Data from: Impact of solar and wind development on conservation values in the Mojave Desert

In 2010, The Nature Conservancy completed the Mojave Desert Ecoregional
Assessment, which characterizes conservation values across nearly 130,000
km2 of the desert Southwest. Since this assessment was completed, several
renewable energy facilities have been built in the Mojave Desert, thereby
changing the conservation value of these lands. We have completed a new
analysis of land use to reassess the conservation value of lands in two
locations in the Mojave Desert where renewable energy development has been
most intense: Ivanpah Valley, and the Western Mojave. We found that 99 of
our 2.59-km2 planning units were impacted by development such that they
would now be categorized as having lower conservation value, and most of
these downgrades in conservation value were due to solar and wind
development. Solar development alone was responsible for a direct
development footprint 86.79 km2: 25.81 km2 of this was primarily high
conservation value Bureau of Land Management lands in the Ivanpah Valley,
and 60.99 km2 was privately owned lands, mostly of lower conservation
value, in the Western Mojave. Our analyses allow us to understand patterns
in renewable energy development in the mostly rapidly changing regions of
the Mojave Desert. Our analyses also provide a baseline that will allow us
to assess the effectiveness of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation
Plan in preventing development on lands of high conservation value over
the coming decades.