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/125994
Opinion ' What was' that saying about "Hanging together . . . " and others fo r pre servation, and invite: public in p u t in to th is planning stage. . Once the zonin g is established, a spon so r would have to 'o b t ain a "carnival permit," After p aying a $55 filing fee , ' the sponsor wo uld need ap p roval from t he She riff, the Plannin g Department, the Mars hall, the Fire Warden , Depart me n t of Building and Safety , Health Dep ar tment and Air Poll u ti on Con tr ol Board. An yone of these de partme nts can ad d re strictions at will. The logic eludes me . First the lan d wil l be zoned and public inpu t wi ll be enco uraged . The BLM has already done thi s on an in terim b asis , and is in th e p ro cess o f completing final land use pl an s, inviti ng publ ic input at every stage . Seco n d, use permits wi ll be gran ted internall y , not b y one office, bu t by several sep arate o ffi ces . The proposed ch anges m ake no p re t ense o f so lving t he problem cited by the co un ty as reason fo r becomin g invo lved - the county will be ap p rovi n g permits internally , but on a much more uncoordinated p ro cedure than th e BLM use s. As an initial step, th e San Berna rdino Coun ty Supervisors asked th eir co u n ty En viron m en tal Improvement Agen cy to prepare a report on the 1974 Barstow to Vegas ra ce . The first section of th e repo rt d evotes 24 pages to the Air Poilu tion p eople. With an elaborate sys te m of co m p licat ed formulae an d m ason jars , they have pr oved beyon d th e shadow o f a d oub t that a great deal o f d us t was kicked up . There is no m ention to be fo un d of th e effects of th is d us t. Analogy : lf a c hild wal ks alo ng the o • Desert racing in the crucible Th e fu ture of dese rt racing has been tossed up in th e air by two recent decisions, and no one seems to kn ow for sure just where it 's going to land. First in line , chronologically , was the decision of th e San Bern ardi no County Supervisors to .50 get involved in land use - to put a controlling hand in organized eve n ts wit h in San Bernardino coun ty . The logi c be hi n d th is decision is th at the Bure au of Land Man ageme nt approves individual race pe rmi ts internally , i.e. witho u t public in p ut. To re ctify this, it was proposed that the cou n ty fo rm a land u se plan of their o wn .. zo r..ing ce rtain areas for recreation de sert, di gs a foot in to the sand and kicks, th e dust m ay settle without ever having affected an y th ing. If the sand , however , co m ple te ly buries a small plant, to some small d egree th ere is an effec t upon t he en viro n me nt. But if t h is sa me fo otful of dust lands on you r co o kstove, ruin in g t he steaks and pollutin g a pot o f co ffee , th e effec t is consi d e rable. No where in the re p ort d oe s th e Air Pollu tion staff in dicate eve n an aware ness o f va ry ing e ffec t s. To give th em credit , though , I must say their proof that dust was created seemed co ncl usive . The sec on d section of th e rep ort is co m pil ed by the San Bernardino County Planning Department, an d no te s th ese " p ro blem sz" dust, traffic co ngestio n on dirt road s, sh ortage of gaso line in some Barstow service stations, an d increased tr ad e at restaurants alo ng the way . They further note th at sa t isfctory cle an up was in progress at the st art a nd camping area, but that " n o e vide nce indicat ed th at other are as would be cleaned. " Come on, San Gabriel M.C.! The least yo u could h ave done would have been to provide some evide nce! Perhaps billboard s co uld have been installe d for the co nve nienc e o f co unty staff who wan ted to go home an d write their report. They would th en have their uevidenc e" to indicate cleanup without having to stic k aro un d and see for themselves. The County Health Depart me n t had only th re e co m p lain ts : too much du st; rumors o f o ne ca mpe r se lling food wi th o ut a permi t, an d lack o f san ita ry faci lit ies. .To co rr ec t th ese three problems the y have presented n o less than seven recommendations, each invo lving disc ussion, investigation, conferences. mo nitoring - it read s very much like the basis fo r st aff an d budget incr eas es. The question of san itary facilities pop up frequently. A race sponsor provides o nly a few portable toilets an d no wa ter, b ut self-contained ca mping un its to desert recreatio ni sts) (co m mon provide dozens of chemical toilets an d hundre d s of gallons of water. Marge J en kin s, 67 I 8 Ensign , North Hollywood 9 1605, is co m piling figures on ca m pers. lf y o u'll m ail he r a lis t o f self-con tained units in y ou r club, and includ e registration numbers , we'll have th is information ready. On May 5 th e Co unty Supervisors were re ad y to rev iew the Bars t ow-Vegas report. Dennis Cr a wford , San Gabriel M.C . , had been invited to answer ques tions, b ut t he supe rv iso rs had not re viewed th e report in t im e, and Supervisor J ames May field , chief prop onent of co unty interference, was absent. Cr awford explained the restrictions already im p o sed on re creationists by the BLM , d escribed the my riad of mitigating m easure s re q uire d for this parti cular race, and ex p lained the exc ellent cooperation wit h those special requirements, as reported in the BLM evaluation re p o rt . Ik e Eas tvo ld, So cie ty for California Archeo logy to ok th e mi crophone to expound on his gre at lo ve for the desert, described th e rich cult ural re so urces o f the desert (evid ence of man 's use of the desert in p ast decades) and deplored man 's current use of the desert, Eastvold th en helpfully ci te d several county regulations which could be used to prevent organized ev en ts. Bu t b y this time, Judge William Jones had rendered a decision in a suit brough t by the National Wildlife Federation. The decision raised more questions than it answered, and has created so m e thin g of an uproar. Jud ge Jones ruled that the Bureau of Land Management acted unlawfully in opening 450 million acres of federal land to unrestricted use of recreational vehicles. He further ordered the BLM to produce new regulations limiting the use of the vehicles. Very clear. Except th e BLM has been working on a set of regulations controlling ORV use for three years, and has not opened vast acres to in di scri m in ate use. On the contrary, the interim manage ment plan closed vast areas whi ch were previously unrestricted. . On the surface , the judge 's ruling seems to re quire the BLM to do just what they have be en doing - formul ate land use plans and develop regulations to enforce proper use of the desert. Del Vail , Riverside District Manager, sees three co urses open to the BLM in Wash ington, D.C. They could appeal the de cis ion; they could rewrite the regulations in ac cordance with the intent of Judge Jones' decision when th at intent is made clear; or they can continue as they have been. Vail reports that his office has had no indication of what will be done to clarify the m atter; for the time being, they are conduct ing business as usual. He also reports Supervisor Mayfield was in error when he quoted Vail as . saying that no permits would be issued until clarification can be obtained. Meanwhile, San Bernardino County Su pervisors have tabled the whole issue of county control. On top of the confusion ca use d by Judge J ones' decision, there is n o agreement on the legality of county control over federal lands within the co un ty boundaries. Hope none of Cycle News '. readers turned to this column for answers to the present quandary! Try as I migh t, I can find nothing but questions and confusio n. Leslie Richards (Edito r's note: Th e San Bern ardino Coun ty Board will be taking testimony on t he EIA p roposal at 2 p.m. Ju ne 16. If y ou can . bethere.}