VICTORVILLE - After 13 years of often contentious debate and sometimes reluctant compromise, a federal land-use plan for the western Mojave Desert is nearing completion.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is preparing its response to 33 written protests to the plan, which would regulate 3.2 million acres of federal land in a 6.4-million-acre planning area in four counties.

The sweeping plan outlines a strategy to protect the endangered desert tortoise and Mohave ground squirrel along with nearly 100 other sensitive animal and plant species while streamlining procedures for potential developers to comply with state and federal endangered species acts before moving ahead with projects in the fast-growing region.

Read more here...