CNO Manager Steve Thompson praises the conservation success at the FLTFA event in Coachella Valley, CA, near Palm Springs. Photo courtesy of BLM.

Department of Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett is the key note speaker on Sept. 4 at the FLTFA dedication in Coachella Valley, CA. Photo courtesy of BLM.

Erica Szlosek, CNO External Affairs

Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett joined California-Nevada Operations Manager Steve Thompson, California Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Mike Pool, and a group of federal, state and local officials September 4 in Palm Springs, Calif., to celebrate the addition of 321 acres of wildlife habitat in the Coachella Valley.   

The Coachella Valley is an irrigated agricultural and recreational desert valley in southern California, east of Los Angeles. The valley is home to a number of rare species, most notably the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard, which was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1980. The lizard is listed as endangered by the State of California. Other threatened and endangered species include the Coachella Valley milk vetch and the flat-tailed horn lizard. 

A 321-acre parcel recently acquired by the BLM is part of a larger acquisition effort that combines funding from federal, state, local and private sources to piece together an 8,800-acre addition to the Coachella Valley Fringe-toed Lizard Preserve. In 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allocated $2.7 million to acquire lands for wildlife habitat in the Coachella Valley. 

"What we're increasingly trying to do is to create unfragmented landscapes, and this will help do that," Scarlett said. “This is not conservation for a moment, but conservation for an age.” 

She explained the BLM acquisition was made through a new program authorized by the Federal Lands Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA). The act authorizes the federal government to use funds from land sales to acquire habitat and recreation lands in other locations.

According to Steve Thompson, the acquisition is part of one of the largest habitat conservation plans in the country – the Coachella Valley Multiple Species and Habitats Conservation Plan – due to be approved by local governments in a few weeks. This 75-year plan encompasses more than 1.1 million acres and ties together the efforts made by BLM, the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy and many others who have worked to make this a tremendous success.

More information about Service conservation efforts in the Coachella Valley is available on the Web at: http://www.fws.gov/saltonsea/Index.html and http://www.fws.gov/saltonsea/Coachella/CV_endspecies.html