What is " The Northern & Eastern Colorado Plan (NECO)"?
The NECO planning area is one of three major planning areas
(others being WEMO & NEMO)
within the 12-million acre, 1976 congressionally-designated, California Desert Conservation
Area (CDCA). The CDCA Plan is based on land-use management by geographic zones, i.e. the types
of uses that are appropriate in light of existing resource values. Since 1976, the listing of
federal and state endangered species within the CDCA, and the passage of the 1994 California Desert
Protection Act (CDPA), has affected the land management of millions of acres of public lands in the
CDCA.
The purpose of the NECO Plan is to:
What is "NECO"?
The NECO Planning Area comprises 5.5 million acres of private, Federal and state land. The majority of the
Planning Area land is public land, with a total of 3.8 million acres.
Specifically, starting from the City of Needles on I-40, the NECO boundary 1 runs
south along the CDCA boundary, parallel to the Colorado River, to the Quechon Indian Reservation near
Yuma, AZ. (Note that the Colorado River, the state line, is not the boundary.) The boundary skirts the
reservation to the All American Canal near the International border. The boundary follows the All American
Canal to I-8, east to Ogilby Road, and then north on Ogilby Road to its intersection with the Southern Pacific
Railroad. The boundary then runs north along the Railroad to its intersection with the western boundary of
the CMAGR, then along CMAGR western boundary to its intersection with the Coachella Canal.
The boundary runs north along the east side of the Canal to its intersection with Dillon Road in Coachella Valley,
then north along Dillon Road to its intersection with the western boundary of T4S R8E, then north along this
line to its intersection with the southern boundary of JTNP. At this point the Plan boundary runs east and
north on a zigzagging course following section lines through and to the northern boundary of JTNP. The
NECO boundary roughly splits JTNP into two equal west-east halves. The NECO boundary then runs east
along the northern boundary of JTNP to a point where it turns north and away from JTNP along the east side
of T1S R13E. North of this township the boundary zigzags northwest along section lines through the Sheep
Hole Mountains to Amboy Road at Sheep Hole Pass. At this point the boundary runs north along Amboy
Road to its intersection with Historic Route 66 near Amboy, runs east on this highway to the Kelbaker Road,
then north on the Kelbaker Road to its intersection with I-40. At this point the boundary runs east to Needles
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1. Establish Regional Standards for Public Land Health and set forth guidelines for grazing
management;
2. Establish two Desert Wildlife Management Areas (DWMAs) encompassing about 1.75 million
acres that are managed as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern for recovery of the desert
tortoise;
3. Establish the Southern Mojave and Sonoran Wildlife Habitat Management Areas (WHMAs) for
bighorn sheep totaling over a million acres and 13 multi-species WHMAs totaling over a half
million acres such that 80 percent of the distribution of all special status species and all natural
community types are included in conservation management areas;
4. Combine Herd Management Areas for wild horses and burros and adjust the Appropriate
Management Levels;
5. Designate routes of travel;
6. Identify priorities for potential acquisition of private lands and disposal of public lands;
7. Provide access to resources for economic and social needs;
8. Incorporate 23 wilderness areas (totaling over a million acres) established by the 1994 California
Desert Protection Act in the CDCA;
The NECO plan is to provide for conservation management of desert ecosystems to aid in the recovery
of the desert tortoise and the Coachella Valley milkvetch and the conservation of approximately 60 other
sensitive species and their habitats on federal lands administered by the BLM, as well as streamline
processing of land use permits.
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