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| Recreational Access and Conservation - Conservation and Public Service Activities | Short Cuts | ||||
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Dedicated to conservation and multiple use of public lands for recreation opportunities. Edited by: John Stewart |
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More Land for the WildLands Conservancy; Less Land for Recreation
The Los Angles Department of Water and Power (DWP) is in negotiations with the WildLands Conservancy in a move that could put $25 million in the pockets of the DWP and ensure wilderness status of its vast Owens Valley holdings. The DWP is entering negotiations to sell development rights for more than 320,000 acres along the edge of the Eastern Sierra Nevada running along US 395 from Owens Lake in the south to Mono Lake in the north. This proposal grants the Wildlands Conservancy easement rights to manage the lands as a conservation easement.
The proposed action, a conservation easement, would assure the land will never be developed and will place motorized vehicle and other multiple use recreation restrictions to the DWP lands covering 320,000 acres and nearly 200 linear miles of the Owens Valley between the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountain front country and the White Mountains. Existing routes will be restricted to Administrative Use only. Existing Unclassified routes (road and trail lines defined on topographical maps) will be closed.
According to an article published in the LA Times on March 15, 2001, a memorandum of intent was to be presented to the DWP at the March meeting. According to the memorandum, the easements would include several provisions:
* Development would be restricted unless associated with DWP water projects.
* Public access would be granted for recreation, including hiking, fishing, hunting, horseback riding and camping.
* Some acreage around Owens Valley communities would remain free of the easements to allow for limited growth.
* Tax payments to Inyo and Mono counties would continue.
* The land would remain under DWP control, while the easements would be overseen by the state and a few conservation groups.
For almost 100 years, the Los Angles DWP has been managing the land for multiple use recreation while keeping it free from development. The DWP land connects the east and west sides of the Owens Valley. Numerous Unclassified routes provide historic right-of-way access to adjacent public lands without restrictions. Opponents cite previous experience where the WildLands Conservancy has purchased property and subsequently removed road access to adjacent public lands.
State and local environmental groups have been working to obtain $12.5 million dollars in state funds to match the amount being contributed by the WildLands Conservancy. They are adding Wilderness designation language that will include another 120,000 acres that will tie into the Boundary Peak Wilderness.
This unnecessary sale of DWP easement rights will allow the Wildlands Conservancy (the buyer) to use 50% matching tax dollars (from Proposition 12 tax funding sponsored by Mr. Villaragosa, Democratic candidate for Los Angles Mayor endorsed by the Sierra Club) to dictate the passage rights and rules on the 320,000 acres held in ownership by the DWP. The Wildlands Conservancy is not a friend of mechanized recreation and their goal is to remove all mechanized travel on these publicly held DWP lands. The unnecessary sale of easement rights is reported to be a fund raising effort for the DWP in a time of crisis, but no crisis exists for the cash wealthy utility that chose to remain exempt from California's energy deregulation problems.
If the Wildlands Conservancy is granted easement (land management) rights, they will move to eliminate all perceived threats to water quality, including vehicle passage. (The Rubicon gate and Surprise Canyon-Panamint Canyon issues are a lesson on how this works). The goal of this organization is Wildlands creation, not recreation.
Opponents of this proposal are asking that you let the DWP know your opposition to the proposed easement sale, and the possibility of restrictions to vehicle and multiple use recreation.
Stress that you fear the proposal will restrict family camping access to DWP lands and adjacent public lands.
Ask that a public review of past easement restrictions on Wildlands Conservancy lands be explored and published before approval of the proposal is considered.
State that you are opposed to this sale, unless written guarantee is provided to grandfather all existing vehicle access on roads and trails in the property bounded by this easement.
The City of Los Angeles Mayor and City Council Offices need to hear from you.
The letter writing contact point for the DWP is:
Commissioner's Office
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power
111 N. Hope Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Web Site: http://www.LADWP.com
DWP Public Affairs Office: (213) 367-1361
DWP Public Relations Office: (800) 499-1544
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