Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

e~~~~,~!w?,~~. ~~m e t--,' N >... $-4 Ci3 ~ ~ Ci3 ~ California's Mo'ave Road opportunity to enjoy a motorcycle ride across this beautiful place. To be able to have that opportunity, you must exercise your freedom of speech and let Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is proposing that your right to do so be taken away, know how you feel about public access to public .land by writing and calling her office at the United States Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510-0504 (phone 201/2243841). Be polite and request that she go to the desert and see it for herself. If you're a Californian, tell her about your family excursions, your volunteer work and the money you spend on recreating in the California desert. If your job depends in some way, either directly or indirectly, on adequate public acces~ to the desert, make sure that the senator is aware of the situation. Even if you are not a California r~sident, it is equally important for you to inform your own senator of your views. The Mojave Desert is truly a grand place to visit, and you can enjoy it from the saddle of a motorcycle...at least for now. Ride safe. Write to ride. Belated Happy New Year. c:N The Great Compromise: Keeping public land from the people or for the people By Paul Golde enato Dianne Feinstein's decision to carryon Alan Cranston's attempts at bypassing the California Desert Plan does not come as a suprise to multiple-use advocates. Heavily influenced by the environmental movement during the campaign, the senator from San Francisco immediately resurrected the dead bill known as S21 an9 is reintroducing it with little or no changes. This unprecedented fifth attempt at severely restricting public access to public land in the California desert could very easily breeze through Congress this year because the other freshman Senator, Barbara Boxer, has pledged her support to the "new" bill. Feinstein's copycat bill, written previously by Sierra Club management for Cranston, attempts to bypass the California Desert Plan, a comprehensive land use plan developed and revised over a period of 15 years involving massIve research and professional analysis, dozens of public hearings, over 40,000 public comments and a cost of $8 million in tax dollars. The development of this plan "for the management, use, developement, and protection of the public lands" in the California desert was actually strongly supported by Cranston and the Sierra Oub as the great compromise that would preserve truly pristine wilderness yet still follow the principles of multiple use and sustained yield. . When the desert plan was finally approved by two Secretaries of Interior in 1980 and 1981 under Democratic and Republican administrations, it was viewed by most as one of the-most ambitous and dynamic land management systems. Administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the 25 million acres of the California Desert Conservation Area (COCA) covers about the same area as the state of Ohio, and is equal to, or larger than 14 other states. Enforcing the provisions of the Desert Plan costs money, of course, yet each successive year since 1981, the BLM has suffered massive reductions in funding, making the job of protecting the desert extremely difficult. Ignoring this obvious problem of inadequate funding, the environmental community pressured Cranston to introduce the California Desert Protection Act, which essentially throws the entire Desert Plan into the trash can. Why did the environmentalists abandon the very plan they worked so hard to develop? Because the final plan (which actually is subject to a yearly review) did not tum out quite like they had hoped. Those who abandoned the California Desert Plan desperately wanted the widespread designation of millions and millions of acres of desert as wilderness, which by congressional definition prohibits all motorized vehicles and commercial uses. In other words, the environmentalists want to tum the Mojave Desert into an exclusive haven accessible only on foot or horseback. While much of the California desert is truly beautiful, it is hardly the definition of "wilderness" that environmentalists have been attempting to manufacture over the past seven years. Crossing the Mojave Desert in almost every direction are numerous high-tension power lines, natural gas pipelines, telephone cable lines, and graded high-speed roads. Innumerable mines, ranches, microwave relay stations, airstrips and even public telephone booths can be found in the Mojave Desert. Thousands of people call the Mojave Desert home, and thousands more of every recreational persuasion seek the desert's vast openness and adventure to play in. Cranston's California Desert Protection Act was the largest public land grab attempt in recent history. Three times he tried to sneak the folly through Congress, and each time a massive uprising of opposition from rockhounds and retirees, motorcyclists and miners, scientists and cattlemen and many other diverse interests, including horseman associations and the military, forced Cranston to retreat. The American people demanded that public hearings be held in the desert communities before 5-7, 5-11 and 5-21 were debated by Congress, and each time the meet- S 14 ing halls were awash with the bright orange color worn by wise-use advocates who saw the bills for what they were - bad for the economy, bad for wildlife, bad for national security and just plain bad for the American people. So, to say that the reappearance of Cranston's ghost is a disappointment is quite possibly the understatement of the new year. Major provisions of Feinstein's Desert Bill include: • 78 wilderness areas totaling 4.5 million acres (BLM's professional recommendations include only 62 areas covering 2.3 milliorracres). • Adding 1.3 million .acres to Death Valley National Monument and redesignating the area as a national park (BLM recomends only 103,800 acres as suitable for addition) • Adding 234,000 acres to Joshua Tree National Monument and redesignating the area a national park (BLM recommends only 4,800 acres). • Establishing a 1.5 million acre Mojave National Park (BLM does not recommend national park status in this area that the Mojave Road calls home). • Prohibits historical livestock grazing in the proposed Mojave National Park after 25 years (wilderness act allows for continuation of grazing in wilderness areas). • Designation of 4 million acres of national park wilderness in the California desert (BLM recommends 82,000 acres). • Acquisition of 584,000 acres of private land and 244,000 acres of state land (inholdings). BLM recommends that only 69,000 acres of private land and 62,000 acres of state land be acquired. The economic consequences of the bill as introduced are staggering, an impact that California and the nation cannot easily endure in these recessionary times. It has been estimated that the cost of such a bill would be $290 million to $610 million! These estimates are of direct costs to the federal government only; they do not include economic impacts in the affected areas in southern California due to loss of jobs, reduced private land tax base, and all associated indirect economic costs. These additional costs could range from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars! A major factor in these estimates would be the loss of mineral developement in the desert, one of the most highly mineralized areas in the world. Although BLM projects that less than 1% of the total federal lands have a likelihood of being developed for minerals, these small amounts of land have the potential to generate billions of dollars in minerals, including those essential to America's national security. Nowhere in the bill is there any provision for funding of the new national park land's management, a cost that would be over 650% more expensive per acre than if the BLM continued management under the California Desert Plan. In other words, the passage of the bill would require the National Park Service (NPS) to spend $255 million that it doesn't have to manage the 3.0 million new acres of desert park land. And the fate of the Mojave Road Recreation Trail under Feinstein's desert bill? While the route is not specifically addressed in the bill, it would fall under the discretion of the director of the new East Mojave National Park. The prevailing NPS policy is to prohibit or strictly limit vehicle access except on paved park roads. The rare exception to this policy is in Yellowstone National Park, where snowmobiles are allowed under extremely controlled conditions during winter months. Whether or not Feinstein will substantially amend the bill to reduce its severity remains to be seen. Political observers all agree that some form of a California Desert Protection Act will be passed during the 103rd Congress. To many Americans, it will be a truly disappointing compromise of the great compromise known as the California Desert Plan.

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