PHOTOGRAPHY BY MILAGRO
VOL. 50 ISSUE 24 JUNE 18, 2013
Currently, that is the question of the week. After being served by PEER (Public
Employees for Environmental
Responsibility) and the DPC
(Desert Protective Counsel),
the state parks department
has 30 days to respond, and
decide whether or not to defend its management of the offroad use area. That deadline
is coming this Thursday, June
20, giving off-road enthusiasts
until Tuesday, June 18 to send
letters to elected officials, and
urge the California Department
of Parks and Recreation to
fight the lawsuit.
"It sounds good," Bates
explained. "It sounds like the
state is going to fight this so
that's positive news. They
haven't announced that yet,
but we've heard that it's going
that way."
Other support tactics have
popped up on social media,
such as a federal petition,
which began circulating recently. But as Bates explains,
a federal plea isn't necessarily
the way to go.
"You're petitioning nationally
and this is a state issue," she
said. "I guess people thought,
'We should get the word out,
etc.' Yeah… but the best thing
we can do is write a hand-written letter hand typed, in your
own words telling people why
you love Ocotillo Wells.
For more information on writ-
ing to State representatives in
support of keeping the Ocotillo
Wells area open, go to http://
ss-offroadmagazine.blogspot.
com/.
Another way to be proactive
is to become involved with the
Ocotillo Wells SVRA General
Plan. "They've been updating
the General Plan," Bates said.
"People can go onto Ocotillo
Wells SVRA page and make
suggestions to the General
Plan and get involved."
People can weigh in on the
Ocotillo Wells General Plan at
www.planocotillowells.com,
a site that is dedicated to revising the broad-based policy
document that establishes
long-range vision and goals for
the area. The site explains that
the current version of the General Plan was adopted in 1982
– a fact that seems to irk the
environmentalists. In a recent
article by the Ramona Sentinel, California PEER Director
Karen Schambach is quoted
as saying, "That General Plan
update, promised since 2007,
never seems to get done."
Getting involved in the discussions, spreading awareness and writing letters to
elected state officials is the
best off-road enthusiasts can
do for now. Pending the state's
decision to fight the lawsuit,
the next step being taken by
groups such as CORVA (California Off Road Vehicle Asso-
P33
ciation) is to gain intervener
status. At this point, since the
suit is between PEER and the
State, the off-road community
doesn't technically have a dog
in the fight. Yet. A law intervention can allow a nonparty (in
this case, the off-road community) to join ongoing litigation
at the discretion of the court.
Should this take place, Ocotillo Wells OHV supporters will
have a voice in court, and the
fundraising efforts will commence.
"It all depends on how the
lawsuit progresses," Bates explained.
There is still much up in the
air at this point, but people like
Bates are keeping the public
up to date on how you can help
find ways to support the opposition to the lawsuit.
"Get involved with an offroad group so you know what's
going on," Bates said. "A lot
of times, like a few years ago,
they wanted to put geo-thermal
drilling out there and people
didn't even know about that.
They try to do this stuff during the off-season so people
don't know about it. Even in
this case, let's say we are to
win this battle, there's going to
be more. So just get involved
and be knowledgeable about
what's going on out there."
Jean Turner
