Desert Managers Group

Working Together to Conserve the California Deserts

The California deserts are vast, encompassing over 25 million acres, of which 80% is publicly owned. An alphabet soup of government agencies manages the California deserts for uses that vary from wilderness and parklands to military training and energy development. Each of these agencies, however diverse their mission, shares the common vision of working together to conserve and enhance the California deserts for current and future generations.

The California Desert Managers Group, or DMG dates back thirteen years to the Transition Team charged with implementation of the California Desert Protection Act. At that time, both BLM and the National Park Service recognized that a coordinated effort would be required to implement the Act. In 1995, the DMG was officially formed as a Reinvention of Government Laboratory and its membership was expanded beyond that of the original Transition Team. The DMG’s most recent members include Kern, San Bernardino, and Imperial Counties. (text continues below)

Members of the Desert Managers Group tour a wind power facility in the California desert

A desert tortoise crawls across the sand A BLM manager once said, "there are no DMG projects, only agency projects made better through DMG collaboration." DMG collaborative accomplishments include the reduction of illegally dumped trash on public lands, burro management, integrated desert tortoise monitoring, multi-agency public outreach through an interagency visitor center and online at www.californiadesert.gov, an online desert tortoise resource library at www.deserttortoise.gov, a desert tortoise information and education program, and coordinated habitat restoration projects.

A current goal of the DMG is to develop a program to reduce the number of physical hazards at abandoned mines in the California deserts. These types of collaborative, partnership projects, where everyone benefits in some way, is the future of how land managers will accomplish many goals.

For more information on the DMG, its agency partners, or its goals and accomplishments, please visit www.dmg.gov.

Members of the Desert Managers Group tour a borax mine at Red Rock Canyon State Park...

...and a museum at the park's visitor center.
DMG members visit a museum at the park's visitor center.

- J.B., 11/07

BLM California News.bytes, issue 308

Spotlight on Partners: Desert Managers Group