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VICTORVILLE — County officials hate it. Plant preservationists hate it. Off-road recreational enthusiasts don't like it. Tortoise advocates despise it. And environmentalists can't stand it.
The Off-Road Vehicle Designations proposed for the West Mojave Plan, a sweeping conservation strategy for 3.2 million acres of public land, seems to be a road map leading to a morass of litigation and protests for the Bureau of Land Management.
According to Department of Interior spokeswoman Jan Bedrosian, at least 26 protests have been filed against the Off-Road Vehicle Designation Project. The department is reviewing the complaints, and Bedrosian said she hopes to have a formal decision by the end of the month.
"We know there are critical habitats at stake," Bedrosian said. "We also need to provide for public access as well. We're trying to strike a balance."
"I've heard from both sides. Nobody likes it," said Rebecca Jones, an environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Game. "There's a lot of information to try and get through, and the review time was too short."
Anthony Adams, district director for First District Supervisor Bill Postmus, agreed, though for different reasons. He said the county wasn't given enough time to respond to the route designations, and that the proposals aren't based on established management principles.
"What the BLM is proposing essentially put into place off-highway vehicle routes," Adams said. "What they've got was determined by two plans, which aren't complete."
Adams said he objected to using the West Mojave Plan and the Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan as the basis for restricting recreational vehicle access to wilderness. Doing so, he said, "puts the cart before the horse."
Damen Jefferies is an avid off-road enthusiast, with a racing enterprise in Hesperia. He said he is seeing increasing interest in the activity outside of California, a trend he attributes to excessive regulation in the state.
"It's getting so difficult in California. Everywhere we go there's somebody trying to fight us," Jefferies said. "Off-roading brings easily millions of dollars in tax revenue to California, if not more."
"It's frustrating. It really is," Jefferies continued. "For a lot of people in Southern California, it's not just a hobby, it's their livelihood."
Desert ecologist Daniel Patterson heads the Center for Biological Diversity. That group joined forces with the Sierra Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in filing a formal legal protest against the Department of the Interior.
"The route designation plan was supposed to be done in the '80s. It's 20 years overdue," Patterson said. "San Bernardino County has been one of the main forces in delaying this. They don't want to see route designations done."
Copyright © 2003 Daily Press
The Off-Road Vehicle Designations proposed for the West Mojave Plan, a sweeping conservation strategy for 3.2 million acres of public land, seems to be a road map leading to a morass of litigation and protests for the Bureau of Land Management.
According to Department of Interior spokeswoman Jan Bedrosian, at least 26 protests have been filed against the Off-Road Vehicle Designation Project. The department is reviewing the complaints, and Bedrosian said she hopes to have a formal decision by the end of the month.
"We know there are critical habitats at stake," Bedrosian said. "We also need to provide for public access as well. We're trying to strike a balance."
"I've heard from both sides. Nobody likes it," said Rebecca Jones, an environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Game. "There's a lot of information to try and get through, and the review time was too short."
Anthony Adams, district director for First District Supervisor Bill Postmus, agreed, though for different reasons. He said the county wasn't given enough time to respond to the route designations, and that the proposals aren't based on established management principles.
"What the BLM is proposing essentially put into place off-highway vehicle routes," Adams said. "What they've got was determined by two plans, which aren't complete."
Adams said he objected to using the West Mojave Plan and the Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan as the basis for restricting recreational vehicle access to wilderness. Doing so, he said, "puts the cart before the horse."
Damen Jefferies is an avid off-road enthusiast, with a racing enterprise in Hesperia. He said he is seeing increasing interest in the activity outside of California, a trend he attributes to excessive regulation in the state.
"It's getting so difficult in California. Everywhere we go there's somebody trying to fight us," Jefferies said. "Off-roading brings easily millions of dollars in tax revenue to California, if not more."
"It's frustrating. It really is," Jefferies continued. "For a lot of people in Southern California, it's not just a hobby, it's their livelihood."
Desert ecologist Daniel Patterson heads the Center for Biological Diversity. That group joined forces with the Sierra Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in filing a formal legal protest against the Department of the Interior.
"The route designation plan was supposed to be done in the '80s. It's 20 years overdue," Patterson said. "San Bernardino County has been one of the main forces in delaying this. They don't want to see route designations done."
Copyright © 2003 Daily Press
[COLOR=blue]Chris[/COLOR] 
I'm going to try and make it, but without reliable transportation its kinda difficult to say for sure.
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