Mojave Lands

 In 1994 the California Desert Protection Act created the Mojave National Preserve, the third largest national park in the lower forty-eight states. The act transferred three million acres of southern California desert from the Bureau of Land Management to the National Park Service. As a result, explains Elisabeth M. Hamin, the National Park Service became a multiple-use manager, balancing its official mission of environmental protection with oversight of such activities as hunting, ranching, and mining.