The critically endangered, and critically cute, Amargosa vole | Photo: Nancy Good
Commentary: Today in Palm Desert, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the finalization of the Desert Renewable Energy and Conservation Plan (DRECP). The result of an unprecedented eight-year collaborative effort, the plan is a sweeping revision of BLM's management in the California Desert. Attempting to balance renewable energy development with BLM's conservation mandate, the plan implements the most significant conservation gains for the desert in decades.
Chief among these conservation measures is the establishment of California Desert National Conservation Lands. These lands, some 2.8 million acres across the desert, will offer substantial protections to vast swaths of previously vulnerable public lands. One of the crown jewels of this new system of protected lands is the Amargosa Basin.
The Amargosa Basin is a rugged region of craggy and multihued cliffs, expansive alkali playas, and verdant mashes, all tied together by the green ribbon of abundant life that is the Amargosa River. This unique and varied landscape provides haven for dozens of rare, endemic, and endangered species, and the DRECP provides permanent protection for them all.
--
--
Perhaps the most important protections come at a critical time for our favorite endangered rodent, the Amargosa vole. The vole is a charming and charismatic little creature which dwells in the lush wetlands surrounding the town of Tecopa, California. It is considered one of the most endangered mammals in North America, as its total population numbers just a few hundred. Up until now, its habitat has been vulnerable to destruction through industrial development.
The Bureau of Land Management should be applauded for taking the remarkable step of permanently protecting the vole's habitat. Years of multi-agency effort to save the vole will now be locked in by the preserving of the marshes where it resides.
The vole thrives in areas dense in three-square bulrush, a marsh grass. The vole has what's known as an obligate relationship with three-square bulrush: it eats it, nests in it, uses it for cover from predators, and in general lives out its entire life cycle in the thickets of this chest-high plant.
However, recent changes to the hydrology of Tecopa Marsh have meant the die-off of extensive patches of habitat for the vole, causing a precipitous decline in population. An innovative restoration project initiated by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has removed the dead bulrush, raised water levels, and encouraged the regrowth of bulrush in the vole's former habitat.
Now the DRECP will help make these conservation gains permanent. By forever protecting this habitat, BLM will prioritize conservation as the chief guiding principle for land management in the vole's habitat. The aforementioned UC Davis scientists have created a captive-bred vole colony in Davis (affectionately known as Tecopa North ). The new California Desert National Conservation Lands in Tecopa Marsh will provide an ideal destination for this rescue population of voles, helping to ensure the long-term viability of this vulnerable species.
The startlingly lush Amargosa River | Photo: Nancy Good
Tecopa Marsh is not the only locale in the Amargosa Basin to benefit from the DRECP. Over 600,000 acres of our watershed will enjoy permanent protection as California Desert National Conservation Lands, including some of the most iconic landscapes in the desert.
Silurian Valley was once a flashpoint in the renewable energy debate as it was threatened by an enormous industrial-scale wind and solar project, now mothballed. This undisturbed valley, bordered by the towering Avawatz and Kingston mountain ranges, is the site of numerous prehistoric and historic relics, from paleo-Indians to the Old Spanish Trail to a rich mining history. We can now be assured that it will forever remain as we see it today.
Carson Slough is an enormous alkali flat where the Amargosa River braids into dozens of channels. This utterly unique ecosystem is a living laboratory for plant evolution as several species of plants, endemic to just a few square miles of playa, thrive in the harshest of conditions. The diminutive Amargosa niterwort, for example, will now have the entirety of its habitat permanently protected.
Willow Creek and the Amargosa River are the beating heart of the Amargosa Basin, where perennial flows of water support some of the best migratory bird habitat in the Southwestern United States. Protected by the DRECP, human and avian visitors alike will now be able to enjoy these watercourses with the assurance that they will flow unimpeded forever.
In sum, the DRECP is one of the most significant conservation achievements in the history of the Amargosa Basin. BLM should be applauded for taking this bold step in securing these iconic landscapes and the most precious habitats that lie therein. Decades from now, this will be looked upon as a watershed moment in the management of the California desert.
The Amargosa Basin | Photo: Patrick Donnelly
Commentaries are the opinions of their authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of KCETLink.
Most recent headlines
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
The critically endangered, and critically cute, Amargosa vole | Photo: Nancy Good 
