Mohave Desert Protection and Development

in parts of the victor valley endangered desert tortoises and rare birds like the look on its brash are still make their homes amidst joshua trees and creosote bushes it grew by a very bitter pill and ever growing desert islands are closing in on them on a windy morning phil hay with the us bureau of land management or blm stands across the street from a block of new age homes los angeles is moving out into the desert pretty fast in the us and the valley's brinlee at victor valley have also million people out here who work here thirty years ago one note records a million more are coming here in the next twenty thirty years that's putting a lot of pressure isn't species habitat desert tortoise for example an urbanized desert means new dangers for the slow moving animals cars dogs and ravens which feed on baby tortoise is there more ravens in the desert sky because there's more food on the desert floor specifically roadkill and barbara ige san bernardino county planner randy scott has to figure out where all those people will live you can't build homes without environmental permit and scott says you can't get permits and tell you figure out how to preserve endangered species like the

desert tortoise that can take years it's really so cumbersome and it's expensive in the administrative aspect that much of the costs associated with environmental compliance are doing studies and prepared reports they get not real conservation is occurring on the ground as a result the bureau of land management aims to fix that with the west mojave plan a land use blueprint for the desert that tries to balance more development with more conservation it covers nine million acres of land from lancaster hundred miles east to twenty nine palms the north a hundred miles past china lake and living in those nine million acres are desert tortoises mojave ground squirrels bighorn sheep burrowing owls were the nine the plants and animals that are endangered or need protection the way the government tries to protect them now is by requiring developers to buy land elsewhere in the desert and pay for its preservation the hague says the parcels are scattered all over the place what we like to do is replace that with a wistful hardy

programmer all the funds would go into central park they could be applied where they're most needed or species match species conservation soaring serenely lands it is a lens of what might be a landmark health issue came out here in the us so the real game here is heidi manage those lands and effective way how to get the most financial resources to bear to make those lines that will be good functioning habitat but some who've looked over a draft of the weston a hobby plan question whether it would generate enough developer fees for the blm to manage the desert effectively and it was soon discovered economic analysis of us in chemistry signal that moment michael connor heads the nonprofit desert tortoise preserve committee he says developers would pay less under the west mojave plan than they do now all i see is your giving a piece of applied that to the developers i don't see how that helps your watches the desert tortoise in a backyard in it and fifty year old animal is a flower is

bright pink flowers focuses and while the loss of larcenous things builders forged themselves from flowers they don't have very long to eat them because by the end of the season and it's really important that it was like that be kept free of livestock and vehicles are so enjoying that time which was is about feeling taras advocate michael connor says the west mahdi plan doesn't do enough to protect workers' habitat from off road vehicles or grazing earlier this month environmental groups want a legal case over protection of tortoise habitat in related blm management plans elsewhere in the desert that could mean the blm or have to re write the west my hobby plan the fed also have to get the state to go along california supports the overall idea that has criticized many of the specifics no matter what the deal and still has to update management plans for the west mojave land it controls so some sort of plan for a lot of the desert will move forward that it wouldn't be the comprehensive west mojave planets now under review and the blm wouldn't get to use

developer fees for conservation on public land san bernardino county's randy scott says this is no time for halfway effort or endless delays we're at a crossroads here in terms of the level of development organization in the desert and the decline of species so we're really had a key point i think in terms of making the decision and in developing the best conservation strategies we can the blm hopes to release the first part of the west my hobby plan in the next couple of months that is likely to be at least a year before the full plan moves ahead slowly like a desert tortoise crossing the highway bills a set sail at nine point three kpcc