West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

Both inside and adjacent to open areas, Johnson Valley, Spangler Hills, and StoddardValley (given in descending order of the size of the affected area) cumulatively affected 546 mi 2 ,or about 92% of the 591 mi 2 impacted. Areas affected included Johnson Valley at 296 mi 2 (54%of 546 mi 2 attributed to all open areas), Spangler Hills (131 mi 2 or 24%), and Stoddard Valley(119 mi 2 or 22%) open areas.The three heavy OHV use areas occupied 213 mi 2 , most of this (168 of 213 mi 2 , or 79%)was associated with the large area around California City, in the Rand Mountains, and adjacentareas. There were also 31 mi 2 of impacts in the Edwards Bowl area, and 14 mi 2 in the EastSierra, about seven miles north of the nearest open area. These are significant findings,indicating that in addition to the spill over effect of open areas given above, there are other areasthat are being treated as if they were open areas. Cumulatively, the 213 mi 2 corresponds to about21% of the total impact area (988 mi 2 ).As described above, there were also three residential areas of above-average impactsaffecting approximately 107 mi 2 . These were about equal in size, including 39 mi 2 in the CoyoteCorner area, 37 mi 2 in the Silver Lakes area, and 31 mi 2 north of Hinkley, including someoverlap into higher concentration tortoise areas. Residential area impacts were responsible forabout 11% (107 of 988 mi 2 ) of all above-average areas. There were also 13 smaller polygons ofup to eight miles that, cumulatively, have impacted about 77 mi 2 in the surveyed area, or about8%. These smaller impact areas are shown among the others on Map 3-14).Characteristics of Vehicle Impact Areas: The types and intensity of impacts associatedwith each region are listed in Appendix L.Table 3-27 reports the cumulative totals for trails, tracks, litter, dumps, target shooting,hunting, and camping among open areas, heavy OHV use areas, and residential areas.Data were collected between 1998 and 2001, and those given in the above table includethe 911 mi 2 of the 988 mi 2 (92%) impacted, excluding the 77 mi 2 encompassed in 13 smallerregions. Key findings and implications are bulleted below relative to the region of comparison:Open Areas. Importantly, the data presented for open areas include those observedimpacts that are inside (60% of 591 mi 2 ) and outside (40%) designated areas. Trails (19/mi 2 ),tracks (144/mi 2 ), litter (38/mi 2 ), and camping (2/mi 2 ) were more common in open areas thaneither heavy OHV use areas or residential areas. Tracks were about three time more prevalentthan in heavy OHV use areas (144/mi 2 compared to 48.3 mi 2 ), and five time more prevalent thanin residential areas (29.4/mi 2 ). Litter was similar in open areas (37.9/mi 2 ) and heavy OHV useareas (24.8 mi 2 ), but significantly lower in residential areas (3.9/mi 2 , or 10 less common than inopen areas). This is a key finding relative to raven management, suggesting that the BLM needsto implement a proactive education program in the open areas to minimize the amount of litter(and presumably attractiveness to ravens) available to ravens and other predators (including feraldogs) that threaten tortoises.Chapter 3 3-133