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concern over th e massive land closures th e listing would require. " Any time you force a constant number of users into reduced riding areas, th e accident ra tes wil1 soar in direct proportio n to the loss of area," exp lained Bish op. Bish op as ked the Commission to look into predator m anagem en t. " Yo ur ow n s tu dy found 156 juven il e tortoise she l1s under a raven nest ," charged Bish o p. H e furt her sta tes that th e ra ven populat ion has increased 15-fold in th e last 20 years. Pat Davi son, of th e California Associati on of 4-Wh eel Drives, ca l1ed th e facts in th e recommendation "s ketchy at best," a nd asked how th e staff could consider th e listing wo u ld n o t h a ve sign ifica n t eco no mic im pact. Al1 devel opmen t in the critical habi tat area would ha ve to be offset by a 5-to-l property mitigation. If you want to develop o neacre you must also bu y five acres and fence that area off with tortoise proof fencing. Davi son pointed out that the listing is not th e only way to get need ed funding. Proposition 70 and the Federal Land and Wat er Conservation Fund both have need ed money a vailable. R on Fite, from th e California Desert Coalition, warned the Commi ssion th at listing would kil1 th e El Mirage Recreat ion Area Project. Al1 hi ghways would have to have tortoise-p roof fen cing a nd underground cross ing cu lverts 10 to a m ile. " You will create a severe fina ncia l ha rdship o n anyone who works' in the desert," exclaimed Fire. AMA Rep resent a tive a nd OH V Co mm issioner Ed Wa ldheim presented Commissioners with Fish and Gam e in ternal documents dating back to 1975. Waldheim , who has spe nt a persona l fort une over the last 15 years fightin g for OHV o pportuniti es, pul1ed ou t a ll th e stops fo r th is meeting. H e su pplied all the o the r desert user grou ps wi th th e same pu blica tions the Com miss ione rs had been given. Waldhei m explai ned ho w OH V Fu nds promote tortoise conservati on. " Mill io ns of dollars hav e been pu t into access gui des, signs, fenci ng, a nd ra nger salaries ," said Waldheim. Lo well L ando wsk i , OHV staff .Soil and Wat er a nalyst, asked for a better study to find o ut th e exac t reasons for the tor to ise reducti ons. "J osh ua Tree National Monumen t is de-facto wild erness," said La ndowski, " Why is there still a tremendous decline in a n area where OH V use is already ill egal?" OH V Division Dep ut y Directo r Lee Chauvet told the Commission that the OH V Divisio n wa nts a rea l study do ne. H e offered immediate fundin g of $250,000 to set up a new Technical Review Team made u p of all co ncerned parties. " We wa nt to fix the pro blem and the Division will p ut up th e money," he said. Faced with so m uch opposition and ne w information the Co mmission voted to postpone th e decision until the J un e mee ting in Lone Pine. "The fo ur months sho uld be enough time for us to a bsorb this n ew informa tion and we will be watch ing to see how th e desert users tak e th e - initiative to creat e some solutions," said Fi sh a n d Gam e Chairm an Robert Bryant as he adjo urned th e hearing. . "T he ball isIn the co urt of pro multiple use desert recreationists,' .said Waldheim. "I only hope we can ' make so me significant strides forward in th e next fo ur months." It is Clear that with th e simp le " listing" of th e tortoise, 23-million acres of desert land would be severely restricted to OHV use. " We came very close today to losing everything," . said Waldheim. • . ......... . . ...:. ~ ~ HONDA and YAMAHA Motorcycles present the 1989 DUNLOP U.S. INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIX APRIL 14th, 15th and 16th LAGUNA SECA RACEWAY MONTEREY, .CA LIFORNIA 2S0cc SOOcc Niall MacKenzi. ~i~g RACEWAY K.vln Schwan" SIDECARS HONDA. YAMAHA .~ DUN.£OP I'lJ Marlboro TICKETS (408) 648-5100/ 1-800-367-9939 (Ca. Statewide). Hlt Ml" I, the officia l ca r aMi ' rudl of Laguna Seeo Roc.way r-------------------------------, I I I I I I I I I I I I I L I I I I I I I I I I THE DUNLOP UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIX ~ ~ City· State' Zip . NO SATURDAY ONLY nCKETS AVAILABLEI • ADMISSION n C KETS NOT GOOD FOR CAIiIPtNG . CAIiIPtNG PERMITS of 118GOOD FORpi"". NOT ADMISSION C11l1d" • ••der 12 yel rs fREE wllh Mill 1 SCRAMP, P.D. 801 SCHAMP,. Montl rey, CA 93942 0: Daytime Phone ( 0 Checkor money order payable to SCRAMP 0 Maste rCard or Visa /I , Expiration Dale . I I JI . 15