NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:  December 19, 2002

Contact:  Doran Sanchez (909) 697-5220 or Jan Bedrosian (916) 978-4616

CA-CDD-03-14

 

BLM Issues Decision Approving Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert Plan

 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has signed the record of decision approving the Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan (NECO plan), an amendment to the 1980 California Desert Conservation Area Plan.  The planning area encompasses about 5.5 million acres in eastern San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties.

 

The NECO plan will provide for conservation management of desert ecosystems to aid in the recovery of the desert tortoise and the Coachella Valley milkvetch and the conservation of approximately 60 other sensitive species and their habitats on federal lands administered by the BLM, as well as streamline processing of land use permits.

 

The record of decision fulfills BLM's responsibilities under the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act and the 1973 Endangered Species Act.  The plan complements the National Park Service's existing Joshua Tree National Park General Management Plan and Backcountry and Wilderness Management Plan, and will serve as a basis for a biological resources management plan for the U.S. Navy's Chocolate Mountains Aerial Gunnery Range.

 

State Director Mike Pool added that his signature of the record of decision lifts a number of interim restrictions on public access and use of the BLM-managed lands that resulted from the lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in March of 2000.  BLM will be publishing notices in the Federal Register of the specific stipulations in the lawsuit settlement that have now expired.

 

Copies of the record of decision are being mailed to those who received a copy of the proposed plan and final environmental impact statement or submitted a letter protesting the plan.  The record of decision is now available on line at http://www.ca.blm.gov/cdd/neco.htm.  The approved plan will be available soon and will also be mailed and posted on line.

 

For more information or to request copies of the documents, contact BLM Project Lead Dick Crowe at BLM's California Desert District Office at (909) 697-5216.

 

-BLM-

 

California Desert District Office - 6221 Box Springs Blvd, Riverside, California - (909) 697-5220