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The army's "Proposed Fort Irwin Land Expansion Scoping Meeting" of
January 19, 2002 in Pasadena was the fifth in a series of scoping meetings held
to allow members of the public to raise issues that they feel need to be
addressed during the environmental review and analysis. The Pasadena hearing and
meetings held in Riverside 2 days earlier were added following complaints that a
single day of scoping held in Barstow at the end of November was inadequate to
allow public input on what is a nationally significant action.
The Army is proposing to expand the Fort Irwin National Training Center onto
100,000 acres of habitat designated as critical to the survival and recovery of
the desert tortoise in the Superior Valley and to expand maneuvers into the UTM
90 lands at the south end of the base which is has been off to tanks since the
early 1990s to protect its large population of desert tortoises.
Speakers focused on the need to protect the desert tortoise, its
habitat and the other rare and endangered species in the area, and the need for
the Environmental Impact Statement to fully address all impacts.
Key points raised included:
 | New data shows that the current status of the desert tortoise in the west
Mojave is worse than the United States Fish and Wildlife Service believed when
Senator Feinstein and Congressman Lewis set the current proposal in motion by
adding a legislative rider to the appropriations bill in December 2000. The US
Fish & Wildlife Service's spring 2001 distance sampling survey found far
fewer tortoises than they expected and will have to be redone this spring.
Consequently, More protection is needed for the remaining tortoises and their
habitat, not less. |
| The Department of Defense already controls more than 30% of the west
Mojave Desert. Much of the rest of the desert is being overrun by development,
off-road vehicle use, cattle grazing and mining. The tortoise and other animals
and plants are being squeezed out. |
| The Army needs to better explain how the proposed alternatives fit their
current training needs. In the past attempts to expand they asked for 300,000
acres to the east and said that was essential. Why is this next round any
different? |
| The Army needs to avoid training on designated critical habitat for the
desert tortoise in the Superior Valley expansion area, the UTM 90 lands where so
many healthy tortoises remain, and lands that will likely be designated critical
habitat for the rare Lane Mountain milkvetch which is only found in this
area. |
| The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) must analyze alternative ways of
making sure that our soldiers get the best training available without destroying
the wild desert such as: increased use of combat simulators, cleaning up the
Leach Lake area to increase training acres within the existing base by 90,000
acres, and joint use of 29 Palms US Marine Corps base. |
NOTE: Written comments must be submitted by 19 February 2002. Send to:
National Training Center AFZJ-Strategic Plans Division P.O. Box 10309 Fort
Irwin, CA 92310
Questions & feedback |
