PArks Linkage Bill proposed in east Mojave desert...

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Senator Feinstein is Drafting Bill to Link Joshua Tree and East Mojave Parks

excerpted from http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_monument16.447149a.html

9/16/2009--...Earlier this year, preservationists said they sought Feinstein's support to create a 2.4 million-acre preserve to protect public land from military use and energy development. The area would be called the "Mother Road National Monument" because it would include 70 miles of historic Route 66...

One supporter said Tuesday that the senator now is working on a more modest plan than initially discussed. ..

Elden Hughes, a member of the Sierra Club California/Nevada Desert Committee and a Joshua Tree resident, said Feinstein is crafting legislation for a smaller monument than envisioned earlier by conservationists.

He said he hopes the Schwarzenegger administration doesn't stop Feinstein's effort, because a monument designation would protect corridors for wildlife to move between Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. Such swaths of undisturbed land will be especially important as global warming changes habitat, he said.

"Severing the desert would be a huge mistake," Hughes said. "We need the wildlife and plant corridors to remain open."