EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif -- The Bureau of Land Management acquired 2,579 acres of privately owned land 15 miles northeast of the base, under the Center’s Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor, and exchanged it for 257.5 acres of higher value land adjacent to Highway 395 near Adelanto. This exchange was the first “land swap” under the Western Mojave Land Tenure Adjustment program, with the aim of making the Center’s flight test facilities more secure from encroachment.
The West Mojave Plan includes the West Mojave Desert area encompassing 9.3 million acres in Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties: 3.3 million acres of public lands administered by Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 3.0 million acres of private lands, 102,000 acres administered by the State of California, and the balance of military lands administered by the Department of Defense. BLM and the participating state and local governments have used the name, “West Mojave Plan” throughout the planning process to include complementary BLM and state-local government actions. These actions are described under Alternative A of the January 2005 proposed plan and final environmental impact report and statement. However, for purposes of this ROD, “West Mojave Plan” refers solely to BLM’s amendment of the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan and will not include the actions being proposed by State and local governments for the non-federal lands, except when specifically identified.