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Group demands end to OHV use on public land
By Mark Wheeler / Hi-Desert Star
TWENTYNINE PALMS - At a meeting in Twentynine Palms recently, members of Community ORV Watch met with a number of county and federal officials to address grievances raised on account of off-road vehicle use and abuse in the Basin, and to specify terms of a solution.
Although the meeting took place at City Hall in Twentynine Palms, the organization now has Basin-wide reach and residents from Desert Heights, Landers and Joshua Tree were present.
They all had one thing to say: This destruction of the natural environment and the assault on our private properties and our quality of life has to stop.
The litany of complaints enumerated violations committed against landscape, private property and land laws, and against the laws of courtesy and consideration.
Talking about his Thanksgiving weekend, Mac Dube, representative for County Supervisor Bill Postmus, said the noise, dust and rider aggression against his attempts to drive off trespassers made his holiday "a four-day nightmare."
BLM under pressure
The center of attention at the meeting was the Bureau of Land Management, represented by Barstow office supervisor Roxy Trost and Yucca Valley field representative Russell Scofield. It is this agency which oversees the public lands scattered throughout the Basin. It is improved management of these lands which Community ORV Watch has been trying to pressure for more than a year.
At issue is the fact that public lands are a natural magnet for off-road enthusiasts. Some public lands are permitted for this use, and some are not.
Trouble is, in places like the Morongo Basin, public lands and private lands have become a literal checkerboard of mutually exclusive land uses.
According to Community ORV Watch's complaint, the BLM's vehicle travel routes, especially those permitting OHV use, are vague and, in some cases, wholly inaccurate.
The group complains, even if the maps were clear and correct, owing to the checkerboard configuration of land-use activities in places like Wonder Valley, public routes are continually interrupted by private properties.
Even the most law-abiding rider would find it difficult to operate in these areas, say virtually all the property owners who have studied and spoken to the problem.
They are echoed by county sheriff Capt. Jim Williams, whose officers have found it difficult to enforce trespassing laws under such circumstances.
"Without geopositional units and exact boundary coordinates, it is almost impossible for an officer to know where public and private lands begin and end," Williams observed.
Watch group: Eliminate all routes
Community ORV Watch members are unanimous in their appeal to the BLM to eliminate all off-roader routes in unincorporated areas.
This measure would require some policy changes in the Barstow BLM office, and at the meeting's end, Trost could not say what her office might do to satisfy such a demand.
She called the matter "a challenge," and averred to the popular remedy almost universally used in cases like this: "It's an education issue."
For its part, Community ORV Watch promised it would not let up the pressure. Organizer Phil Klasky spoke for all members when he stated: "We're under siege, and we're going to fight this all the way. We live here, and the BLM isn't going to turn our community into an ORV park."
Although the meeting took place at City Hall in Twentynine Palms, the organization now has Basin-wide reach and residents from Desert Heights, Landers and Joshua Tree were present.
They all had one thing to say: This destruction of the natural environment and the assault on our private properties and our quality of life has to stop.
The litany of complaints enumerated violations committed against landscape, private property and land laws, and against the laws of courtesy and consideration.
Talking about his Thanksgiving weekend, Mac Dube, representative for County Supervisor Bill Postmus, said the noise, dust and rider aggression against his attempts to drive off trespassers made his holiday "a four-day nightmare."
BLM under pressure
The center of attention at the meeting was the Bureau of Land Management, represented by Barstow office supervisor Roxy Trost and Yucca Valley field representative Russell Scofield. It is this agency which oversees the public lands scattered throughout the Basin. It is improved management of these lands which Community ORV Watch has been trying to pressure for more than a year.
At issue is the fact that public lands are a natural magnet for off-road enthusiasts. Some public lands are permitted for this use, and some are not.
Trouble is, in places like the Morongo Basin, public lands and private lands have become a literal checkerboard of mutually exclusive land uses.
According to Community ORV Watch's complaint, the BLM's vehicle travel routes, especially those permitting OHV use, are vague and, in some cases, wholly inaccurate.
The group complains, even if the maps were clear and correct, owing to the checkerboard configuration of land-use activities in places like Wonder Valley, public routes are continually interrupted by private properties.
Even the most law-abiding rider would find it difficult to operate in these areas, say virtually all the property owners who have studied and spoken to the problem.
They are echoed by county sheriff Capt. Jim Williams, whose officers have found it difficult to enforce trespassing laws under such circumstances.
"Without geopositional units and exact boundary coordinates, it is almost impossible for an officer to know where public and private lands begin and end," Williams observed.
Watch group: Eliminate all routes
Community ORV Watch members are unanimous in their appeal to the BLM to eliminate all off-roader routes in unincorporated areas.
This measure would require some policy changes in the Barstow BLM office, and at the meeting's end, Trost could not say what her office might do to satisfy such a demand.
She called the matter "a challenge," and averred to the popular remedy almost universally used in cases like this: "It's an education issue."
For its part, Community ORV Watch promised it would not let up the pressure. Organizer Phil Klasky spoke for all members when he stated: "We're under siege, and we're going to fight this all the way. We live here, and the BLM isn't going to turn our community into an ORV park."
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