In this op-ed, writer Susmita Baral explains how the desert of California is currently being targeted for resource extraction, putting delicate ecosystems at great risk.

The California desert is the latest mass of land that is being targeted for resource extraction by the Trump administration. Interior secretary Ryan Zinke announced earlier in the year that 1.3 million acres of California desert would be opened up to mining. Areas include the high desert areas north of Pioneertown in San Bernardino County, the low desert area bordering Joshua Tree National Park in Riverside County, the land near Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, and chunks of land in eastern Imperial County. Mining companies hunting for gold, sand, minerals and rare-earth metals could make their claims in the aforementioned regions starting March 9.

Industrial scale mining jeopardizes regions with delicate ecosystems, takes away valuable recreational area from locals, and doesn’t take into the account the need to preserve cultural Native American sites.

“Mining can impact everything from important wildlife habitat to drinking water and air quality,” Phil Hanceford, conservation director for the Wilderness Society, tells Teen Vogue. “It can also impact recreation and recreational experiences. Not many people want to go to an industrial mining zone on a hike.”

This is not the first time the Trump administration opened up land to mining. After the commander in chief signed an executive order in April 2017 to review national monuments in the U.S. that have been created since 1996, Zinke issued a report recommending the reduction of several national monuments, including Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. After shrinking the two Utah monuments, which are rich in coal and uranium, by more than two million acres — reportedly the largest reduction of national monuments in history — Zinke’s Interior Department opened up the newly unprotected land to mining.

Unfortunately, there’s more on the line.

Aside from Zinke’s recent announcement, the Trump administration is reviewing 10.8 million acres of California desert, which has been called one of the largest intact ecosystems in the lower 48 states, protected by the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP). The review by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in response to a 2017 energy executive order that called on federal agencies to review all regulations that could “potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy sources.”

“We need to reduce burdens on all domestic energy development, including solar, wind and other renewables,” Interior Department deputy assistant secretary Katharine MacGregor said in a statement announcing the review.

But for locals, there is a lot at stake.

“What’s at stake for me is my whole lifestyle,” Morgan Novak, a 17-year-old living in Yucca Valley, California, tells Teen Vogue. “There’s no light pollution here. There’s open space and quiet — that’s important to me. With the reopening of the DRECP, the Trump administration would be taking away the quiet. They’d be polluting what’s precious to me.”

“I enjoy nature, I enjoy hiking, I enjoy experiencing new things and seeing new things. It inspires me and gives me a peace of mind,” Priscilla Cordova, a 25-year-old from Inland Empire, California, tells Teen Vogue. “I'm going to have reduced access. I feel kids won't get to experience these areas as much.”

The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan was finalized in the last months of the Obama presidency, after years of work under that administration. The plan protects more than 22 million acres by directing energy development to regions where it would be least detrimental to the environment and local wildlife.