A U.S. federal judge approved an agreement on Tuesday between environmentalists and the federal government to expand protections for wildlife on more than 11 million acres of the California Desert Conservation Area. The agreement, which brings an end to a lawsuit filed by three environmental groups, requires the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to close roads in the western Mojave Desert, bar off-road access in canyons near Death Valley, and prohibit grazing on desert tortoise habitat. Daniel Patterson of the Center for Biological Diversity said the agreement was “what we’ve all been working for.”
