Legislative Information - California Desert Protection Act

The California Desert Protection Act

Ten years ago this fall, the California Desert Protection Act - which Senator Feinstein authored - became law, preserving 7.7 million acres of stunning landscape for generations to come. With the passage of this legislation, the largest parks and wilderness bill in the lower 48 states was enacted, thereby establishing Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park and the Mojave National Preserve.

The California Desert is home to remarkable archaeology, beauty and wildlife - some of the last remaining dinosaur tracks, Native American petroglyphs, abundant spring wildflowers, and threatened species including the bighorn sheep and the desert tortoise, an animal known to live for as many as 100 years. The California Desert Protection Act ensured that these lands would be preserved for years to come.

In total, the Act raised the protection level for 9 million acres of parks and wilderness. Specifically, the Act:

Designated nearly 3.5 million acres of desert administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as wilderness,
Added 1.2 million acres of land to Death Valley National Monument and redesignated the monument a national park,
Added 234,000 acres of land to Joshua Tree National Monument and redesignated the area a national park,
Established a new 1.6 million acre Mojave National Preserve, and
Transferred 20,500 acres of BLM land to the state of California to expand the Red Rock Canyon State Park.

Since 2000 the wilderness area has been expanded even further with the purchase of nearly 600,000 acres of land primarily in and around the Mojave National Preserve. The transaction, the largest conservation acquisition of private lands in U.S. history, combined federal Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriations with funding from the Wildlands Conservancy to buy discounted land owned by the Catellus Development Corporation.

This expansion protected 200,000 acres of critical habitat for the endangered desert tortoise, 150,000 acres for bighorn sheep, the largest cactus gardens in the world at Bigelow Cholla Gardens and rights-of-way for 165 trails and access roads leading to 3.7 million additional acres of land used for hunting, hiking and camping.

To learn more about the Act, please view the booklet- California Desert Protection Act: Preserving Our Nation's Natural Resources.

For more information, please go to:

www.nps.gov/deva (Death Valley)
www.nps.gov/jotr (Joshua Tree)
www.nps.gov/moja (Mojave)

Recent Press Releases, Op-eds and Statements

Click here for more news about the environment.

Return to the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources page.