For the past three years, some 49,000 acres of the Imperial Dunes have enjoyed a respite from off-road vehicle use. These lands could be reopened again this summer in light of a biological opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Opposition to closure of the dunes has been led by the American Sand Association (ASA). It has been estimated that as much as $13 million are generated by off-road vehicle enthusiasts in the dunes. In February, the group filed a lawsuit to de-list the Peirson's milk vetch from its endangered status. While the ASA commissioned a study that indicated no harm from off-road vehicles, other botanists, including former BLM biologist Debbie Sebesta, want to conduct more specific studies on the milk vetch.
Steve Tabor said the dunes have been trashed by recreational use, and law enforcement has been very expensive. Research on the endangered Peirson's milk vetch was based on a good rain year. The tortoise recovery plan has also been based on faulty research.
Environmental groups are calling the Fish & Wildlife's biological opinion inadequate, and trying to prevent the reopening of the dunes to off-road vehicle use.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Ask the BLM to keep the Imperial Dunes closed until more comprehensive studies are conducted on the impact of off-road vehicles on endangered species. Access the BLM website at www.ca.blm.gov.
Bureau of Land Management
El Centro Office
1661 South Fourth Street
El Centro, CA 92243
In an earlier issues group, we discussed new rules issued by the Interior Department that are paving the way for road development in National Parks, forests, and other federal lands. The revival of an 1866 law, R.S. 2477, will grant “the right of way for the construction of highways across public lands…” which could include old wagon roads, off-road vehicle routes, and even stream beds and washes.
The State of Utah reached a “landmark agreement” in April with the Interior Department on criteria for roads across its federal lands. Thanks to the Bush Administration, the state can now claim new routes by filing “disclaimers of interest” with the federal agency.
San Bernadino County, which has sought over 2500 miles of road claims in the Mojave National Preserve, made its first move under the new regulations by claiming Camp Rock Road in April. Steve noted that these claims would make the county more liable for lawsuits should someone get injured traveling across routes designated as county owned. There are about thirty Survivors in San Bernardino County; Merle will draft a letter with talking points for letters to their board of supervisors. Steve said that citizens should be alerted to “their taxpayer money” being spent on the liability for these new roads.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
* Send letters to the editor of your local newspaper bringing attention these developments.
After some discussion about the issues group’s role in the new Desert Survivors website, the group decided that the issues section would include background articles along with regularly scheduled updates on desert issues. David Barr suggested tying the whole thing to a map, and Steve fleshed out the framework as follows.
1. The page will open to an
Intro that prompts the visitor to choose a state.
The first bullet will prompt to a map of Southern California, others to
Nevada, Oregon, Utah, etc., each with its own page. Locations of issues
will be bulleted on each state map, e.g. Fort Irwin, Glamis, Briggs,
Imperial Dunes, Sheephole, etc. on So Cal. Viewing the map, visitors will
then be invited to click on a bullet to go to a page with the latest update on
whatever issue they're interested in.
2. On each issue page will be the latest update, with additional bullets for
past updates and a "primary background article". Visitors can read the
latest update and sift back through time to note progress. The "primary
background article" will be the farthest back. It will be the start point for
understanding. It can be written specially for the website, but it would be
more efficient to simply pick the most comprehensive SURVIVOR article
that we've published, or the most comprehensive ALERT! Flyer, and
simply insert it at the beginning of the thread. All updates will then spring
directly from that primary article.
3. A "call for updates" will be put out on a regular basis by either the
webmaster or the Communications Director or a designated "Issues
person" to either the listserv or a select group of contributors, some of
whom are known to be knowledgeable about the issue or are following it.
This will probably be an e-mail message broadcast to a list. It can be
monthly or twice-monthly, say the 1st and 15th of the month. This "call for
updates" will be a prompt to anyone who has an interest or has new
information to write something new (if there is anything new). Those with
new info will contact the designated individual sending the "call", to make
sure that only one person actually does an update. The "call" will be sent
early enough, say a week before, so that the person(s) responding can
make the deadline. This way, regular updates will be done, though not
necessarily on every "call".
4. Each update will have a phone & e-mail for those seeking more details
or clarity.