Cactus Springs ACEC

Support the Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern

Sunset and snow in the Mojave Desert at the site of the proposed Kawich Solar Project near Cactus Springs, NV. Tortoises are dormant underground in their burrows.

Conservation organizations nominated a high-value Mojave Desert habitat for protection to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), requesting the establishment of a 58,000-acre Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) located just north of Cactus Springs, Nevada, in the Indian Springs Valley northwest of Las Vegas. The region has been described by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as the “most critical desert tortoise connectivity corridor in Nevada.”

 

The site also contains important habitat for other significant Mojave Desert species such as the Mojave yucca, Gila monster, burrowing owl, American badger, and the rare Parish’s club cholla—which is found on a limited range in Nevada and California. Cactus Springs is a unique spring mound wetland supporting cottonwood, honey mesquite and a variety of avian species including phainopepla and Great blue heron. 

 

The area is seeing pressure to develop utility-scale solar projects and associated transmission projects on over 20,000 acres of this local habitat. The ACEC is proposed as an alternative to sprawling solar energy projects on these important public lands. Solar energy disturbs no habitat when placed on rooftops and over parking lots. 

 

Below is a letter that can be copied and sent to the BLM in support of the ACEC. The letter can be sent to the BLM Director, Tracy Stone Manning at tstonemanning@blm.gov. Or mail to:


Director Tracy Stone-Manning

Bureau of Land Management

1849 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20240

 

Dear Ms. Stone-Manning,

 

I am writing this letter to ask you to establish a Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) as an alternative to the large-scale solar applications that are being proposed for the Indian Springs Valley and Mercury Valley in the Mojave Desert, Nevada. At this point, there are over 20,000 acres of solar projects proposed for the region including Bonanza Solar which BLM is reviewing at this time. The ACEC would provide a long-term projection to diverse high desert species, unique wetlands and spectacular view-sheds. The Fish and Wildlife Service has identified the area as being "the most critical desert tortoise connectivity corridor in Southern Nevada". The desert tortoise is protected under the Endangered Species Act and has seen a range-wide decline of 37 percent. Now is the time to keep important identified habitat for the species undeveloped. Nevada contains some of the nation's most valuable public lands and the Cactus Springs ACEC presents a great opportunity to not only protect the desert tortoise, but also additional valuable resources in the area. 

 

Thank you,

 

(Your Name and Info Here)

Mojave yuccas blooming in spring.

Snow melting off the desert in winter.

Basin & Range Watch Nominates a New Area of Critical Environmental Concern To Protect Tortoise Connectivity, Rare Cactus, and Desert Spring Mounds

Cactus Springs with cottonwood trees and the Sheep Range in the distance, Clark County, Nevada. This public land needs better protection.

September 19, 2022, Indian Springs Valley NV - Basin & Range Watch and colleagues are nominating the Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) in Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada, north of Indian Springs on Bureau of Land Management land, in order to protect rare plants, cactus diversity, Cactus Springs water resources, and the most significant Mojave desert tortoise connectivity corridor in southern Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) state office is pushing back against an ACEC here, but we persisted and the ACEC is being considered (begrudgingly) in BLM's environmental review of the proposed Bonanza Solar Project application, which lies squarely in the midst of the trotoise connectivity corridor. See https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020905/570

The Cactus Springs ACEC nomination submitted to the Bureau of Land Management can be viewed below on the Basin and Range Watch digital public library on Google drive, and you can download the PDF. 

Cactus Springs ACEC copy.pdf

Big galleta grass

The washes in this arid desert northwest of Las vegas, NV, are lush with big galleta grass (Hilaria rigida) after monsoon summer rains, a favored food of adult tortoises.

Mojave desert tortoise

We found this healthy female desert tortoise on the site this summer. The area is a crucial genetic connectivity linkage in souther Nevada, connecting populations. The Bonanza Solar Project and several other solar applications threaten this habitat.

Proposed Bonanza Solar Project

The utility-scale solar application would block and degrade a large portion of this crucial desert tortoise connectivity corridor. Map from BLM.

Our Cactus Springs ACEC Conservation Alternative

This approximate map polygon would protect almost 60,000 acres of northern Indian Springs Valley and a portion of the Mercury Valley in the Amargosa River watershed, in Nye and Clark Counties, Nevada. Energy development would be excluded.

The rare cactus Parish club-cholla (Grusonia parishii) grows on the alluvial fans here on the eastern flank of the Spring Range, Nevada. This spreading cactus is found only in small areas of southern Nevada and the California Desert, and is threatened by numerous utility-scale solar projects. Perhaps the low, spreading growth form helps this cactus to catch sheet-flow rainwater as rainstorms pour off the high Spring Range. These photos are on and near the proposed Bonanza Solar Project application site.

Cottontop cactus

The cactus diversity here is very high, and the more we look the more we find.

Hedgehog cactus

Beavertail cactus

Archaeological features: an ancient trail emerges like a whisper from the past on old stable desert pavement rock soil surfaces in a few places, threatened by the proposed Bonanza Solar Project. The old footpath vanishes under old growth creosote, bursage, and galleta grass, and disappears in active flash flood washes from erosion. We have talked with Chemehuevi tribal members who tell us that a century ago Indigenous people still walked from Needles, CA, to Beatty, NV to visit the sacred hot springs in that area. On the way they stopped at springs such as Cactus Springs, NV, which was an important water source. This was somewhat of a pilgrimage before European contact, and the walk would take two weeks one way. Prehistoric footpaths are well-documented across the Southwest deserts, yet BLM would only claim to us that this photo was of a "mountain bike trail." How can BLM ignore these archaeological features and Cultural Landscapes in the rush to develop public lands for utility-scale solar energy development? 

Cactus Springs is a small spring mound that still has water, not flowing, but the pool is stable at the moment. There are several other old relict spring mounds nearby that are dry. The water table is near the ground surface here, and allows a green oasis of cottonwood trees and honey mesquites to flourish, attracting birds such as Phainopeplas which feed on mistletoe berries. How will groundwater pumping for utility-scale solar project construction impact this delicate and rare desert oasis? This is one reason we nominated the area as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, to protect this spring, the trees, birds, cacti, tortoises, and ancient trails.