http://www.pe.com/articles/areas-756848-blm-report.html
OFF-ROADING: Desert dust-up over off-limit areas
BY DAVID DANELSKI / STAFF WRITER
Press-Enterprise: Dec. 22, 2014
Off-roading Recreational Areas in BLM's Barstow Field Office area:
· Dumont Dunes Off-Highway Vehicle Area, 8,150 acres.
· Rasor Off-Highway Vehicle Area, 22,500 acres
· El Mirage Off-Highway Vehicle Area, 24,000 acres
· Stoddard Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area, 53,000 acres
· Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area, 100,000 acres
· Information: Barstow Field Office, 760-252-6000
A military takeover this year of nearly half of the popular Johnson Valley off-road recreation area in the west Mojave Desert appears to be pushing more off-highway enthusiasts into wildlife, military and private areas that are supposed to be off-limits.
Such was the conclusion of a field report by a federal Bureau of Land Management ranger that described an array of off-roading violations during the first Thanksgiving weekend since an expansion of the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center into the recreation area.
The Marine expansion into recreation areas appears to have “led to an increase of OHV use into other non-traditional riding areas,” including “sensitive biological and cultural sites,” Patrick Chassie, BLM Barstow office chief ranger, wrote in a Dec. 1 report that was distributed by email to some community groups and to local law enforcement agencies.
Amy Granat, the managing director of the California Off-Road Vehicle Association, blames the situation on the recent loss to off-roaders of about 90,000 acres of the Johnson Valley, the largest and most popular legal off-roading area in the west Mojave.
The combat center’s expansion was approved by Congress late last year. The Marines have said they needed the additional space to stage more meaningful live-fire training exercises for troops preparing for warfare.
“This is a sudden, dramatic change,” said Granat. “People are left confused. There are no signs. It is impossible to know where the lines are.”
She added that the BLM has not put signs needed to show people what areas are off-limits.
“They haven’t done due diligence,” Granat said.
During the holiday weekend, off-roaders illegally went into Cleghorn Wilderness Area, northwest of Twentynine Palms, among other wilderness areas that serve as important habitat for desert tortoise and other species protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, the report states.
Motorcycles and other vehicles can collapse tortoise burrows, kill plants and damage the soil that plants need to grow, said Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, who obtained Chassie’s report and distributed it with a news release.
In wilderness areas, no mechanized travel is allowed, including bicycles.
Off-roaders also intruded upon the Poste Homestead, an area in Wonder Valley east of Twentynine Palms known for historic adobe structures, the report said.
It also described incursion onto private property and military lands that occurred as about 33,300 off-roaders descended into public lands overseen by the BLM’s Barstow office during the long holiday weekend.
“We really got hammered by illegal off-roading activities,” said Philip Klasky, a teacher who lives in Wonder Valley and helps lead a group called Community ORV Watch, which works to protect private and public land from illegal off-roading.
“We are not getting the support we need from the Bureau of Land Management and the local Sheriff’s Department,” Klasky said. BLM spokeswoman Dana Wilson said in an email that BLM rangers working with state and local law enforcement agencies have been deployed to the culturally and biologically sensitive areas near the off-road recreation areas.
The BLM’s Desert District, which is mostly between Mexico and Death Valley, has about 50 to 70 rangers.
“We also bring rangers on detail from other states and agencies in targeted areas during holiday weekends as well as having agreements with other law enforcement agencies to assist,” Wilson said.
Most of the off-roading has occurred during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Martin Luther King Jr. and Presidents Day holidays, she said.
The agency also recognizes the importance of proper signs, according to Wilson.
“The BLM is continuously working on signage, outreach and interpretation efforts in popular OHV areas, with the resources it has available,” Wilson wrote.
Wilson said Chassie’s report, which was labeled, “Field Report from Chief BLM Ranger ...” is “not a formal report.” It is “an informal email exchange between BLM and its partners.”
Contact the writer: 951-368-9471 or
[email protected]
