WANUMMMO OWvS SERVt( CB Color Scans NATIONAL PARK SERVKE Mojave National Preserve General Management Plar. This General Management Plan is Mojave National Preserve's overall management strategy for a ten to fifteen year period. This document stnntnarizes the selected alternative from the Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement (Jule 2ooi).The Record of Decision (ROD), signed on September 21, 2oot, is included in this document as an appendix. The ROD includes a sunnttary ofpublic and interagency involvement. cover photos: girl in field photo: David Aikenhead, Kelso Dunes photo: Guss Vopalensky illustrations by Ann Marie Reber and Kevin Emmerich r'1vTnV T INTRODUCTION 1 DESCRIPTION OF MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE 2 PURPOSE AND MANAGEMENT 3 Purpose a'ui r.1 ssion 3 Significance 4 Interpretive Themes 5 Management Objectives 5 Policy and Planning 5 STRATEGIC PLANNING 6 FUTURE PLANNING NEEDS 6 Environmental Compliance Responsibilities 6 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT 6 ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973 7 THE PLAN 11 SUMMARY OF PLAN ACTIONS 12 LAND PROTECTION 24 Preserve Boundary 24 OI HJAL MAPS AND Au HORIZED ADREAGE 24 Wilderness Management 24 Fire Management 26 Disturbed Lands 26 Non-Federal Land and External Development 28 MANAGEMENT OF PARK RESOURCES 30 Resource Protection Goals and Criteria 30 Inventorying and Monitoring 30 Natural Resources 30 PHYSICAL RESOURCES 30 Air QualitylVisibility 30 Viewsheds/Visual Quality 31 Night Sky 32 Natural Ambient Sound 32 Soils 33 Water 33 Paleontological Resources 35 Geological Resources 36 Caves 37 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES 38 Flora 38 Fauna 39 Sensitive Species 39 introduced Species 46 Cultural Resources 51 PROGRAM GOALS 51 BASELINE DATA 52 LIST OF CLASSIFIED STRUCTURES 52 CULTURAL LANDSCAPES 53 NATIONAL REGISTER PROPERTIES 53 ETHNOGRAPHY 54 COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT 55 ARCHEOLOGICAL RESOURCES 55 I FACILITIES AND DEVELOPMENT Sustainable Design Visitor Information INFORMATION CENTERS AND SOURCES INTERPRETIVE FACILITIES Kelso Depot Soda Springs (Zzyzx) Hole-in-the-Wall Signing and Orientation Wayside Exhibits DEVELOPED CAMPGROUNDS RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTERS Soda Springs Desert Study Center Granite Mountains Natural Reserve PARK SUPPORT FACILITIES Headquarters Field Offices Maintenance Facilities Interagency Fire Center Employee Housing ACCESS AND CIRCULATION Roads Sand and Gravel for Road Maintenance Trails RIGHTS-OF-WAY AND EASEMENTS Railroads Roads WILDLIFE GUZZLERS RANCHING DEVELOPMENTS USE OF THE PRESERVE Carrying Capacity Existing Land Uses and Desired Future Conditions Recreational Activities ROCK-CLIMBING HUNTING, FISHING, AND TRAPPING HIKING EQUESTRIAN USE BICYCLING MOTORCYCLES AND ATVs AIRCRAFT BACKCOUNTRY USE AND ROADSIDE VEHICLE CAMPING Camping in High Use Areas Camping in Desert Tortoise Critical Habitat No Camping Areas GROUPS AND ORGANIZED EVENTS VISITOR USE FEES Research and Educational Activities EDUCATION RESEARCH AND PERMITS NATURAL RESOURCE COLLECTIONS Commercial Activities MINERAL DEVELOPMENT CATTLE GRAZING FILMING SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL VISITOR SERVICES Military Activities 11 PARTNERSHIPS AND OTHER RELATIONSHIPS 89 Education and Research Partnerships 89 Gateway Communities 91 California Department of Parks and Recreation 91 Native American Interests and Relationships 92 PLAN IMPLEMENTATION 95 Staffing and Budget 95 Estimated Cost of Proposed Facility Development and Major Programs 95 MAPS 97 1. REGION 98 2. EXISTING LAND USES AND DESIRED FUTURE CONDITIONS 99 3. MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE BOUNDARY AND WILDERNESS AREAS 100 4. ABANDONED MINE LANDS 101 5. KELSO DEPOT SITE PLAN 102 6. SODA SPRINGS (ZZYzx) DEVELOPED AREA 103 7. HOLE-IN-THE-WALL DEVELOPED AREA 104 8. GRANITE MOUNTAINS NATURAL RESERVE 105 9. MAJOR RIGHTS-OF-WAY 106 10. No SHOOTING AREAS 107 1 1 . No CAMPING AREAS 108 12. MINING CLAIMS 109 13. CATTLE GRAZING PERMITS 110 14. KELSO DEPOT EXISTING SITE CONDITIONS 1 1 1 TABLES 113 1 : BIGHORN SHEEP POPULATIONS IN OR NEAR MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE 114 2: FERAL BURRO POPULATION ESTIMATES FOR MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE 114 3: 1 995 AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC LEVELS 114 4: 1999 - 2000 TRAFFIC COUNT 114 5: ANNUAL VISITATION FOR MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE 115 6: MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE VISITOR PROFILE 115 7: MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE VISITOR ACTIVITIES 115 8: NORTHEASTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY BUCK KILL DATA 116 9: HUNTING STATISTICS FOR SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY 116 10: BIGHORN SHEEP HARVEST 116 1 1 : GRAZING ALLOTMENTS/PERMITS IN AND ADJACENT TO MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE 117 12: GRAZING PERMITS AND PERENNIAL AUMS 117 13: RIGHTS-OF-WAY 118 14: COST SUMMARY TABLE 119 APPENDIXES 121 A. CALIFORNIA DESERT PROTECTION ACT 122 B. RECORD OF DECISION 132 C. NORTHERN AND EASTERN MOJAVE PROJECT TIME LINE 149 PREPARERS 150 REFERENCES 151 Ill aAW acts( -I-v I t ' Ltrv twl%", "i^^' s«4.la `s 12.000 ACRES Rh^^^^Rl(Y RAREKN E R _DRIVE SLOWLY... SMI.PER HR p^O E DI NNER 6rresenu6Ofll W tnf0/ ma(ion. wrTN UL COME TO OFFICE 1 Introduction Overview I overall management strategy for a 10-15 year period . This plan focuses on the park 's purposes, its significant attributes , its mission in relation to the overall mission of the National Park Service, what activities are appropriate within these constraints, and resource protection strategies . It provides guidelines for visitor use and development of facilities for visitor enjoyment and administration of the Preserve . It serves as the overall umbrella guidance under which more detailed activity or implementation plans are prepared. This plan envisions Mojave National Preserve as a natural environ- ment and a cultural landscape where the protection of native desert ecosystems, natural processes, and historic resources is assured for future generations . The protection and perpetuation of native species in a self-sustaining environment is a primary long- term goal . The plan seeks to manage the Preserve to perpetuate the sense of discovery, solitude and adventure that currently exists. The plan also seeks to provide the public , consistent with the NPS mission , with maximum opportunities for roadside camping, back- country camping and access to the Preserve by existing roads. The plan would seek funding for the complete rehabilitation of the his- toric Kelso Depot and its use as a museum and interpretive facility. The goal of this plan is to determine how to best manage this new park unit to meet the Congressional intent and the mission of the National Park Service. The California Desert Protection Act also requires the plan to place emphasis on the historical and cultural sites and ecological and wilderness values in the Preserve . It calls for the evaluation of the feasibility of using the Kelso Depot and the existing railroad corri- dor to provide public access to and a facility for special interpretive, educational , and scientific programs . It specifies that the plan address the needs of individuals with disabilities in the design of services , programs , accommodations , and facilities. ---r------------- t Description of Mojave National Preserve of .e National Preserve is a 1.6 million-acre Mojave is bounded to the north and south by M l of the National Park Service , established major interstate highways, 1-15 and 1-40. The by Congress on October 31, 1994, by the Nevada-California stateline makes up most of the California Desert Protection Act. The Preserve is a eastern boundary. Located about half way vast expanse of desert lands that represents a between Las Vegas and Joshua Tree National Park, combination of Great Basin , Sonoran, and Mojave it is an area that many people have seen through desert ecosystems . This combination allows a visi- their windshields, but few have taken time to tor to experience a wide variety of desert plant life explore. in combinations that exist nowhere else in the United States in such proximity. Of the Preserve's 1.6 million acres, about 700,000 acres are designated wilderness. In addition, Located in southern California , the desert area is about half is designated as critical habitat for the a land of mountain ranges, sand dunes, great federally listed threatened desert tortoise. mesas and extinct volcanoes . Mojave contains several diverse mountain ranges , the Kelso dune Evidence of the early human uses includes arche- system, dry lakebeds and evidence of volcanic ological sites, possibly dating back to 12,000 activity ( domes, lava flows , cinder cones). Plant years. Historic features, such as mail and and animal life complement the geological fea- trade/travel routes, ranching, farming, and min- tures . Mojave contains the largest Joshua tree ing, are abundant and often well preserved. The forest in the world . Providence Mountain State old Union Pacific train depot at Kelso serves as a Recreation Area (Mitchell wonderful reminder the railroading hey-days of Caverns), the University of the 1920s. ]he collection of buildings at Soda California's Granite Mountains Springs, called Zzyzx, built by Curtis H. Springer Natural Reserve, and California also has a remarkably interesting tale to tell of State University's Soda Springs this most unusual man. These two features and Desert Studies Center at Soda many more, such as Fort Piute, Government Springs are also within the park Holes, and Ivanpah town sites add to the very boundaries. rich history of the Preserve. 2 Management be directly and specifically provided for by Purpose and Congress. " nit purpose, significant features, and agency U mission and mandates (laws) form the basis for In addition to the overall purpose of parks as out- management