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No Happy Trail in Desert Tale
Charges fly between off-roaders and activists
over booby traps and cut fences. A federal ruling
on use of the path is expected next month.
By Louis Sahagun
Times Staff Writer
March 25, 2004
HESPERIA, Calif. - A range war has broken out
between environmentalists and off-road
motorcyclists over an illegal 3-mile dirt trail
that cuts through prehistoric burial grounds and
runs past a cave believed to have been used by
Native Americans.
The motorcyclists say they are finding
booby-traps on the foot-wide trail - piano wire
stretched taut a few inches above the ground,
roofing nails, and pipes camouflaged with brush -
designed to topple motorcyclists who regard the
Cottonwood Springs area of Juniper Flats as a
scenic riding route.
Environmentalists, led by members of a local
residents group, Friends of Juniper Flats, have
denied any responsibility for the alleged acts of
sabotage. But they, and some former federal land
managers, say motorcyclists have cut property
fences, "burning trails" on private property, and
trashed what they consider the culturally rich
site designated as an "area of critical
environmental concern" by the federal Bureau of
Land Management.
The activists also accuse the BLM's Barstow field
office of failing to enforce its own rules and
regulations as more off-roaders look to the 3
million acres of public land overseen by the
office as a place to ride. The area, the
environmentalists say, is too big to manage, let
alone police, with only 11 BLM rangers.
The dispute over Juniper Flats, about 10 miles
east of here, is one of many that the federal
agency is wrestling with in the California
desert. The popularity of off-road motorcycling,
particularly in such rapidly growing communities
as Hesperia, has increased along with calls for
stricter controls over the motorcyclists' access
to public lands.
Like every other popular destination on open
land, Juniper Flats has a range of reputations
that those rangers struggle to maintain: as a
premier hiking area, a bird watcher's paradise, a
haven for wildlife, an ancestral home of Serrano
Indians, an off-road motorcycle course.
Adding to the tensions, BLM officials concede
that until recently even they were not sure
whether motorcyclists should be allowed on the
trail. Until October, officials said, they were
assuring the motorcyclists that they were
permitted there.
"There was a lag time in determining what was
legal and what wasn't," acknowledged Roxie Trost,
acting Barstow field office manager. "We have
determined in the past six weeks that it is not
open for off-road use.
"But we still have one group telling us there is
no resource damage occurring, and another telling
us there's been extensive resource damage. The
BLM is doing necessary surveys out there to come
to a conclusion."
The dispute may be resolved next month, when the
agency is expected to issue its West Mojave Plan,
12 years in the making. The plan will designate
certain networks of routes appropriate for
off-road vehicles and take others out of
commission.
In the meantime, "it's a dangerous war out
there," said Ed Waldheim, president of the
5,000-member California Off-Road Vehicle Assn.
"Some folks in the off-road vehicle field say
that trail has been there forever and that they
ought to be able to use it," he said. "Enviros on
the far left say we shouldn't exist. Both sides
need to hold back their testosterone levels and
wait for the West Mojave Plan to come out."
On Monday, all four tires of a BLM truck were
damaged by roofing nails apparently strewn in the
vicinity of the disputed trail known as J1299,
according to BLM recreation branch chief Harold
Johnson. The vehicle belonged to Barstow-area
rangers dispatched to repair a recently cut
barbed-wire fence.
"We found a couple of nail strips out there about
six months ago, and somebody else found piano
wire stretched across the trail," Johnson said.
"Somebody's going to get injured, or possibly
killed."
The hilly, rocky terrain is dominated by the
large rock shelter known locally as a shaman's
cave. Archeologists believe that it had been used
by Serrano Indians off and on over 3,000 years as
a seasonal village in a transition zone between
forest and desert, and as a sacred site for
conducting fertility rites and burial ceremonies.
On a recent weekday, fresh motorcycle tracks were
etched into the sand a few feet from the rock
shelter. The cave is on a bluff overlooking pools
of spring water surrounded by fire-charred
creosote bushes and a network of dirt roads and
trails.
"Off-road motorcycling through that area is
having an adverse impact on archeological sites
that are tremendously important," said BLM
archeologist Sally Cunkelman. "There are only a
few other places in the entire 3 million acres
covered by the Barstow BLM office that require
the same intensive management it does."
Dean Greenwalt, a Friends of Juniper Flats member
and local property owner, shook his head in
dismay over a nearby fence that had been cut by
someone who also left fresh tire tracks in the
soil. "Now is the time to stop these impacts,"
Greenwalt said. "Or else they'll get so bad they
can't be reversed."
Concern over the potential for permanent loss of
some resources - especially archeological remains
and wildlife habitat - has spurred former BLM
Barstow field manager Alden Sievers to publicly
accuse the agency of failing to protect the area
from an "inappropriate use that flies in the face
of all the work we did in developing a cultural
resource management plan for the area in 1988."
That kind of talk does not sit well with Mike
Castro, a neighbor of Greenwalt's and an off-road
motorcyclist who vowed to continue riding the
trail he described as "one of the best."
Sitting on a cot in his spare wood-frame home
about a mile from Cottonwood Springs, the lanky,
long-haired man who charges people $4 a person to
cross his land, said environmentalists "don't
understand that there are others with a different
opinion who are taxpayers and happen to be
motorcycle riders."
He also suggested that the recent spate of fence
cutting could be the result of motorcyclists
"responding to overzealous attempts to sabotage
or close them off."
Champion off-road motorcyclist Ty "Zipty" Davis,
who has been riding in the area for 26 years,
agreed.
"The environmentalists are [angering]
motorcyclists, so now some people are cutting
fences," he said. "I can see this whole thing
evolving into a ground war, which is where it
maybe needs to go.
"The environmentalists have all kinds of money,
dwell on closing the land and want to fight in
the courts. If it was the old days, they
wouldn't be so aggressive. In those days, people
fought for their stuff. They just duked it out."
Davis also said the "trails I've burned with my
motorcycle have actually improved conditions for
wildlife. Animals use those trails now. It's the
coolest thing."
Nonetheless, BLM chief Johnson said
"motorcyclists ought to stay off" J1299, given
that it was never officially designated for
off-road use.
"When the West Mojave Plan comes out, the exact
status of that trail will be disclosed," Johnson
said. "If we determine that it should be closed,
we will get rid of it, and have appropriate law
enforcement on hand to make sure off-roaders stay
out."
Waldheim has a problem with that scenario.
"I'm sick of people shutting me out - of losing
off-road vehicle opportunities," he said. "We
have to decide whether to fight to keep the trail
open, or sue the BLM. Either way, it ain't over
till it's over."
Charges fly between off-roaders and activists
over booby traps and cut fences. A federal ruling
on use of the path is expected next month.
By Louis Sahagun
Times Staff Writer
March 25, 2004
HESPERIA, Calif. - A range war has broken out
between environmentalists and off-road
motorcyclists over an illegal 3-mile dirt trail
that cuts through prehistoric burial grounds and
runs past a cave believed to have been used by
Native Americans.
The motorcyclists say they are finding
booby-traps on the foot-wide trail - piano wire
stretched taut a few inches above the ground,
roofing nails, and pipes camouflaged with brush -
designed to topple motorcyclists who regard the
Cottonwood Springs area of Juniper Flats as a
scenic riding route.
Environmentalists, led by members of a local
residents group, Friends of Juniper Flats, have
denied any responsibility for the alleged acts of
sabotage. But they, and some former federal land
managers, say motorcyclists have cut property
fences, "burning trails" on private property, and
trashed what they consider the culturally rich
site designated as an "area of critical
environmental concern" by the federal Bureau of
Land Management.
The activists also accuse the BLM's Barstow field
office of failing to enforce its own rules and
regulations as more off-roaders look to the 3
million acres of public land overseen by the
office as a place to ride. The area, the
environmentalists say, is too big to manage, let
alone police, with only 11 BLM rangers.
The dispute over Juniper Flats, about 10 miles
east of here, is one of many that the federal
agency is wrestling with in the California
desert. The popularity of off-road motorcycling,
particularly in such rapidly growing communities
as Hesperia, has increased along with calls for
stricter controls over the motorcyclists' access
to public lands.
Like every other popular destination on open
land, Juniper Flats has a range of reputations
that those rangers struggle to maintain: as a
premier hiking area, a bird watcher's paradise, a
haven for wildlife, an ancestral home of Serrano
Indians, an off-road motorcycle course.
Adding to the tensions, BLM officials concede
that until recently even they were not sure
whether motorcyclists should be allowed on the
trail. Until October, officials said, they were
assuring the motorcyclists that they were
permitted there.
"There was a lag time in determining what was
legal and what wasn't," acknowledged Roxie Trost,
acting Barstow field office manager. "We have
determined in the past six weeks that it is not
open for off-road use.
"But we still have one group telling us there is
no resource damage occurring, and another telling
us there's been extensive resource damage. The
BLM is doing necessary surveys out there to come
to a conclusion."
The dispute may be resolved next month, when the
agency is expected to issue its West Mojave Plan,
12 years in the making. The plan will designate
certain networks of routes appropriate for
off-road vehicles and take others out of
commission.
In the meantime, "it's a dangerous war out
there," said Ed Waldheim, president of the
5,000-member California Off-Road Vehicle Assn.
"Some folks in the off-road vehicle field say
that trail has been there forever and that they
ought to be able to use it," he said. "Enviros on
the far left say we shouldn't exist. Both sides
need to hold back their testosterone levels and
wait for the West Mojave Plan to come out."
On Monday, all four tires of a BLM truck were
damaged by roofing nails apparently strewn in the
vicinity of the disputed trail known as J1299,
according to BLM recreation branch chief Harold
Johnson. The vehicle belonged to Barstow-area
rangers dispatched to repair a recently cut
barbed-wire fence.
"We found a couple of nail strips out there about
six months ago, and somebody else found piano
wire stretched across the trail," Johnson said.
"Somebody's going to get injured, or possibly
killed."
The hilly, rocky terrain is dominated by the
large rock shelter known locally as a shaman's
cave. Archeologists believe that it had been used
by Serrano Indians off and on over 3,000 years as
a seasonal village in a transition zone between
forest and desert, and as a sacred site for
conducting fertility rites and burial ceremonies.
On a recent weekday, fresh motorcycle tracks were
etched into the sand a few feet from the rock
shelter. The cave is on a bluff overlooking pools
of spring water surrounded by fire-charred
creosote bushes and a network of dirt roads and
trails.
"Off-road motorcycling through that area is
having an adverse impact on archeological sites
that are tremendously important," said BLM
archeologist Sally Cunkelman. "There are only a
few other places in the entire 3 million acres
covered by the Barstow BLM office that require
the same intensive management it does."
Dean Greenwalt, a Friends of Juniper Flats member
and local property owner, shook his head in
dismay over a nearby fence that had been cut by
someone who also left fresh tire tracks in the
soil. "Now is the time to stop these impacts,"
Greenwalt said. "Or else they'll get so bad they
can't be reversed."
Concern over the potential for permanent loss of
some resources - especially archeological remains
and wildlife habitat - has spurred former BLM
Barstow field manager Alden Sievers to publicly
accuse the agency of failing to protect the area
from an "inappropriate use that flies in the face
of all the work we did in developing a cultural
resource management plan for the area in 1988."
That kind of talk does not sit well with Mike
Castro, a neighbor of Greenwalt's and an off-road
motorcyclist who vowed to continue riding the
trail he described as "one of the best."
Sitting on a cot in his spare wood-frame home
about a mile from Cottonwood Springs, the lanky,
long-haired man who charges people $4 a person to
cross his land, said environmentalists "don't
understand that there are others with a different
opinion who are taxpayers and happen to be
motorcycle riders."
He also suggested that the recent spate of fence
cutting could be the result of motorcyclists
"responding to overzealous attempts to sabotage
or close them off."
Champion off-road motorcyclist Ty "Zipty" Davis,
who has been riding in the area for 26 years,
agreed.
"The environmentalists are [angering]
motorcyclists, so now some people are cutting
fences," he said. "I can see this whole thing
evolving into a ground war, which is where it
maybe needs to go.
"The environmentalists have all kinds of money,
dwell on closing the land and want to fight in
the courts. If it was the old days, they
wouldn't be so aggressive. In those days, people
fought for their stuff. They just duked it out."
Davis also said the "trails I've burned with my
motorcycle have actually improved conditions for
wildlife. Animals use those trails now. It's the
coolest thing."
Nonetheless, BLM chief Johnson said
"motorcyclists ought to stay off" J1299, given
that it was never officially designated for
off-road use.
"When the West Mojave Plan comes out, the exact
status of that trail will be disclosed," Johnson
said. "If we determine that it should be closed,
we will get rid of it, and have appropriate law
enforcement on hand to make sure off-roaders stay
out."
Waldheim has a problem with that scenario.
"I'm sick of people shutting me out - of losing
off-road vehicle opportunities," he said. "We
have to decide whether to fight to keep the trail
open, or sue the BLM. Either way, it ain't over
till it's over."
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