West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

Wilderness Areas: With the passage of the California Desert Protection Act, there arenow a total of 684 mi 2 of wilderness within the planning area. This includes 17 wilderness areas,eight of which are completely or mostly outside the 2002 range of the tortoise 19 . Only theeastern 10 mi 2 of the 77 mi 2 Owens Peak Wilderness Area are within the range, where threetransects were surveyed, and no tortoise sign found.The remaining eight wilderness areas, encompassing 391 mi 2 (57% of all wildernessacreage), are fully within the tortoise range. As a general measure of tortoise conservation value,Table 3-28 lists the acreage of each area, acreage above and below 20% slope, and acreage aboveand below 4,000 feet elevation.Table 3-28Comparisons of Acreage, Percent Slope, and ElevationWithin Eight Wilderness Areas within the 2002 Tortoise RangeWILDERNESSAREATOTAL MI 2 MI 2 > 20%SLOPEBlack Mountain 33 mi 2 7 mi 221%Cleghorn Lakes 62 1829%El Paso Mountains 38 1232%Golden Valley 57 2646%Grass Valley 51 36%Newberry Mountains 43 2558%Rodman Mountains 54 2037%Sheephole Valley 53 1630%Totals 391 mi 2 127 mi 2100%32%MI 2 < 20%SLOPE26 mi 279%4471%2668%3154%4894%1842%3463%3770%264 mi 268%MI 2 >4,000 FT0 mi 20%