Amended
IN
Senate
June 24, 2021 |
Introduced by Assembly Member Ramos |
February 18, 2021 |
(a)California’s desert region is valued for its wide-open skies, beautiful vistas, solitude, world-class recreation, history, culture, and thriving plant and wildlife communities. With more than 20 million acres stretching to the Mexican border, the California desert region is the largest remaining relatively intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states and home to iconic species such as desert tortoise, Joshua Trees, golden eagles, desert bighorn sheep, and Mohave ground squirrels.
(b)The California desert region is increasingly threatened by numerous threats, including, but not limited to, climate change, fire, development, invasive species, and
resource extraction.
(c)With the creation of the federal Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan and the California Desert Biological Conservation Framework, which was developed between state and federal agencies, local communities, tribes, and other stakeholders, there is a conservation strategy that connects a network of currently protected federal and state lands with areas identified for future conservation and management to ensure that the desert and its natural resources are resilient to the impacts of climate change.
(d)The public interest requires the coordinated protection of desert resources through projects to acquire interests and rights in real property and to improve management on desert lands to protect and restore the natural resources and the recreational and economic benefits they provide.
(b)
(c)