Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

BLM Open House ARI ZONA Cycle Craft Mesa Eastside Cycles, Inc. Tucson CALIFORNIA Barney Tillman Los Angeles Bellflower C-Z Bellflower B & K Ski-Doo Center Chico Bike World Kawasaki Sunnyvale C.H . Motorcycles, Inc. Riverside Carmichael Honda Carmichael Competition Service, Inc. San Pedro Dam Cycles EI Sobrante Doug Douglas Motorcycles San Bernardino Escond ido Suzuki Escondido F razier Cycle F r es no Galbraith's Kawasaki Goleta George Dye Motors, Inc. Glendora .I-M ac Motorcycl e La Habra .Iorgy's Motorcycle Sales & Service, Stockton K olbe Cycle S al es Res eda Kolbe Cy cle S a les Woodland Hills Ka w asa ki of E I Caj on EI Ca jon K awa saki of S a n Mateo San lIIa teo K a wasa ki of S olano F a ir field K a was a k i West Concord ~I a m moth L a kes Ski- Doo I\l ammoth La kes Orurure Co un t y Cycle G a r de n Gro ve Rich a r d Mille r Motorcyc les E u reka S an Diego Kawa saki S an Dieg o S uper Cycle E a g le Rock Yu muha of Sa n Lu is Ob is po Sun Lui s Obispo Yosem ite S po rt Cycles Me rc ed IDAHO H yl t on's Cycle , I nc. :\or o s co\\' I n te r mou n t a in Cycle Sales P oca t ello .J aeobsou In c. :ll ont pelie r La rry & Steve 's SP Ol't Sak-s HurI ey :lledl ey Sports ~ l c C a ll P inec re s t Spo rts, I nc. Ida ho P alls R & :II Cycle Sales Mou nt a i n Il o na ' Rockford \\"<·Id inl:" Hla c kf'oot U h l's Id a ho Hike I mpor-ts Boise NEVADA Motosport, In c. Re no S po rtsma n Cyc le S a les La s Veg " s OnEGO:" Am ri ck, I nc. Portl and Eum-ne Cyc le Spo rts E ueene :II. 8 . :ll otors Portla nd Northwest Cyc le Ce nter Co rva lli s Road & Truck Shack Ros eburtr So ut he r n Ore c on Marine Phoe nix Sports Center of McMinnville, Inc. McMinnville Village Sport Cycle Cottage Grove Walt's Boats & Motors Klamath Falls UTA H Petersen Marine Ogden Sport Sales, Inc. Bountiful State Sport Center Salt Lake City Ui n ta Basin T ractor Inc. Roosevelt WASHIN GTON Bremerton Cycle, I nc. Br eme r to n Collins Auto & Cycl e Al derwood D H Cycles Kir kla n d Johnson's S ales Ellensburg Kent Cycle Ke nt Northwest Cycle Co. Bellingham Olympic Ski-Doo Olympia Owen s Y a k im a Suzuki Yakima Spokane S uzuki S pok ane Getting down to brass tacks with the BLM By Lane Campbell CALIFORNIA CITY, CAL.,JUNE 7 If you weren't there, you don't know what's happening and there's not enough newspaper to tell it all. It was the first such open house with op portunit y to lodge written com m en t in this area, and far better than the usu al shoutin g-m a tch m eeting. With the ex ception of a few who cam e to raise hell and make gen eral asse s o f t h e ms el ves. it was a time an d place for le arning a lot in a sh ort time, to co m e a way slightly a wed b y th e sheer size o f th e task th at eve ry one - b ikers, hikers, jeep e rs, range conse rva ti o nists, a rch eol ogist s, bio lo gists, h u nters, lan d owners. m iners, military, thi s wh o le mob of bristling, p oten ti all y e xpl o sive pe o p le have set th emselve s in " p la nning" the us e o f the desert. And thi s was j ust a p iece o f it, th e EI Pas o and Red Mountain Plannin g Un its . covering lan d s be tw ee n ~I ojave an d the U.S. Naval Test St a t io n. bounded o n t he n orth b y a Nav al Ordinance test area an d incl u di ng Ca lifo rnia Cit y a lo ng wit h se ver al popular c o m pe t i tio n ar e as . Wh e n yo u wa lk ed in to th e exh ib it ro o m a t Ca l Cit y's La kesh o re In n (a n es tablish me n t w h ic h also makes a fin e Reuben sandwich ) it hits yo u, ro ws a nd ro ws of six -fo ot h igh m ap s o f the a rea cove re d wi t h p las t ic overlays showi ng th'e va ri o us m ana ge m e nt a lt e rnat ive s. Each primary co nce rn (w ild life. ran ge c o n s e r v a t i o n, l a nd o w ne rsh ip, re cr e at ion , etc.] had its o w n gr o up o f map s a n d o ve rlays w it h a Il L:'> 1 st a ffer sta n ding by to discuss th e issu e s invol ved in h is/h er p art icu lar area of respo n sib ilit y . Mu ch o f wh at was pi c ture d is su m m ed up in writi ng in a t h ic k b o oklet listi n g " Ma nage men t Op po rt un ities." T he n ame itself su ggests th at th e BLl\1 is desperately grasp ing for things to m an age in o r der t o j usti fy it s expansio n . Regardless o f th e m otivat io n, th e d o c u m ent is lace d wit h in p u ts from m o to rcy cli st s (many sp ea r h eaded by O RA p ro mo te r Ro n Burpo ). a nd he avy wit h p o te n ti al con flic t s wi th o the r u se r grou ps. T o n ail th in gs do wn to sp ec ifi c la nd areas, th e pl a n nin g un its have be e n h roke n d own int o " Disc uss io n Areas . " By D. A., h ere are some o f th e m o re no ta bl e h ikcr inp u ts: - D. A. 3 , o pen t o com p e t it io n eve n ts o n e x is tin g roads a n d tr ails. This is th e EI Paso Mountains a n d EI Paso Pea ks area. - D. A. 6 . propo sed o pe n co m p e t it io n area in th e Rand Mountains, Would requ ire a dj us t m en t o f ex ist in g T ortoise Pres erve b o undaries to im p ro ve a ccess. - In D. A. 9 / 10 , reduce ICMP (In te rim Critica l Man agement Plan, remember ) Ar ea 13 to six squar e mil es (it 's a closed ar ea to protect the Trona Pinnacles) an d o p en up th e surrounding area. - D. A. 14, extend ICMP 15 (an exist ing roads an d tr ails area ) eas tward t o th e p lanning unit boundary. Fo rms to co m m en t on th es e p ropo sals were availab le at the sign- in table and also ne ar th e exit. We would rep ro d u ce the m ap o n these forms if it wouldn ' t t u rn into a gia n t sm u dge in newsprint. If you weren 't th ere, y o u b lew it. If y ou h ave a valid, realist ic in p ut to make and still want to , get it down in writing, in deta il, ac company it with a m ap if you ca n , an d send it to California Desert Plan Program, 1695 Spruce, Riverside , CA 92507. Then cr oss yo ur fin ge rs . As to con flic t s, there's a 'p len ty, t ho ug h man y o f the m co u ld be resolved if bikers co u ld get involved an d talk things o ut fac e-to-face without scream ing an d yelling. For instance, un d er sy ste m- wid e "Watershed " p l a n ni n g , th e Ma n a ge m c n t Opportuni ties lis t ca rries a sugge ste d b lan ket rcstr ic t ion of O RVs t o e x isting ro ads and trail s in n earl y eve ry Discussio n Area. Bu t when interviewed . th e a ttendan t sta ffer a t t h e " Watersh ed" m aps was m ore flex ibl e. One overlay on ea ch m ap shows area s of " sligh t, " "moderate ," a nd ··seve re ' · su scep tib ili ty to e rosi on. T he staffe r allo we d as h o w th ere 'd be no th ing wr ong wit h rel axin g restr ic t io n s o n rid ing in ar eas o f slig h t o r m od er ate e ro sion p otential. The Ra n ge Conservation (gr az ing) sp ecialis t to ld us th a t O RV co nc e n tr a t io n hur t grazing forage . A few of u s po in te d o u t that the o pposite of con c en trat io n w as dispersa l and th e way to do t hat wa s no t res tric t in g u s t o smalle r areas h u t to o p ening u p more a reas and ind uc ing u s to sp read o u t. T h e way he hem med and ha wed. yo u cou ld te ll he 'd th ough t alo ng e xa c t ly th o se lin es privatel y . b ut for p ol it ical reaso n s, co u ld n ' t admi t it p ub licl y . One lad y arc heo lo gical st affer. wh ile calling for closed huf fe r zo nes aro un d arch eo logica l re so u rce sites, also ad m itted she's lear n in g to rid e " Ho n d a 175 t o h ave b etter acces s. And as she learns. h er a tt itu d es towa rds bikes a nd hikers a rc mello w ing. Jus t s tay aw ay fro m th e c u iru ral res ources. (A nd y es . it see ms a ny p lace th e Ind ia ns d id stop to ch ip flint or roast a ra bb it , if it has su rvived th is long, is a cu lt u ra l reso urce . ) Wa tc h o u t fo r a tte m p ts to res t r ic t O RV use in areas of "poteritial " cu ltu ral re so urce sites . T h e ar cheo lo g ists m ay ask fo r it . kn owin g th ey p ro bably wo n 't ge t it . The ve ry intense lady PhD. a t " Wildlife " would like t o see the To r to ise Pr ese rve expa nded in two a re as "Cho ice A" or " Ch o ice B" (o ne or the o th e r). Choice II is sm ac k on t o p of the b ik er s ' p roposed Rand o p en co m pe t it io n are a. She kn ows it , would rat her ha ve Ch oice A an y wa y, a nd see m s willing to hag gle. And the h agglin g went o n all d ay, in little knots o f p eople . There were the usu al h oth eads on b o th side s of the ORV question, including a co up le who d id th e hikers no credit at all. Th ere was so m e cl own wh o bragged ab ou t blowing a ho le in somebody 's sn o wmobile engine with his .30·30 and h in ted th at similar m easures w ould so lve the whole ORV "problem . " Ther e were people who se em to w an t a ran ge wa r and p eople who seem to want a ne gotiated settlement (begin n ing to sou n d like the Pari s pe ace ta lks, huh ?). It was a re gul ar zoo . You shoul da ' been there . . . • Resul ts pending. 7

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