Action timeline

1997 – The Center and allies appealed a Bureau of Land Management decision to issue a grazing permit for the South Vekol Grazing Allotment — an area containing important desert tortoise habitat.

1998 – The Center appealed multiple grazing allotments, maintaining that continued livestock grazing on desert tortoise habitat would significantly impair the threatened species’ recovery.

1999 – After the Center and allies gave notice of intent to sue the National Park Service, the Service shut down the largest cinder mine within the National Park system, which was operating illegally. The Cinder Cima Mine, located within the Mojave National Preserve Park — prime desert tortoise habitat — had been functioning without a permit since 1995.

2000 – In response to public pressure and a threat to sue by the Center, the Bureau of Land Management permanently cancelled all livestock grazing on the 276,125-acre Granite Mountains Grazing Allotment, marking yet another significant win for the threatened desert tortoise.

2000 – In response to a suit filed by the Center and allies, the National Park Service rejected an appeal from the operators of the Cima Cinder Mine. The mine was ordered to cease all mining operations within the new Mojave National Preserve.

2001 – Through a landmark legal settlement with the Bureau of Land Management, the Center and allies won protections against livestock grazing for 1.9 million acres of the California Desert Conservation Area. The agency was also required to close 18,000 acres of the Mojave Desert to off-road vehicle use and halt springtime cattle grazing on 248,000 acres of prime desert tortoise habitat.

2003 – The Center and allies filed a lawsuit against the Bureau for its plan to open as much as 1,000 miles of new roads for off-road vehicle enthusiasts across 3.2 million acres of desert tortoise and other wildlife habitat in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Kern, and Inyo counties.

2004 – The Center and allies filed a lawsuit against an ill-conceived test racetrack in the middle of prime desert tortoise habitat. The settlement for this lawsuit set aside significant acreage in perpetuity for the conservation of the desert tortoise.

2006 – The Center, in cooperation with a broad coalition of allies including private property owners and public employees, filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management for failing to protect private property, conservation lands, and endangered wildlife — including the desert tortoise — from off-road vehicles across 7.1 million acres of the California Desert Conservation Area in Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, and Inyo counties.

2008 – The Center and allies filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of the Army’s National Training Center and Fort Irwin over plans to relocate hundreds of desert tortoises to accommodate the expansion of Fort Irwin. Our notice requested that the relocation plan be improved by reducing the number of relocated tortoises, making sure only healthy tortoises are moved into healthy populations, and improving the habitat conditions of the relocation area.