They argued that the desert's fragile tapestry was being unraveled piece by piece. Pressure mounted to place the East Mojave National Scenic Area under Park Service management. When Senator Alan Cranston introduced the first version of the California Desert Protection Act in 1986, it included the proposed designation of a new national park in the East Mojave. After numerous revisions and amendments, the California Desert Protection Act was passed by Congress in 1994 and was signed into law by President Clinton. The name Mojave National Preserve may be confusing to some people.
Preserves are essentially the same as national parks.
Both are managed by the National Park Service. The main difference is that sport hunting is permitted in preserves. The idea of preserves originated in Alaska in the 1970s during the debate over the creation of new national parks in that state. To pacify opposition from hunting organizations to the establishment of new park units, most of the better big-game hunting lands in the state were excluded from Alaska's newly established national parks. But rather than leave these lands open to industrial development, a new land management category was created the preserve.