Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125695
u o ~ w Z W ..J U >- U By Bob Sanford The question of land use by motorcycles is becoming more and more critical, as evident by the alarming number of closures and pieces of restrictive legislation. Bean Canyon. Huntington Beach. San Bernardino County.. The .list goes on and on. With each passinll: weekend, it seems, there is less and less land available for bike riding. . San Bernardino County, ,in its recent omnipotent anti·hike law, declared ALL property within the county off-limits to bikes, without the written permission of the owner or custodian. Furthennore, the ordinance requires !)ighway-Iegal baffling and spark arresters for off-road vehicles. . The kicker came, however, when the San Bernardino County Sheriff's department d,ecided that this law applied to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) properties as well; a sizeable portion of the land within the County.. On the first weekend after the law's enactment, Deputies were dispatched to the more popular riding areas, such as Phelan' and EI Mirage, and mimeographed copies of the ordinance were distributed to the riders, along with a "warning". One rider, who asked about lands available for riding in the county, was infonned that "there is no public land in the County." A check with the Sheriff's department on the following Monday revelaed that, yes, there was' public (BLM). land, but, no, it was not available for bike riding. . However, officials from tlie BLM's Riverside District' office felt that the co un t y did n'ot have, this type jurisdiction over federal, lands. After some behind the scenes fanagling, the Sheriff's department reversed its stand and decided that it was okay for the public to use public land. . "1(',-,' '~~ /":~~'0\ _/.. • L"",,~ ( .;;.. \ fIII_,...' ...."'....~ "As far as we're concerned," stated BLM District Manager, Jack Wilson, "all BLM lands in the state, with the exception of the Panoche area in the north, are open to motorcyclists at this ,time. rt Great. But there's just one teeny, tiny problem: Just where in the hell are the BLM's 16,000,000 acres of California rand located. The answer is not easy. BLM, of course, has records of their holdings, but much of the land is interspersed with private property, thus creating some obvious problems for desert riders. Two men in the BLM's Riverside office have been painstakingly mapping federal properties, trying to determine areas of massive holdings that will support "concentrated motorcycle use." The inventory is still somewhat inconclusive, but some patterns are beginning to emerge. "Much of our land is checkerboarded with private property, especially that owned by the rialroad," explains Mario Lopez, one of the men working on the mapping program. But, he adds, they are discovering certain areas where back-to-back sections of BLM lands offer large federal parcels for off-road riding. Eventually, Lopez says, the BLM hopes to swap land with some of the private owners, thus providing a number of near·by, large riding areas. This, however, is still in ,the planning stages. F or the time being, Lopez has pointed out four sizeable areas where the federal government is the primary owner (see accompanying maps). .'i ',,( ,... jlCl ~ l (I ~l ~h~.0;i.1 ~, ,~ I .... ~If..'l Sll Generally, the land northeast of Red Mountain seems the best bet, as most of the land outlined on the map is BLM property. On the other hand, the portion northeast of EI Mirage lake and west of Hwy. .395, is probably the worst bet, as numerous sections of private land are mixed in with the BLM's holcJlngs. The large area east of Hwy 395 and northeast of EI Mirage, however, is predominately federally controlled. The final area, east of Lucerne Valley and north of Yucca Valley, also appears to be almost entirely federally owned. Lopez pointed out that he is not actually "recommending" these areas for bike riding, but simply locating large ' PiU'cels wh'ere the BLM is the primary owner. He cautioned that riders are still liable to inadvertently ride over private lands, thus running afoul' of country trespass laws. The BLM official invited anyone with questions regarding this matter to stop in at his office in Riverside. He also extended the invitation to any club needing assistance in planning desert races.