For 100 years, various individuals, groups, and agencies have recognized the open space treasures of the Coachella Valley and the surrounding mountains and sought to assemble the pieces of a conservation puzzle. Now we're close to completing the puzzle, and we can envision the finished picture: a work of natural art that will grace the Coachella Valley now and forever.

In 1897 President Grover Cleveland put the first puzzle piece in place by proclaiming the San Jacinto Forest Reserve to protect the watershed. In the late 1920s and early '30s, the U. S. Forest Service (USFS), State Parks Commission, County of Riverside, and Southern Pacific Railroad cooperated to create Mount San Jacinto State Park through a large-scale land exchange and purchase.

Across the valley, FDR put another piece of the conservation puzzle in place in 1936 by establishing Joshua Tree National Monument. As the Coachella Valley began to grow after World War II, so did awareness of the need for conservation. Philip A. Boyd donated money and land in the Santa Rosa Mountains to the University of California in 1959 to establish the Deep Canyon Desert Research Center.

In the following decades, conservation efforts strove to keep pace with development. The federal government established the San Jacinto, Santa Rosa, San Gorgonio, Mecca Hills, and Orocopia Mountains Wilderness areas. The 1970s and ’80s saw the state Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) purchase some 26,000 acres in the Santa Rosa Mountains. BLM designated Areas of Critical Environmental Concern in Whitewater Canyon, Big Morongo Canyon, Willow Hole-Edom Hill, and Dos Palmas, east of the Salton Sea. In 1985, a Habitat Conservation Plan established the Coachella Valley Preserve in the Thousand Palms area and two smaller preserves to the west.

Another major effort of the 1980s and early 1990s was the establishment of the Indian Canyons Heritage Park at the mouths of Andreas, Murray, and Palm Canyons following voter approval of a major statewide park and open space bond measure that included $19 million for acquisition of land for the Park. In 1999, the County of Riverside and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians jointly funded a $4 million addition to the Park.

In 1990, the Secretary of the Interior designated BLM lands in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains as a National Scenic Area. That same year, the state legislature established the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. The Conservancy and its local, state, and federal partners have acquired about 17,000 acres since then. Others have also been active throughout the valley and the mountains; organizations such as the Wildlands Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy, and the Friends of the Desert Mountains have preserved tens of thousands of acres in recent years.

Today, we stand on the threshold of completing the conservation puzzle with two final pieces:

• Designation of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, and
• Completion of the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan (MSHCP/NCCP or Plan)

The National Monument will provide additional impetus to complete the acquisition program in the mountains and protect their scenic, wildlife, cultural, and recreational resources. The MSHCP/NCCP provides the finishing touches for the remainder of the area, expanding some existing preserves on the valley floor, establishing new ones in biologically sensitive areas, and creating connections between major conservation areas.

Preparation of the MSHCP/NCCP poses many challenges. One of these has been adequate funding, and the Plan would not be near completion were it not for the NCCP planning funds appropriated by Congress in recent years. Another challenge is actively engaging nine cities, a county, and numerous other agencies in the planning process. An additional challenge is that the Plan focuses on unlisted species and, for most of the Plan area, lacks listed species to provide the impetus for planning and regulatory consequences for not planning. In one instance, we have a listed species, the peninsular bighorn sheep, that creates challenges for resolving immediate issues before the Plan is completed. These issues become the flashpoint for controversy that deflects from and threatens to undermine the longer term MSHCP/NCCP planning. More state and federal attention to conflict intervention and resolution would be helpful.

It is unfortunate that there are not better incentives for preparing regional conservation plans before species are on the brink of extinction. CDFG and USFWS also need more staff on location dedicated to active participation in the planning and review process. When funds and agency staff are insufficient, plans take too long to prepare.

The Coachella Valley Plan is in the final stages of preparation. The biological analysis of the important conservation areas is under review by CDFG and USFWS. At the same time land use and land value information is being gathered for use in analysis of the conservation alternatives developed by the Scientific Advisory Committee. An administrative review draft is expected to be completed by summer, with a draft Plan and EIR/EIS ready for release in the fall.