push for new homes and businesses.

More than 10 years in the making, the plan covers parts of the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Forest and the Algodones Dunes, which is a popular destination for off-road enthusiasts. It also covers dozens of cities and communities in San Bernardino, Kern, Los Angeles and Inyo counties.

"Everybody out there in this tremendously large, 9-million-acre area will know which areas are targeted for conservation and which areas would be allowed for development," said Jan Bedrosian, spokeswoman for the BLM's California office, which began developing the plan a decade ago.

Conservation areas for the tortoise and squirrel would increase by an average of 28 percent, totaling 1.5 million acres, according to the plan. In addition, it establishes 14 new areas where only 1 percent of the land can be disturbed.

Off-roading would be restricted in some areas, including a 15-mile-long area on the northeastern edge of San Bernardino County.

The plan would ease building restrictions in some areas. In return, however, developers would pay fees to help manage the 1.5 million acres of wildlife. The fees are about $770 per acre.

The BLM plans to finalize the guidelines by May 1, after reviewing public comments and getting support from state and federal wildlife agencies.

Some environmental groups say the plan doesn't go far enough to protect desert wildlife.

Daniel Patterson, desert ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the plan allows cattle to remain in some grazing areas that are critical habitats for the tortoise.

"The plan's stated goal was to recover the desert tortoise and this plan won't do that," Patterson said, adding his organization would sue to block the plan.

somehow im not suprised that danny boy is threatening to sue......... effin P****!

Is new conservation plan for West Mojave enough?

By Chuck Mueller
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE - After 12 years of heated debate and sometimes reluctant compromise, the nation's most sweeping habitat conservation plan attempts to balance wildlife protection and development within 9.3 million acres in the west Mojave Desert.
The 30-year plan, prepared by 28 federal and local agencies, outlines strategy to protect the endangered desert tortoise and Mohave ground squirrel and nearly 100 other sensitive animal and plant species while streamlining procedures to develop land in the fast-growing region.

Completion earlier this week of the long-awaited plan and accompanying environmental impact report concludes a lengthy give-and-take process among contesting groups, including various environmental, recreational and business organizations.

A public protest period will close May 2 for people who helped draw up the proposal, said Doran Sanchez, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the lead federal agency in the planning process.

The controversial plan could face legal challenges from a broad coalition of conservation groups on grounds it fails to provide a program to help the endangered desert tortoise, ecologist Daniel Patterson said.

"The plan must implement recovery management in critical habitat," he said. "Recent court decisions have said critical habitat must be managed so that endangered species can recover."

But Patterson, with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Bureau of Land Management has not included the recovery program.

"The state Fish and Game Department has legitimate concerns about the West Mojave plan and knows the biological needs to help endangered species recover," the ecologist said.

In early 2004, Fish and Game officials said adequate conservation measures had not been achieved in the habitat protection plan.

The Fish and Game report issued by Sandra Morey, chief of the department's habitat conservation planning branch claimed the West Mojave Plan did not contain appropriate measures to conserve the Mohave ground squirrel, a species listed as threatened in the state's Endangered Species Act.

Under the original plan, only 35 percent of the known range of the squirrel would receive protection, the report indicated.

But Randy Scott, division chief for advanced planning in San Bernardino County's land use services department, said the West Mojave team feels there are sufficient conservation measures to sustain the squirrel population in the long term.

Linda Hansen, California Desert District manager for the Bureau of Land Management, said the West Mojave Plan will open the way for species protection while allowing future development in the region.

In a similar tone, Barstow's community development director, Scott Priester, said the plan strikes a good balance between protecting the desert's sensitive environment as it provides for civic growth.

But biologist Tom Egan questioned the plan's value to wildlife it is designed to protect.

"It fails to address the recovery needs of the tortoise as well as riparian habitat along the Mojave River," he said. "And it fails to look at ways to get kids from their back yards across a checkerboard pattern of lands to off-road vehicle-use areas."

Copies of the West Mojave Plan are available in many local libraries, Sanchez said.

Written protests to the plan can be sent to the Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 66538, Washington, D.C. 20240.

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The West Mojave Plan looks at a wide variety of potential socioeconomic and environmental impacts within a 9.3-million-acre region in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern and Inyo counties.
Highlights:

Seven alternative approaches to protecting the environment while allowing public and private entities to use the land.

Impact and mitigation measures for plants and animals, including the endangered desert tortoise and Mohave ground squirrel.

Look at mineral development, livestock grazing, recreational opportunities, paleontological and cultural resources and off-road vehicle use.

Air quality and impacts on water, soil and climate.

Protection of the tortoise including the status of the slow-moving creature, the impact of military activities, off-road vehicles, predators such as ravens, and livestock grazing on the tortoise, California's state reptile.

Biological goals for various species, matched with management proposals.