Please go here for latest info from the RAC meeting on April 30.
Sand Mountain Emergency Closure Info

 

wait until they figure out they can make a lot of money by having a noise limit i think it is a hundred buck on the oregun dunes now

 

That sucks Jon[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]

 

Could someone PLEASE tell me why these desert plants are SOOOOOO important???? Do they cure somekind of disease??? or maybe have the potencial of growing into some sort of alternate fuel or something?!!

We pull MILLIONS or unwanted grass&weeds every year out of our lawns & Gardens. So why are these USELESS sprouts,and weeds so DAMN important?? Why cant the Tree-huggers just grown a set af ballz and say we dont like you. we think duning is stupid, and we will spend millions of dollars every year to stop you,your family,and your friends from having fun.


Hiding behind some weed(s) is CHEAP, and cowardiss!!!!





Bigger.

 

We all want to roost a tree hugger...but NONE of us want to destroy a harmless plant
Do these plants do anything? Nope...all the same I avoid them like an X girlfriend...
Learn and follow the rules and become a member of ORBA

 

Time to write another check to ASA and CORVA. Those guys are doing a hellofa good job for us and I'm more then happy to contribute. anybody else????

 

Thanks for your support. These organizations need our $$$$ to keep up the fight. If any of you send in a donation, please let them know that you support their efforts to keep Sand Mountain open.

If any of you own an off-road type business, take a moment to look into what ORBA is doing. They not only came to the meeting, but also brought their attorney.

Jon

 

Just as a point of clarification. The Nature Conservancy and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe are not members of the RAC as stated in the article. They were invited by the RAC to present information just like Friends of Sand Mountain.

Jon

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By CORY MCCONNELL
Staff Writer, Lahontan Valley News

May 2, 2003

Off roaders and area businesses are up in arms as the Bureau of Land Management and environmentalist organizations discuss closing up to 25 percent of the Sand Mountain recreational area.

Vegetation along the north and northwest sides of the mountain are the only known habitat in the world for the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly. The butterfly, which lives thrives on the mountain's kearney buckwheat, is currently listed as "sensitive" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

If that listing is upgraded to threatened or endangered, the BLM fears, the USFWS could take complete control of Fallon's most widely known and largest drawing resource. "They might order us to shut the entire area down and we don't want that to happen," said BLM spokesman Mark Struble.

Off-road enthusiasts and area businesses oppose drastic measures, such as a BLM biologist's suggestion to close 1,000 acres of the mountain to public use, in favor of less obtrusive means like educating off-roaders about the butterflies and their habitat.

Jon Crowley, President of the not-for-profit corporation Friends of Sand Mountain, said his organization has been handing out pamphlets urging people to keep off vegetation at their annual Sand Mountain cleanup event. Every year, more than 100 volunteers turn out for the event to beautify the mountain.

More education about the mountain's vegetation and wildlife, off-roaders argue, should curb destruction of the butterfly's habitat. While Struble said the BLM plans to step up educational efforts, the bureau is so far standing behind a temporary ban of off-road-vehicles on 1,000 acres along the mountain's north and northwest portions. The area in question is a pretty much continuous band of plant life, Struble said, except for several trails cutting through what used to be plant life.

"A lot of plants have been torn up over the years," Struble said. Area businesses and city officials worry cutting the recreational area, the same year the BLM has started charging user fees for it, could have an undesirous impact on Fallon's economy.

Drawing 35,000 to 40,000 visitors per year, Fallon's tourism director Rick Gray said, "That resource is vital to Fallon's economy today."According to the BLM, 8.5 out of every ten Sand Mountain users drive in from California.
"Talk about tourism dollars. We know how important it is," Struble said.

The BLM is looking at a temporary closure of vegetated portions of Sand Mountain precisely to avoid losing those tourists permanently. The BLM says the closure won't be impinge a great deal on the mountain's off-roading mecca status. "Let's face it, most of the great riding is on the dunes themselves," Struble said.

Off-roading enthusiasts fear a reduction in the mountain's usable area, while the numbers of the area's users continue to grow, is a safety hazard. "More and more people are enjoying Sand Mountain and they're taking those people and squeezing them into a smaller area," Crowley said, "there's more of a chance somebody's going to hit somebody."

A Resource Advisory Counsel staffed by representatives of various interests including farmers, ranchers, miners, academics, environmentalists and businesses will meet some time this month to try and come up with an agreeable solution. Aside from the counsel's findings, Struble said, the BLM is sticking with its biologist's suggestion.

Fallon's tourism director said he just hope those who live near the mountain get their say in what happens. "It's too important a resource for Fallon for us not to have a voice," Gray said, "I just want to be a part of the discussions."

The other members of the RAC which backed the biologists suggestion are the Nature Conservancy and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe.

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