Winning Back the Desert
June 8, 2005 – In what can be seen as a victory for off-highway vehicle riders, the federal Bureau of Land Management has finalized a new plan that reopens some land that was closed to OHVs in southern California.
In late March, Bureau of Land Management State Director Mike Pool approved a new Recreation Area Management Plan that will guide management of the 160,000-acre Imperial Sand Dunes, popularly known as Glamis, for the next 15 years.
Pool notes the Imperial Sand Dunes is one of the most popular recreation sites in the country, with more than 1.2 million visitors each year. The new plan balances OHV use with protection of wilderness and threatened plant and wildlife species, and emphasizes a family-oriented safety and law enforcement program.
The new plan won't go into effect, however, until at least October 15 to allow for pending legal challenges to be heard in federal court.
The BLM closed 49,000 acres of the recreation area to OHVs in late 2000 as part of an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit filed by anti-access groups that alleged the agency failed to properly consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concerning the effects of the BLM-administered California Desert Conservation Area Plan on a number of threatened and endangered species. Settlement talks in that lawsuit also resulted in 10 other major closures in the California desert.
Those who filed the lawsuit were the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
The
AMA's District 37, the California Off-Highway Vehicle Association, the Off-Road
Business Association, American Sand Association, California Four-Wheel Drive
and others fought back in court and in organizing users to submit comments to
the BLM on keeping the Dunes open to OHVs.
With the closure of the 49,000 acres, plus an earlier designation of some 26,000 acres as Wilderness where no vehicles are allowed, about half of the recreation area was closed to OHVs.
Since the 49,000-acre closure, however, the BLM has consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That agency has since issued an opinion that states allowing OHV use is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the threatened Peirson's milk-vetch plant, and the desert tortoise. The agency called for monitoring the plant and tortoise populations to ensure they remain healthy.
The new Recreation Area Management Plan will reopen a large chunk of the land that was closed temporarily under the out-of-court agreement.
The new plan divides the Dunes into eight distinct management areas, which are designed to emphasize varying levels of OHV use or environmental protection. The BLM says these areas range from no vehicle use in the 26,202-acre North Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area to intensive OHV use in the 21,225-acre Gecko Management Area.
In the middle is the 33,329-acre Adaptive Management Area, which will mostly replace temporary closures covering 49,300 acres put in place at the Dunes due to the court-approved settlement, Pool says. OHV use will be allowed in the AMA, but will be restricted to permit holders who must complete a short environment education course onsite, he says. Also, the AMA is limited to no more than 525 vehicles a day, not open to overnight camping—dawn to dusk use only—and only open during certain parts of the year: October 15 to March 31.
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility had filed their lawsuit claiming an OHV ban was needed to protect the Peirson's milk-vetch plant, a member of the bean and pea family. The plant is listed as "endangered" by the state, and as "threatened'' by the federal government.