California solar project adopts special bighorn sheep buffer to keep desert migration routes open after 2026 approval
There is no soft introduction to the Mojave Desert surrounding Baker, California. The heat moves in waves from the desert flats, and the rock ridges stand silently against the backdrop of a sky far too big and too bright. Desert bighorn sheep have traveled through these landscapes for thousands of years, walking between the hills in an ancient path not charted on any map.
This very landscape is home to a 2,670-acre solar project. When a development this size is dropped onto a map, the lines seldom coincide with what lived there first.
A herd on the map
Desert bighorn sheep don’t casually ramble around. The migration routes of the Mojave’s desert bighorn sheep are the product of the need to survive – migration from one reliable source of water to another, migration to areas where they can forage, and migration to rugged, rocky areas where they can run faster than predators.
Since the opt-in certification of CEC supersedes all local and state permits with the exception of very few cases, this moment was crucial for the CEC Final Order.
During the environmental assessment process for the Soda Mountain Solar Project, wildlife biologists noted several of these corridors crisscrossing through the proposed solar array site. This isn’t a happenstance discovery; this is precisely what an environmental impact study aims to reveal.
The ramifications of a severed corridor pile up quickly. The combination of a solar array, the fence that surrounds it, and the associated noise pollution results in isolated groups of animals unable to migrate for mating opportunities, reduced genetic diversity, and high rates of mortality for animals forced to move into new territory. For a species that already lives amid a fractured Mojave Desert, one additional barrier in the chain makes a difference.
This established the conflict at hand: a renewable energy project required to have minimal impact on wildlife versus a species for which the need to survive is literally mapped out.
300 megawatts on Bureau of Land Management ground
Soda Mountain Solar Project represents a utility-scale proposal developed by Soda Mountain Solar, LLC. Up to 300 MW of solar PV and 300 MW plus 1,200 MWh of battery energy storage could be installed on approximately 2,670 acres of BLM land in San Bernardino County. Battery energy storage alone will occupy 18 acres.
This facility would interconnect to the existing Marketplace-Adelanto 500 kV transmission line managed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, delivering solar power generation straight to the grid system.
Opt-In Certification process as established by Assembly Bill 205, enacted in 2022 – legislation which extended the California Energy Commission‘s scope of authority from thermal plants to large-scale solar and storage facilities – was required for this approval. Under the Opt-In Certification process, the CEC becomes the lead agency under CEQA and is required to prepare an EIR. The application was submitted in August 2024, determination of completeness was made in July 2025, and staff review was conducted up to January 2026.
The corridor puzzle
It is an apt label as far as it describes something substantive about the review process because not only did the reviewers need to find out that bighorns were making use of the corridor; at the same time, they needed to find out precisely how the development of the solar array could cut off or reduce this historic use of bighorns’ migration corridor.
Both the December 2025 Staff Assessment and the March 2026 Updated Staff Assessment cited bighorn sheep migration route as one of the key biological factors associated with this project. The review process was quite a complex one, as it involved the exchange of information between the proponent of the project, the staff of CEC, and other relevant authorities.
But before all these decisions could be made, a lot of rather mundane work had already been done: biologists studying the patterns of animal movement through the years, planners comparing maps of animal migration patterns and possible panel array designs, regulators comparing the legal requirements and ecological conditions. This process lasted months and resulted in a decision in this case.
The buffer that changed the decision
The solution the process converged on was a dedicated buffer zone around the project’s perimeter, designed to keep the bighorn sheep’s primary movement routes open. The buffer wasn’t cosmetic — it represented a deliberate reduction in the project’s biological footprint in the areas the animals depend on most.
The term “less than significant” in CEQA is a legal definition which means that the impact of the project on the resources will be acceptable for the approval process. In order to get there, it was essential to prove that the buffer would provide the preservation of the corridor functions and not just the reduction of the project visibility regarding the habitat.
The Final Order was adopted on April 27, 2026, and included the buffer as a mandatory condition. Two days later, on April 29, the Notice of Determination was issued. Since the opt-in certification of CEC supersedes all local and state permits with the exception of very few cases, this moment was crucial for the CEC Final Order.
Benefits for the sheep–and the grid–from this point
This is now where the project is at the “Compliance – Pre-Construction” stage. It is necessary to ensure that all construction conditions are met prior to breaking ground, and the buffer zone stipulations are not optional.
When it comes to conservation of desert bighorn sheep, the decision presents a cautionary data point. Solar power projects are expanding across the Mojave Desert. If this decision will serve as a template will depend on whether wildlife corridor science is included early in the site selection process, instead of having to solve the issue further along when re-designing is both difficult and contentious.
The technology exists. The science exists. The regulatory process exists. What’s difficult is whether or not this system will apply them, or if the next issue involving wildlife corridors will be sprung at the last minute.
Further towards Baker, the ridgelines have not shifted even an inch. Neither has the quiet in the space between them. In those hillside areas the sheep still migrate, along routes that were present long before any permitting requirement or grid was created. The desert has never been empty; it simply took someone to observe what had always been there.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
