The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday issued a $466,613 grant to purchase nearly 3,000 acres of endangered species habitat in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument above the Coachella Valley.

The grant is aimed at buying 2,869 acres in the Santa Rosa Mountains used by the Peninsular bighorn sheep, desert slender salamander and desert tortoise, U.S. Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, announced. The land is key foraging and lambing areas for the sheep, she said.

"With rapid population growth in Riverside County, it is important that we preserve our open space and protected endangered species," Bono Mack said in a statement.

—Jennifer Bowles
jbowles@PE.com

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