| The California Desert Protection Act, the most significant piece of park and wilderness legislation in a decade will help protect many endangered species living in the California Deserts. Park and wilderness legislation for the California desert provides new protection for large areas of the desert. More than four million acres would be established as wilderness areas under the Bureau of Land Management. Death Valley and Joshua Tree national monuments have millions of acres set aside as national parks. The California desert is an intersection of three deserts, the Colorado, the Sonoran, and the Mojave and occupies the southeastern quarter of the state. It is a harsh region, where water is scarce and heat is extreme. Yet it is also a place of great beauty and surprising diversity, stark but not barren. There are jagged mountain ranges, giant sand dunes, cactus gardens, valleys that fill suddenly and briefly with wildflowers, red-rock canyons and limestone caverns, oases, hidden springs, and waterfalls. The balance of life is delicate but holds room for animals such as lizards, roadrunners, coyote, bobcats, mountain lions, and bighorn sheep, as well as more than 1,000 species of plants. Little touched for thousands of years, the California desert is now giving way. As the suburbs of Los Angeles sprawl farther and farther east, the desert is no longer so remote. Its fragile soil erodes easily under heavy disturbance by off-road vehicles and grazing livestock, becoming sterile and sending dust airborne for miles. Native plant life disappears. The desert tortoise, a threatened species considered an indicator of the health of the desert as a whole and it is in "catastrophic decline" in some areas. Two species who are particularly in need of this sanctuary is the bighorn sheep and the tortoise. Both are on the endangered list. Even though killing an animal on the endangered species list is illegal, 40 percent of the dead tortoises found had been shot, decapitated, or otherwise "vandalized." Protection of these endangered species is important, otherwise they will become extinct. References Davis, S. Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida: Vol. III. Amphibians and Reptiles. 1992. Scott, C. Endangered and Threatened Animals of Florida and Their Habitats. 2004. |
What Are We Doing To Preserve Habitats
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