26th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, March 16-18, 2001
Abstracts

The Center for Biological Diversity CDCA Lawsuit Against BLM: Protecting the Desert Tortoise and 23 Other Species on 11 Million Acres Through E.S.A. Legal Action and Negotiated Settlement for On-The-Ground Recovery Actions Desert-Wide

Daniel R. Patterson
The Center for Biological Diversity, POB 710, Tucson, Arizona 85702

In 1976, Congress designated a 25 million acre swath of Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin deserts - stretching from the Mexican border north to Death Valley and the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains - as the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA). The CDCA includes some of the most scenic and biologically important areas in Imperial, San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Inyo and Mono counties. This Virginia-sized expanse was entrusted to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to be forever protected for wildlife, open-space, sustainable use and human enjoyment. 

BLM's 11 million acre share of the CDCA contains 3.4 million acres of habitat designated critical to the survival and recovery of the threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii).¹

The CDCA is also harbors 23 other federally protected threatened or endangered species including Peninsular Ranges bighorn sheep, Inyo California towhee, desert pupfish, Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard and rare plants such as Cushenberry oxytheca, Amargosa niterwort and Peirson's milkvetch.

 These 24 species and the entire ecological health of the CDCA are jeopardized by the historic status quo favored by BLM management of mining, livestock grazing, road building, utility projects, and off-roading. Imperiled species, such as the desert tortoise in the west Mojave, have nose-dived toward extinction while planning efforts to protect and restore habitat were repeatedly delayed by politics. 

In March 2000, The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), and the Sierra Club sued BLM over its failure to consult - as required under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act - with USFWS over the 1980 CDCA Plan. BLM admitted liability in the case on August 25 and the plaintiffs and off-road group interveners negotiated a settlement in which BLM agreed to: prohibit mining expansions or new mines on all designated or occupied T&E species habitat within the CDCA; reduce or prohibit livestock on 1.9 million acres; conduct public education campaigns about environmental protection; prohibition of ORVs on 550,000 acres of sensitive habitat areas-including 49,310 acres of the Algodones Sand Dunes; route designation this year on over 874,000 acres closing an anticipated 4500 miles of routes; complete desert wide route designation by 2004; raptor-proofing of power lines; use of wildlife safe engine coolant; increased wildlife surveying, monitoring, and conservation plans.² BLM has just released a new draft of its Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert Plan, but it falls far short of species and habitat recovery needs. With the Ft. Irwin expansion lurking, and a new anti-environmental Interior Secretary, the CDCA agreement is a minimum shield for recovery of the California desert. The agreement is promising and has BLM taking on-the-ground action in the right direction, but as a result of a negotiated compromise it does not require all the actions needed to recover species. Disturbingly, BLM is already missing deadlines - including grazing - and may be waffling in its commitment toward implementation. USFWS, CDFG and perhaps the court will play a critical role in plan reviews.

The CDCA settlement has revolutionized desert wildlife protection within California BLM, but the long-term results will come from better planning, consultations, public scrutiny & conservation demand.

¹U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, final rule (59-5820), Federal Register, 2/8/94

²Center for Biological Diversity, Legal Settlement Protects 24 Endangered Species on 11 Million Acres