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By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise
A federal judged ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to re-designate more than 5,000 miles of off-road vehicle routes in the western Mojave Desert within three years.
The Jan. 29 decision by Judge Susan Illston in U.S. District Court in San Francisco said the agency, in designating the routes in 2006, did not properly follow rules that protect wildlife and other resources on public land.
The judge rejected demands by the environmentalists who sued to close off-roading routes in the Juniper Flats, Wonder Valley and Edwards Bowl areas of the Mojave Desert.
However, Illston instructed the BLM to develop plans in the coming months to place signs on routes, update maps, monitor for illegal off-roading activity and beef up law enforcement. She also required the agency to evaluate the status of various habitats in the region, to monitor air quality near off-roading areas and provide informational kiosks at access points to such areas.
"They have to go back and do a better job with the process and work more closely with the environmental considerations that are built into the law," said Matt Bostick, an attorney for The Wilderness Society and several other environmental groups that were involved in the four-year-old lawsuit.
The suit challenged 5,098 miles of routes designated for off-road vehicles in the BLM's West Mojave Plan, adopted in 2006 after more than a decade of meetings and compromises. Ten groups argued in court that the plan didn't do enough to protect wildlife, archaeological sites and other natural and cultural resources.
The BLM issued a statement Monday saying the court decision affects only off-highway-vehicle route designations, not other parts of the West Mojave Plan such as sections that deal with conservation and habitat protection.
BLM spokesman David Briery said agency officials were still evaluating Illston's order.
Randy Banis, an off-road enthusiast who has represented the public on the BLM's Desert Advisory Council, was involved in meetings and surveys used to designate the routes.
Repeating the designation process might result in less access, but he said he believes the outcome won't be much different.
"The (BLM officials) just didn't have the right paperwork," said Banis, who lives in the Leona Valley near Palmdale and drives a 1994 Land Rover Defender on public land in Kern and San Bernardino counties.
Sky C. Stanfield, a San Francisco attorney who represented several of the environmental groups, said she wants the new process to result in a route network that better protects wildlife, air quality and other resources. Legal off-roading route should be designed in ways that discourage illegal riding, she said.
Reach David Danelski at 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@PE.com
The Press-Enterprise
A federal judged ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to re-designate more than 5,000 miles of off-road vehicle routes in the western Mojave Desert within three years.
The Jan. 29 decision by Judge Susan Illston in U.S. District Court in San Francisco said the agency, in designating the routes in 2006, did not properly follow rules that protect wildlife and other resources on public land.
The judge rejected demands by the environmentalists who sued to close off-roading routes in the Juniper Flats, Wonder Valley and Edwards Bowl areas of the Mojave Desert.
However, Illston instructed the BLM to develop plans in the coming months to place signs on routes, update maps, monitor for illegal off-roading activity and beef up law enforcement. She also required the agency to evaluate the status of various habitats in the region, to monitor air quality near off-roading areas and provide informational kiosks at access points to such areas.
"They have to go back and do a better job with the process and work more closely with the environmental considerations that are built into the law," said Matt Bostick, an attorney for The Wilderness Society and several other environmental groups that were involved in the four-year-old lawsuit.
The suit challenged 5,098 miles of routes designated for off-road vehicles in the BLM's West Mojave Plan, adopted in 2006 after more than a decade of meetings and compromises. Ten groups argued in court that the plan didn't do enough to protect wildlife, archaeological sites and other natural and cultural resources.
The BLM issued a statement Monday saying the court decision affects only off-highway-vehicle route designations, not other parts of the West Mojave Plan such as sections that deal with conservation and habitat protection.
BLM spokesman David Briery said agency officials were still evaluating Illston's order.
Randy Banis, an off-road enthusiast who has represented the public on the BLM's Desert Advisory Council, was involved in meetings and surveys used to designate the routes.
Repeating the designation process might result in less access, but he said he believes the outcome won't be much different.
"The (BLM officials) just didn't have the right paperwork," said Banis, who lives in the Leona Valley near Palmdale and drives a 1994 Land Rover Defender on public land in Kern and San Bernardino counties.
Sky C. Stanfield, a San Francisco attorney who represented several of the environmental groups, said she wants the new process to result in a route network that better protects wildlife, air quality and other resources. Legal off-roading route should be designed in ways that discourage illegal riding, she said.
Reach David Danelski at 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@PE.com
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