DRECP Spotlight: Development Focus Areas
The draft Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan identifies 2,024,000 acres (3,162 square miles) of "development focus areas" (DFA) in the preferred alternative. Of that total, 367,000 acres (573 square miles) are on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). I wrote yesterday about the assumptions that were used to come up with this many acres of DFAs. DFAs By County: The following numbers include a both private and BLM-administered lands. Imperial County shoulders the heaviest DFA burden at 734,000 acres (1,146 square miles), followed by San Bernardino County at 399,000 acres (623 square miles), Kern County at 360,000 acres (562 square miles), Riverside County at 268,000 acres (418 square miles), Los Angeles County at 218,000 acres (340 square miles), and Inyo County at 45,000 acres (70 square miles). Construction crews bulldozing Joshua tree woodland habitat in Kern County to make way for a wind energy facility. Most of the wind facili