Imperial Sand Dunes Season Ramps Up With New Road, Increased Emphasis on Safety

The new season for off-highway vehicle (OHV) enthusiasts at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area opens with the newly constructed Wash Road and an increased emphasis on safety, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today.

According to Vicki Wood, BLM El Centro Field Office manager, “The new road allows the public continued access to camping areas via street-legal vehicles south to Wash 25 from State Highway 78.” The new road has a speed limit of 15 mph and parallels a road on Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way that the public will no longer be able to use.

“Camping too close to Gecko Road, continues to be a safety concern,” says Wood. “Along this main transportation artery of the North Dunes, parking or camping within 10 feet of the road is prohibited. BLM rangers and the Imperial County sheriff’s office can issue tickets and tow vehicles to achieve compliance.”

(Oct. 15, 2009) - Conservation groups dedicated to active and sustainable management of the Upper Tellico OHV Area expressed deep disappointment with the U.S. Forest Service decision to permanently close the Tellico trails.  The decision, which follows an earlier "temporary" closure, was announced in documents published by the USFS yesterday morning.

Gary Parsons, President of the Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, reacted by saying, "The Forest Service is simply wrong in this decision.  This public agency has ignored an independent study by Caliber Engineering and the recommendations of its own Trails Unlimited Team, which demonstrated effective management is attainable and offered specific suggestions to achieve that goal."

The agency announcement by Forest Supervisor Marisue Hilliard again parroted the water quality issues long favored by preservationist special interests as the excuse for closure.  Jay Bird, Chairman of the Rescue Tellico Committee, noted, "The Tellico River is in excellent shape and complies with all legal requirements.  Only through blatant modification of proper methodology, such as measuring turbidity levels during peak runoff, can the Forest Service claim there is legal basis to take any action, let alone closure."

Chester, CA (Oct 6, 2009) - Friends of the High Lakes were nominated by Region Five (California) for the Forest Service National 2008 Volunteer Award.  The Friends of the High Lakes group competed nationally for the Volunteer Sponsored Group honor.  While they did not receive the national award in this category, the nomination representing sponsored groups of California from Region 5 is quite an honor.

The Friends of the High Lakes gained distinction by organizing nine local clubs, volunteers, and interested parties to develop an adopt-a–trail program for patrol and maintenance of the High Lakes OHV area of the Lassen National Forest.  All of these entities have truly collaborated with the Forest Service in the management of High Lakes. Chairman Ken Knull and Co-Chairman Nick Repanich coordinate all these efforts to be most efficient in completing needed resource work and educating users.

Jon Tester, a U.S. Senator from Montana, is holding meetings on legislation he calls the "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act." It's a Wilderness bill dressed up as a compromise between preservation, forest health and recreation. The stated purpose of which is:

"To sustain the economic development and recreational use of National Forest System land and other public land in the State of Montana, to add certain land to the National Wilderness Preservation System, to release certain wilderness study areas, to designate new areas for recreation, and for other purposes."

That's a fine statement, and I really like the title of the bill. But after careful review of the current draft, I can't see that it does much more than designate a bunch of new Wilderness. It certainly doesn't designate any "new areas for recreation."

What this bill does do, however, is demonstrate just how utterly broken federal land management is these days. As an object lesson, or a demonstration project, I think Tester has created a masterpiece.