Conservation organizations are requesting long term protection of outstanding cultural and natural resources on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands in the Pahrump Valley, Nevada, along the California border. About 18,000 acres of public lands in the South Pahrump Valley are planned to be developed for solar panels by the BLM. Large-scale solar developers are now building the 3,000-acre Yellow Pine Solar Project and have plans to develop 5 additional solar projects in this region. The projects have already impacted Mojave desert tortoise populations, historic viewsheds of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail and the Salt Song Trail, scarce water resources, rare plants and public lands access.

An Old Spanish Trail – Pahrump Valley Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) proposal has been submitted by the conservation groups to the BLM to protect these resources from the bulldozers that will be used to develop solar projects.

“Just one of these solar projects has caused great damage to the local environment,” said Kevin Emmerich, Co-Founder of Basin and Range Watch. “The Yellow Pine Solar Project got started on a record-breaking drought year and efforts to move 139 desert tortoises backfired resulting in 33 mortalities. The project is using up scarce groundwater, creating fugitive dust and the viewshed has been greatly compromised by 4.6 square miles of solar panels. It would be unimaginable to see 5 more of these projects permitted.”

This petition nominates public lands in the South Pahrump Valley, Nevada, for status as an ACEC. These lands are primarily located in Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada, and the nomination is approximately 145,000 acres in extent. This nomination describes the significant environmental resources and values of these lands, and the need for special management attention.

The Old Spanish Trail – Pahrump Valley ACEC nomination describes in detail the significant environmental resources and values of these lands, and the need for special management attention. The area highlighted in this nomination contains a significant portion of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail, including Stump Spring, a historic watering spot for mule caravans, and would create a ten-mile-wide (five miles on either side of the trail) planning corridor to help protect the historic landscape of the trail. The ACEC would also protect the segments of the cultural landscape around the Spring Mountains important to Southern Paiute and Shoshone peoples, including a portion of the Salt Song Trail.

“This ACEC could be established through plan amendments to BLM’s Southern Nevada Resource Management Plan (RMP), as projects are in the approval process—such as the many other large-scale solar and transmission projects in Clark County undergoing review. Currently, BLM is reviewing 4 of these solar projects in Pahrump Valley through NEPA,” said Jack Prichett, co-chair of OSTA’s trail stewardship committee.

The area also supports a healthy Mojave desert tortoise population. A high-water table supports important mesquite woodlands and habitat for neotropical migrant bird species. Much of the region provides habitat for the Pahrump buckwheat (Eriogonum bifurcatum), a rare plant in Nevada. Mammoth fossils and other paleontological resources have been discovered in the area. Much of the nominated area also supports a healthy population of Joshua trees.

Grazing allotments here were bought-out with third party funds and closed decades ago in order to conserve tortoises and other species covered in the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, as mitigation for urbanization and growth in the Las Vegas valley.

The Bureau of Land Management recently approved a new Public Lands Rule. The rule recognizes conservation as an essential component of public lands management, on equal footing with other multiple uses of these lands. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) requires the BLM to prioritize designating and managing Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) to protect important historic, cultural, and scenic values, as well as fish and wildlife and other natural resources, and to address natural hazards.

“We are asking the BLM to do its job, and balance development with true and lasting conservation,” said Laura Cunningham, California director with Western Watersheds Project. “The Mojave Desert in South Pahrump Valley is a large, intact landscape that needs better protection.”

No new large-scale renewable energy projects should occur in this ACEC. The ACEC nomination is not meant to close existing roads, recreational routes, or existing developments.

“Pahrump Valley is one of the most intact and important remaining habitats for the desert tortoise across the northern extent of its range,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “With Joshua trees and Mojave yucca and rare wildflowers and a vital groundwater connection to the Amargosa River, it is essential that we protect Pahrump Valley from further disturbance. We have something in Pahrump Valley that we can’t get anywhere else: truly undisturbed desert habitat. Once that’s gone, it’s gone forever, and that’s why we’re joining this effort to protect it.”

This ACEC could be established through plan amendments to the Southern Nevada Resource Management Plan (RMP), as projects are approval—such as the many other largescale solar and transmission projects in Clark County undergoing review. Currently, BLM is reviewing 4 of these solar projects in Pahrump Valley through NEPA.

“With BLM Director Tracey Stone-Manning’s support, the Old Spanish National Historic Trail will continue to tell its tales for generations,” said Chandra Rosenthal, Rocky Mountain Director for PEER. “Our historic trails are the ultimate time machines we must protect.”

ACEC would be a conservation alternative to large-scale energy development on these particular ecologically rich lands. The ACEC would protect this historic Old Spanish Trail segment from industrial development.

“There are dense areas of old growth Mojave Yucca over ten feet tall, and an abundance of desert tortoise which I have filmed,” said Shannon Salter of Mojave Green. “This is a unique and historic cultural landscape with a human history spanning thousands of years.”

Basin and Range Watch is a nonprofit working to conserve the deserts of Nevada and California and to educate the public about the diversity of life, culture, and history of the ecosystems and wild lands of the desert.

The mission of Western Watersheds Project is to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife through education, public policy initiatives, and legal advocacy.

The Old Spanish Trail Association (OSTA) is the non-profit volunteer organization assigned to work with BLM and the National Park Service in trail documentation, protection, and preservation.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) protects public employees who protect our environment. We do this by defending whistleblowers, shining the light on improper or illegal government actions, working to improve laws and regulations, and supporting the work of other organizations.

Mojave Green is a project using Art, Activism and Education to protect the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts of Nevada and California.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with over 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

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View the ACEC proposal