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-• • I II ~ t lQ r- O"l M M M l-< Cl) ...D 8 Cl) . > 0 Z Analysis of the BLM Draft Management Framework Plan for National Resource Lands in EI Paso & Red Mountain Planning Units By Larry Langley After many delays and false starts, the BLM has finally released the draft plan for the 'EI Paso and Red Mountain areas. This plan is of particular importance to Cycle News readers as it affects two major competition areas now in use. Th e pl an contain s p rop osals th at are very unreaso nable for both the pla ybi ke rider and th e co mpe ti tive rider, whe the r he rid es desert races or en dure s. You may obtain a co py o f the plan by calling BLM at th e phon e number listed at the en d of this ar t icle . By all means d o so . It's yo ur desert and if you don't m ake an effort to help save it . ... On Friday , Oc to ber 24, J erry Co un ts, Leslie Richards and I m et with Neil Pful b, Dire ct or o f th e Desert Planning St aff, Delmar Vail , Riverside BLM District Man ager and Bob Badaracco , responsible for the th e planner recre ati on secti o n of th e pl an . The purp ose of the meeting was to clarify details of th e pl an an d to determi ne some of t he re asoning behi nd it . Some inte restin g and dist urbing detail s were brough t o ut in the mee tin g and if th e pl an stays pretty much the same, a substan tial amount of prime riding lan d will no longer be available for eit he r co mpe ti tio n or gen eral play rid in g. Th e plan itself is bro ken down into the following sec tions and specific recommendations are made for each . .. r ... 1. Lands (General) 2. Geologv-Energy-I finerals 3. Range Mangement/V egetation 4. Watershed 5. Recreation 6. Cultural 7. Wildlife While we are mostly concerned with the recreational portion of this plan, all sections should be read and analyzed. Some very interesting conflicts arise when viewed in the total context. The recreation plan (pp 12·16) go es into great detail in how to establish way stations for users, bird watching, study plots, hiking , and horse usage . The only thing th e plan does for motorcycling is to tak e away some more of our land that has been used fo r years for co mpetitio n and play riding. (The argument BLM puts forth is we share the desert with m an y different u sers and I 36 must accommodate them also . 'This is true but o ne p oint I tri ed to get across to BLM was that there are few areas open to competition while t he re are large amo un ts open fo r th e ot her users suc h as bird wa tchers an d horse back ride rs.) The specific prop sals we are m ost interested in are the o nes which enla rge th e To rtoise Preserv e lo ca ted north o f California Cit y an d es tablish a prim itive area in the Lava !\Ioun tai ns north of Red Mountain wi th an Ou tstand ing Natural Are a surrounding th e primitive Teagle Wash Valley , which is a major co mpe t it ion area . Guess what's coming? Do you get the feeling that we are being squeezed, slowly but surely? Did yo u ask yo urself what th e hell is the Lava Mountains Natural Area? Read on. Lava, Mountains Primit ive Area and Natural Area Here is th e proposal for th e biggest rip-off sin ce the go vern me n t gave away most of th e desert that we are now not allo wed to ri de o n . Th e Lava Mountains are th e ru gged moun tains just North of Red Mountain o ff Trona Ro ad. I can support making the in terior of the Lava Mountains a primitive area. The Lava Mountains are a beautiful, ru gged, inaccessib le area and should remain so . Howev er, th e proposal to mak e the surro unding . area an "Outstanding Natural Area" is so unreasonable th at it is an outrage directed at all motorcyclists, wh ether th ey be casua l playriders or serious co mpe titio n riders. area. If the are a is m ad e in to a natural area, it Tortoise Natu ral Area means ver y little vehicle acc ess, on ly o n a co uple of m ajor roads or trails. T his area is heavily use d b y every endu ro o r I am sure m o st of us suppor t th e idea and co nc ept of an area set aside for th e prote ction of the Deser t Tortoise . Howeve , wh en th e original preserve was set up it , extended in to the w est ern en d of t he Rand Mo untains wh ich was a favorite ridi ng are a fo r many bikers and was use d o n man y end uro s and desert races in the area. OK, we accep ted it an d did our par t in trying to keep people out of th e area. Ho weve r, there has been a sort of a campaign to move the preserve wes t into the fla tlands as not many tor to ises were seen in the hilly canyon areas. So un ded like a good idea an d man y of th e desert rang ers su pporte d the idea . Now co mes the pl an an d not o nly did th e BLM n ot m ove the area west , the y expa nded it th e other way , ri ght in to more of the Rand Mountains, in to mo re prime ridin g area! The rationale was part ·of th e land was private property and a land sell co uld be worked ou t to acq uire th e property and donate it to the governrnen t as a preserv e by th e Tortoise Fo undation. On paper it so un ds reasonable but in practicality it' s a rip -off. There ain 't no turtles in the mountains . Th ey are down in th e flat lands . And t hat's not all. On p age 22 o f the plan (under Wildlife ) th er e reads a paragraph which say s: " De te rm ine accu ratel y the distribu tion o f th e deser t tortoise on lands north of Lava Mountains Natural Are a. Establish trend stu dy plots in th e area (one per habita t type )." This study area happens to fall right sm ac k-dab in t he mi ddl e o f th e desert race held in the area. Look at th e map ca re fully . ' T his proposed natural area in cludes the Summi t Ran ge which most b ike rs refer to as th e " san d hills " located south o f th e Teagle Wash Val ley. Th ere are lit erally hundreds of tr ails lead ing through the ca nyons and rid ges of the hills . The area east o f the Lava Mo untains is th e o nly co rri do r aro un d the Lava Moun tains an d is used by many enduro s including th e Greenhorn enduro every year as it makes it way n orth to Charlie's Place. This area (which includes wh at BU.I calls Golden Valley ) sho u ld remain o pe n at least o n de signated trai ls an d should b e left as existing roads and trails. What is a par ti cu larly g- lling is the fact BLM proposed all these plans and never even both ered to mention that the creat io n o f this Natural Are a would remove many thousands of acres from motorcycle use; land which is fast becoming in painfully short supply , competition-wise. The casual playbiker doesn 't see the danger ye t. The BLM propos al just doesn 't hit him like it does to the desert racer o r enduro rider. At the meeting we made some spe cific proposals to th e BLM to open up som e areas to co m pe tit io n where we felt it wouldn 't hurt. BLM was receptive and asked us to detail our propsals with mappi ng of so me desir able trails in the areas. By th e tim e y ou re ad this, we will have begun work on mapping the areas. land problem wa s Th e private discussed and th e BLM indicated it was willing to wo rk with us on a solution so that some race co urses in the Cuddeback area can be arranged. Some mapping of t he are a b y knowledgeable desert clubs wiII have to be arranged by the D· 37 legal co m mittee. BLM will then tr y to work o ut an arrangement w ith th e priv ate property owners to allow races o n the mapped courses. It's no t as good as the unlimited use we had in th e past, but it 's cer tainly better than n o use at all. It w ou ld also relie ve p ressure o n th e o ther co mpe tit ive areas. Enduro s were dis cussed and it was agre ed that th ey are allo wed outside of the co mp eti t ive areas o n existing ro ads and trails . So yo u end uro clubs, try and work out so me ideas fo r en d uros o u tside of the regul ar areas. Barst ow to Vegas wa s discu ssed and so me interesting points were m ade. The lo cal BLM was all in favor of just updating las t year 's Environ mental Im pact St atement fo r this year 's race bu t the bi g shots in Wash ington, D.C. overr uled th em and said another EIS was required . As you know there just wasn 't en ou gh time for one this year. An other ins tance o f th e federal go vern me n t interfer ing with lo cal matt ers. I can picture some bureau crat : sit ting o n his ass at his deak in Washingt on so me 3 000 miles away making those litt le decisions whi ch sock it to us. To say it just makes me mad is ajoke. It in furi ates me . . Since th e BL.1\1 has spent so much time getting th is plan ou t, we nee d a little m ore tim e to properly reply to it . The Na ti o na l Ou td oor Coalition ha s requested a 60-day extension on the co mme n t period. If not granted, November 17 is the last da y y ou can offici ally co mme n t . (Yo u are going to co mmen t aren't you?) Get hold of a plan, study it and make specific comments ! General co mments are usel ess. Hopefully we can get the BLM to listen and compromise, especially on the Tortoise Pr eserv e and the Lava Mo untains Natural Area. If not, the Legal Fund is growing and the legal committee is hiring a lawyer. Ho pefully we wo n 't h ave to go to co urt but if we have to we will. It 's ti me that th e dirt riding motorcyclist is listened to. Fo r n ow , get your request for a comment extension to th e fo llowing address: BLM 1695 Spruce St. Riverside, CA 92507 (7 14) 787-1367