West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

Significant Ecological Areas: There are a number of areas designated by the AntelopeValley Areawide General Plan as “Significant Ecological Areas” due to their unique plant and/oranimal resources. Development within these areas is permitted by the general plan at very lowintensities subject to standards providing for the protection of the resources. The general planrecommends that several areas be acquired by an appropriate public agency as permanentecological preserves, including the Little Rock Wash, Big Rock Wash, Portal Ridge/LiebreMountain, Tehachapi Foothills SEAs, and areas adjacent to the Califonia Poppy Preserve amongothers (Id. at pages III-3 and 4). There are 13 SEAs within the planning area. These include:• SEA #47 – Edwards Air Force Base.• SEA #48 – Big Rock Wash.• SEA #49 – Little Rock Wash.• SEA #50 – Rosamond Lake.• SEA #51 – Saddleback Butte State Park.• SEA #52 – Alpine Butte.• SEA #53 – Lovejoy Butte.• SEA #54 – Piute Butte.• SEA #55 – Desert-Montane Transect.• SEA #56 – Ritter Ridge.• SEA #57 – Fairmont and Antelope Buttes.• SEA #58 – Portal Ridge/Liebre Mountain.• SEA#60 – Joshua Tree woodland habitat.The SEAs at Big Rock Wash, Piute Butte, Alpine Butte, and Portal Ridge/Liebre Mountainprovide important linkages and wildlife corridors.The County is revising its general plan, and a proposal to combine the SEAs into threelarger units is being reviewed. One SEA, Kentucky Springs, near the southwest boundary of theplanning area, would be deleted. Formal action on the SEA proposals would not take place untilafter the West Mojave Plan is completed, and may consist of retention of the existing boundariesand land use standards, adoption of the consultant’s recommendations, or revisions to therecommendations and standards as a result of public input and staff analysis. These new SEAproposals include the following:• Antelope Valley: The Antelope Valley SEA would combine nine existing SEAs(Desert-Montane transect, Big Rock Wash, Little Rock Wash, Piute Butte, Alpine Butte,Saddleback Butte State Park, Lovejoy Butte, Rosamond Lake and Edwards Air ForceBase) into a single designation. This area would extend from the Los Angeles-SanBernardino County line near Llano west to Little Rock Creek and from the Forest Serviceboundary north to Saddleback Butte State Park and just north of the southern boundary ofEdwards Air Force Base. Portions of the SEA along Little Rock Creek, Big Rock Creekand Mescal Creek would extend into the Angeles National Forest. The proposed areacomprises 222,325 acres, including 197,634 acres of unincorporated Los AngelesCounty, 9,887 acres within Angeles National Forest, 11,074 acres within the City ofPalmdale and 3,730 acres within the City of Lancaster. Acreage of the recommendedChapter 3 3-17