Lawsuit Launched Over Federal Project Threatening Desert Tortoises, Other Imperiled Species in California Deserts
Environmental groups filed a formal notice today of their intent to sue the Interior Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for authorizing activities in the California Desert Conservation Area that are driving desert tortoises and other threatened and endangered species toward extinction.
“The BLM and FWS have put threatened desert tortoises in a precarious situation. With 95% of its population lost since congressional establishment of the California Desert Conservation Area in 1976, tortoise populations are so small they can’t sustain themselves, and are on a path to extinction, especially in the West Mojave,” said Jeff Aardahl, senior California representative with Defenders of Wildlife. “Yet BLM approved increased off-road vehicle use and continued livestock grazing, and FWS granted BLM authorization to kill up to eight desert tortoises annually for the next five years due to being crushed by off-highway vehicle use on public lands.”
The California Native Plant Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Desert Survivors, Desert Tortoise Council and Sierra Club say federal agencies approved the West Mojave Route Network Project in 2019 even though it failed to protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.
Lawsuit Launched Over Federal Project Threatening Desert Tortoises, Other Imperiled Species in California Deserts
Environmental groups filed a formal notice today of their intent to sue the Interior Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for authorizing activities in the California Desert Conservation Area that are driving desert tortoises and other threatened and endangered species toward extinction.
“The BLM and FWS have put threatened desert tortoises in a precarious situation. With 95% of its population lost since congressional establishment of the California Desert Conservation Area in 1976, tortoise populations are so small they can’t sustain themselves, and are on a path to extinction, especially in the West Mojave,” said Jeff Aardahl, senior California representative with Defenders of Wildlife. “Yet BLM approved increased off-road vehicle use and continued livestock grazing, and FWS granted BLM authorization to kill up to eight desert tortoises annually for the next five years due to being crushed by off-highway vehicle use on public lands.”
The California Native Plant Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Desert Survivors, Desert Tortoise Council and Sierra Club say federal agencies approved the West Mojave Route Network Project in 2019 even though it failed to protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.
Lawsuit Launched Over Federal Project Threatening Desert Tortoises, Other Imperiled Species in California Deserts