One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Happy 15th Birthday, California Desert Protection Act!
Mt. Teutonia in Mojave National Preserve. Light from Los Angeles, 175 miles away, can be seen to the right. | Photo by isubiker via Flickr
Mt. Teutonia in Mojave National Preserve. Light from Los Angeles, 175 miles away, can be seen to the right. | Photo by isubiker via Flickr
It may be Halloween, but it is also the anniversary of a major environmental bill that affected close to 9.2 million acres of California desert back in 1994. The California Desert Protection Act brought us two national parks, one national preserve, millions of acres of federal wilderness areas, as well as other special areas from Death Valley to the Mexico border.
Specifically, the Act brought us...
- Designated the 1.4-million-acre Mojave National Preserve from public lands transferred from BLM to NPS;
- Added 1.3 million acres to Death Valley from lands transferred from BLM to NPS and designated it a national park;
- Added 234,000 million acres to Joshua Tree from lands transferred from BLM to NPS and designated it a national park;
- Designated 74 new wilderness areas in the California Desert, totaling 7,661,069 acres managed by NPS, BLM, and Forest Service;
- Designated eight wilderness study areas (WSAs), totaling 326,430 acres managed by BLM;
- Designated several areas with special features, including the 9,000-acre Granite Mountain Natural Preserve the Soda Springs Desert Study Center, the 2,040-acre Desert Lily Sanctuary, and the 590-acre Dinosaur Trackway Area of Critical Environmental Concern;
- Transferred 20,500 acres of public lands from BLM to the state of California to expand the Red Rock Canyon State Park; and
- Reauthorized several military withdrawals to be managed by the Department of Defense in cooperation with the Department of the Interior.
A celebration today at the Mojave National Preserve marked the launch of a new non-profit conservancy group, the Mojave National Preserve Conservancy. Mojave, by the way, is the third largest National Park Service unit outside Alaska. Something to take note of when driving between L.A and Las Vegas.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
