A years-long bipartisan effort to protect Southern California’s desert has paid off for conservationists and off-roaders.
President Donald Trump signed a national public lands package Tuesday, March 12, that includes legislation protecting 716,000 acres in Southern California. The land includes off-highway vehicle recreation areas, open space and wilderness in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, and expands Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks.
The Southern California legislation — The California Desert Protection and Recreation Act — was written by Rep. Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
“This is a huge legislative victory,” Cook said in an emailed statement. “It’s been a long process to get to this point, but this is truly a model for how grassroots legislating should work. This bill had widespread support from local governments, recreational groups, and conservation groups, as well as significant bipartisan support.”
The massive lands package also includes the Santa Ana Wash Plan Land Exchange Act, from Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, and Cook, which initiates a land exchange between the San Bernardino Water Conservation District and the Bureau of Land Management to continue mining operations, while also expanding conservation areas for threatened or endangered plants and animals in the wash.
The lands package signed by Trump was the Senate version, known as the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act.
The act combines more than 100 public-lands bills that promote wilderness protection, open-space recreation opportunities and restores funding for maintaining parks and national monuments.
More protections for the desert
In January, Cook and Feinstein introduced identical bills in both houses, after their own versions failed to get a vote in the Senate in 2017.
The desert-protection bill also had the support of Reps. Juan Vargas, D-Imperial Valley; Raul Ruiz, D-La Quinta; and Aguilar as well as Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
Here’s what will become law:
- Six Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Areas will be permanently designated including: Johnson Valley, Sprangler Hills, El Mirage, Rasor, Dumont Dunes and Stoddard Valley. Prior to this new law, the protection only applied to about 100,000 acres in Johnson Valley.
- Johnson Valley will be expanded by 21,600 acres; the El Mirage Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area will grow by about 680 acres; and Spangler Hills in Ridgecrest will get an additional 41,000 acres.
- More than 375,500 acres of wilderness area will be protected. This includes the creation of eight new Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas totaling 280,360 acres.
- Joshua Tree National Park will gain 4,518 acres, plus the privately established Joshua Tree Visitor Center.
- Death Valley National Park will grow by 35,292 acres, including 1,600 acres donated by the Mojave Desert Land Trust.
- About 18,000 acres of BLM land in Inyo County will be designated as the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area.
- The Vinagre Wash Special Management Area will be formed to protect 81,800 acres of public land in Imperial County.
- Development of renewable energy facilities will be prohibited on about 28,000 acres of BLM land near Juniper Flats.
- About 934 acres of BLM land will be added to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
- The Secretary of Interior will be directed to negotiate with the California State Lands Commission on land swaps involving state school properties within the California Desert Conservation Area.
- A Desert Tortoise Conservation Center will be established near the California-Nevada border.
- About 77 miles of wild, scenic and recreational rivers in the San Bernardino Mountains, near Death Valley, will receive designation.
Land exchange in the Santa Ana Wash
The Act completes the Upper Santa Ana Wash Land Management and Habitat Conservation Plan in Redlands and Highland.
The 4,500-acre Wash Plan was developed over many years by a local Wash Plan Task Force made up of the cities of Highland and Redlands; the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, East Valley Water District, and San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District; CEMEX, Robertson’s Ready Mix; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, Inland Valley Development Agency and the Endangered Habitats League, according to a news release from the water conservation district.
“This legislation is an important step in helping local efforts that are good for the environment, good for the local water supply, and good for business and jobs in our region,” said Daniel Cozad, general manager of the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, in a news release.
The San Bernardino Valley Water District estimates the plan will generate more than $47 million in investments for infrastructure and other public projects, such as a 15 mile walking trail in Redlands and Highland.
The bill also will expand conservation areas for threatened or endangered plants and animals in the wash.
“This bill will help us to expand our business, offer more jobs in the region and provide recreational space for residents to enjoy,” said Anthony Edwards, property manager for Robertson’s Ready Mix, a local cement company that has mining operations within the wash, in a news release from Aguilar’s office.
