In 2009, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled against the BLM's proposed designation of additional off road use on designated open routes on public land. According to the ruling the BLM violated its own regulations when it designated approximately 5,000 miles of off-road vehicle routes in 2006. According to Judge Ilston the BLM's designation was "flawed because it does not contain a reasonable range of alternatives" to limit damage to sensitive habitat, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Illston found that the bureau had inadequately analyzed the route's impact on air quality, soils, plant communities and sensitive species such as the endangered Mojave fringe-toed lizard, pointing out that the United States Congress has declared that the California Desert and its resources are "extremely fragile, easily scarred, and slowly healed".