Comment on FR Doc # 2010-09377

To whom it may concern: I would like to write in support of the listing of the Mohave ground squirrel (MGS) under the Endangered Species Act. This rare species deserves protection for serveral reasons. For background, I worked as a contractor for the BLM Ridgecrest Field Office for three years. I spent these years primarily in the Rand Mountains, Jawbone-Butterbredt ACEC, and the El Paso Mountains. During my extensive time in the field I only saw one MGS along SC 94 in the Jawbone ACEC. Not only are these animals rare, but their habitat is increasingly threatened by OHV activity and potential solar and wind development. Off-highway vehicles run rampant in the core habitat areas of the MGS. Off-roaders who stage their camps in the Jawbone Canyon and Dove Springs Open Areas, as well as along the aqueduct roads in the Jawbone ACEC and near California City, do extensive damage to the areas in which they camp and the surrounding desert for miles in any direction. They essentially explode out from the heavily-impacted areas and fragment, damage, and destroy habitat in the vicinity of these areas. This form of recreation poses a serious threat to the habitat of the MGS, as well as direct impacts from vehicle collisions, crushing of burrows, and denuding areas of ground cover which increases predation. These vehicles constitute a serious threat to the MGS and its habitat. Additionally, many industrial-scale solar and wind developments are proposed for prime MGS habitat. The impacts of these types of projects to the land are well-known, including complete habitat destruction for solar, and habitat degradation and fragmentation for wind. USFWS may be too late to save the MGS if these types of projects are allowed to destroy intact public and private lands in MGS habiat. This is why USFWS needs to get ahead of these projects and list the MGS as endangered. Thank you for your consideration.