The La Paz County Comprehensive Plan is the first overall plan for development countywide. Due to the passage of new state requirements and a desire to plan for the future, the La Paz County Board of Supervisors contracted with Partners for Strategic Action, Inc. to develop the county’s first comprehensive plan. The consulting team was directed to solicit broad community participation, study the county planning area, and develop a plan that would be an easy-to-understand policy document that will guide La Paz County’s development in the future.

Concern has been expressed that mesquite bosques are disappearing or diminishing in quality, and that the survival of the mesquite mouse is consequently threatened. This study, funded by a grant from the Arizona Heritage Fund to the Pima County Regional Flood Control District, investigated the current distribution of the mesquite mouse by reviewing historical records from museum specimens, examining existing potential habitat at historic locations of the species and elsewhere in the county, and conducting a live-trapping study at 19 sites representing a range of ecological communities with mesquite as a major component.

In 1995, Mohave County adopted the “Mohave County General Plan” which included a countywide land use design. Included were several surrounding small communities. These communities subsequently created their own more specific area plans which were then included in the Mohave County General Plan. However, Dolan Springs was identified as an “outlying community” which would not be included. Dolan Springs then created their own area plan.

The purpose of the Long Mountain Area Plan is to recognize the unique character of the Long Mountain Area and to encourage land use patterns that are consistent with the goals of the Mohave County General Plan. The Long Mountain Area Plan, a component of the General Plan, covers approximately 61 square miles of unincorporated land in Mohave County.