Department of the Interior (DOI): Desert Landscape Conservation Center (LCC)
The Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) is one of 21 LCCs established by Secretarial Order No. 3289, which focus on on-the-ground strategic conservation efforts at the landscape level. LCCs are management-science partnerships that inform integrated resource-management actions addressing climate change and other stressors within and across landscapes, linking science and conservation delivery.
The Desert LCC encompasses portions of five states: California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as a substantial portion of Northern Mexico. The area is topographically complex, including three different deserts (Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan), grasslands and valley bottoms, and the isolated mountain ranges in the southern portion of the LCC (Apache Highlands and the New Mexico-Texas Highlands, also known as the “Sky Islands”). Elevations range from near sea level to over 10,000 ft. The richness of the topography leads to equally diverse species composition; the area supports habitat for many native plants, fish and wildlife species, including many endemic species that are extremely susceptible to climate change.
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are the co-leads, as well as partners, in the effort to establish the Desert and Southern Rockies LCCs. The partnership has begun between Reclamation, the FWS, the U.S Geological Survey (USGS), other federal agencies, states, tribes, non-government organizations (NGO's), universities, and other entities. Together the partners will provide science and decision-support tools to assist managers in making decisions that will protect and conserve resources necessary to meet the complementary trust responsibilities of the partners involved. In time, the LCC is envisioned as a self-directed partnership managed by a steering committee comprised of interested partners with a shared resource conservation focus.
Phone: (928) 310-6995
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