West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

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eastern cities such as Twentynine Palms (4 inches) (see also precipitation tables in Appendix H).All of the weather stations in the planning area receive some of their precipitation assnow. The total average snowfall ranges from under one inch in Trona to over three inches atHaiwee reservoir and Lancaster.A cyclic weather phenomenon called the El Nino brings increased precipitation toportions of the eastern Pacific Rim. This is especially true in the western Mojave Desert.Weather Bureau records indicate that there have been 23 El Nino years since 1931. These 23years represent approximately 1/3 of the years, but on the western edge of the desert, those yearsaccount for 65% of the precipitation. This east to west variability is also reflected in thepronounced east to west difference in the influence of the El Nino years. In Twentynine Palms,for example, only 44% of the precipitation falls in El Nino years as opposed to 65% along thewestern edge of the desert.During the summer the western edge of the Mojave Desert is heavily influenced by thedry southwest airflows resulting in typically very dry weather. The influence of the southwestwinds diminishes toward the eastern Mojave Desert. This results in a more continental influenceand its resulting monsoonal weather patterns. This is illustrated by comparing Randsburg (alongthe western edge of the planning area) with Needles (in the eastern Mojave). In Randsburg, onlytwo percent of the Julys and six percent of Augusts have more than 1 inch of precipitation. Bycomparison, in Needles, more than 1 inch of monthly precipitation falls in sixteen percent of theJulys and twenty-seven percent of the Augusts. Even sites within the eastern portion of theplanning area (such as Twentynine Palms) average more precipitation in July and August thanthey do in January and February.The consistent occurrence of two wet seasons in the eastern portion of the planning areais reflected in the vegetation. There is a distinction between plants having most of theirphotosynthetic activity during the late spring and summer (warm season plants) and plantshaving most photosynthetic activity during the winter (cool season plants). The vegetation in theeastern Mojave Desert includes warm season plants such as Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigrea),galleta grass species (Pleuraphis spp.) and others in addition to the cool season plants. Thewarm season plants are absent from the western edge of the desert. The break between the warmseason area and the cool season area follows a north south line along the Mojave River and justwest of Harper Dry Lake. The cool season areas are the Indian Wells and Searles Valleys souththrough the Antelope Valley and east to near the Mojave River.Extreme variability is another characteristic of the precipitation. Some locations such asMojave have a mean precipitation of 6.06 inches and a standard deviation of 4.04 inches. Thismeans that the normal precipitation ranges from a low of 2.02 inches to 10.10 inches. This is an80 % variation in precipitation volumes.Drought: When precipitation is below average, it is considered a drought. The PalmerDrought Severity Index (PDSI) has become the semi-official drought index. The PDSI usesprecipitation and other moisture data to develop a dryness index. The index uses “0” as normalfor a site and negative numbers to indicate severity of a drought and positive numbers to indicateChapter 3 3-44
excess moisture. A minus 4 is considered a severe drought. The NOAA Drought InformationCenter has used instrument data in combination with tree ring data to construct a table of PDSIfor the period of 1700 to 1995. One of the sites for which data has been collected is just east ofBarstow. Using that data in combination with other PDSI data, Figure 3-2 was constructed toillustrate the long-term trend for this site. In addition a moving average was added to the chart toshow the trend. From the chart it is apparent that a drought occurred from 1951 through 1979that was the longest duration the current time and is the most severe in the last 300 years (seeAppendix H).3.2.1.2 Air QualityAir Basins: The West Mojave planning area falls within portions of three different airbasins. These are the Great Basin Valleys Air Basin (GBVAB), the Mojave Desert Air Basin(MDAB) and the Salton Sea Air Basin (SSAB) (see Map 3-2). The Great Basin Valleys AirBasin includes all of Inyo and Mono Counties. The Mojave Desert Air Basin includes the desertportions of Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino Counties and the Paloverde Valley portion ofRiverside County. The Salton Sea Air Basin includes the Coachella Valley portion of RiversideCounty and Imperial County. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)breaks these air basins into planning areas based upon various emission problem or watershedboundaries.Air Quality Management Districts: The management/enforcement of the air qualitystandards falls on several different jurisdictions. The USEPA has the primary responsibilitiesunder the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA). The USEPA had transferred a number ofresponsibilities to the states and in most cases, regional air quality management districts. TheWest Mojave planning area falls within five different regional air districts (see Map 3-3):• The desert portions of San Bernardino County and the Palo Verde Valley portion ofEastern Riverside County are within the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District(MDAQMD).• Inyo and Mono Counties are within the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution ControlDistrict (GBUAPCD).• The Antelope Valley Portion of Los Angeles County is in the Antelope Valley AirQuality Management District (AVAQMD).• The Coachella Valley portion of Riverside County is within the South Coast Air QualityManagement District (SCAQMD).• The eastern (desert) portion of Kern County is within the Kern County Air PollutionControl District (KCAPCD).Air Quality Overview: Much of the time, air quality in the western Mojave Desert isgood. There are, however, times that localized areas have not met air quality standards due tolocally generated and/or transported in pollutants. The entire planning area has been classified asnon-attainment areas for PM 10 (Map 3-4), ozone (Map 3-5), sulfates and/or hydrogen sulfideunder the state and/or national standards (see Table 3-7). In addition, there is concern forvisibility reducing particles and PM10 precursor emissions including oxides of nitrogen (NOx),Chapter 3 3-45
Page 1 and 2: CHAPTER THREEAFFECTED ENVIRONMENT3.
Page 3 and 4: The CDCA Plan assigns a “multiple
Page 5 and 6: Desert Tortoise Research Natural Ar
Page 7 and 8: closure to target shooting. Hunting
Page 9 and 10: percentage of public land ownership
Page 11 and 12: As of March 2004, BLM had acquired
Page 13 and 14: Ripley Joshua Tree Woodland: The st
Page 15 and 16: through “resource use” designat
Page 17 and 18: Significant Ecological Areas: There
Page 19 and 20: Wildlife and Wildflower Sanctuaries
Page 21 and 22: Mojave River Forks Regional Park: A
Page 23 and 24: oriented commercial uses are expect
Page 25 and 26: HCP would include mitigation measur
Page 27 and 28: 3.1.3.12 City of RidgecrestThe City
Page 29 and 30: It is a goal of the town’s genera
Page 31 and 32: • Inyo California Towhee (April 1
Page 33 and 34: (i) The taking will be incidental;(
Page 35 and 36: handled, and number accidentally ki
Page 37 and 38: 3.1.5 California Endangered Species
Page 39 and 40: Obtaining an Incidental Take Permit
Page 41 and 42: Monitoring: Monitoring is often the
Page 43: is so restrictive that project dela
Page 47 and 48: Air BasinsN190I n y o C o395Ridgecr
Page 49 and 50: Federal PM10 Planning AreasN190Owen
Page 51 and 52: POLLUTANTOzone (O 3 )RespirablePart
Page 53 and 54: AIRBASINAIR QUALITYDISTRICTPOLLUTAN
Page 55 and 56: subtraction of transported ozone in
Page 57 and 58: The general soil information and ma
Page 59 and 60: The Marine Corps Ground Combat Cent
Page 61 and 62: The most permeable basin-fill depos
Page 63 and 64: Surface water was and is the major
Page 65 and 66: A relatively small number of introd
Page 67 and 68: freshwater or alkali wetlands, or o
Page 69 and 70: 3.3.2 Desert Tortoise3.3.2.1 Regula
Page 71 and 72: progress toward meeting the overall
Page 73 and 74: “higher density” and “lower d
Page 75 and 76: several seasons (Esque 1994 in Aver
Page 77 and 78: Assistant District Manager Molly Br
Page 79 and 80: • Since 1975, federal land manage
Page 81 and 82: “52 mi 2 of higher density tortoi
Page 83 and 84: 1984 Tortoise Range and Density Map
Page 85 and 86: Higher Density Tortoise Sign Count
Page 87 and 88: When data for the three lowest sign
Page 89 and 90: Occurrence of Tortoises Relative to
Page 91 and 92: Regional Declines in the Four DWMAs
Page 93 and 94: Tortoise Distribution within the Re
Page 95 and 96:
Boarman (pers. comm., Nov 2002) has
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tortoises are either extirpated (La
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sites surveyed by LaRue between 199
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aseline data are lacking. Grasses p
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Canine Predators: This includes coy
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The spatial distribution of 12 of 1
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Predation Versus Scavenging of Juve
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Table 3-20Prevalence of Tortoises i
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(Jacobson et al. 1991, Brown et al.
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3.3.2.5.3 Older and Newer Die-off R
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Table 3-21Characteristics of Older
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Table 3-22Characteristics of Older
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of the Johnson Valley Open Area, an
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Distribution of Recreational and Re
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Tortoises and Burrows Crushed: Vehi
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TypeYearsSignCount98-99-01Distance2
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OHV Impacts to Soils: OHV use has r
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Rodman DWMA. There were no higher d
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of Dove Springs that has experience
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Both inside and adjacent to open ar
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3.3.2.6.6 Organized Competitive OHV
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3.3.2.7 Current Effectiveness of Ex
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Overall, one sees that 68% of the 3
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off regions discussed herein. Black
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ManixACECMojave fishhookcactusRainb
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Range of Mohave Ground SquirrelN190
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3.3.3.2.2 Seasonal ActivityThe MGS
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1996). As herbaceous annuals appear
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1998 Mohave Ground Squirrel Transec
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Finally, the 84% success rate was a
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LaRue characterized substrates at t
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There were no MGS occurrences in 28
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certain shrubs (e.g. winterfat) tha
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NAWS China Lake 1993). As discussed
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Cumulatively, one finds there to be
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Citing Bury and Luckenbach (1977),
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the MGS is restricted to about 7,00
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Habitat Management Plans (HMPs) wer
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Basic to the biology of bighorn she
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3.3.6 Birds3.3.6.1 Bendire’s Thra
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3.3.6.5 Golden EagleLife History: T
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The towhee recovery plan establishe
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Regulatory Status: Federal Endanger
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3.3.6.15 Western Yellow-billed Cuck
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Other major threats are flood contr
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Population Status in the Planning A
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on the inaccessible mountain slopes
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3.3.8.8 Kern BuckwheatLife History:
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Threats Affecting the Mojave Monkey
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3.3.8.16 Red Rock PoppyLife History
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populations show intergradation wit
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3.4.1.1 Regional EnvironmentIn tota
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Table 3-37Average Annual Units Cons
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2002 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAEMPLOYMENT
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TABLE 3-382000 CENSUS DEMOGRAPHIC C
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to undergo a dramatic reversal to t
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3.4.1.5 Study Area Property Valuati
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The supply of private property in t
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ALLOTMENT NAME TYPE OF LIVESTOCK FO
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Grazing AllotmentsNOlanchaDarwinTun
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ALLOTMENT NAMEALLOTMENTACRESP. L. 1
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3.4.3 Mineral Potential and Develop
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Mineral Potential, Active and Inact
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Mineral Potential, Active and Inact
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development based on the results of
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MANAGEMENT AREATable 3-46Potential
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A third item, yttrium (on the USBM
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the California Department of Conser
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Table 3-49 shows the number of mini
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produces about 75,000 tons per year
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Table 3-50Most Important Deposits B
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3.4.3.5 Coolgardie MesaThe Coolgard
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Areas designated as regionally sign
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Recreationists engage in activities
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OPENAREADoveSpringsElMirageJawboneC
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cycle engine motorcycles in OHV rid
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One popular activity is dual sport
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Compliance With Regulations: Compli
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REGIONORCITYRidgecrestSanBernardino
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REGIONORCITYVictorville /AppleValle
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Rail: The West Mojave planning area
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Arterials: Arterials are routes wit
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Ridgecrest-Inyokern Sanitary Landfi
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approximately 3 miles south of the
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Trona-Agrus Transfer Station (SWIS
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The BLM is an agency of the U.S. De
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Route designations apply only to ro
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Utility Maintenance: Many powerline
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ACECNAME ANDNUMBERHarper Dry Lake(3
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SUBREGIONAmboyBighornCoyoteEastSier
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• All pipelines with diameters gr
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3.6.2 Energy Generation PlantsEnerg
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3.7 CULTURAL RESOURCES3.7.1 Archaeo
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seasonal movement from place to pla
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RIDGECREST FIELD OFFICEPROPERTY NAM
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ACECRose SpringFossil FallsLast Cha
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have been dated by radiocarbon and
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MYACENOZOICEPOCHTable 3-65Paleontol
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In the southern area, fossils of la
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At Twenty-Nine Palms, there is an u
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