Contact: Roy Denner
President, Off-Road Business Association
(619) 449-0778 or (cell) 619/890-9101


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CONGRESSMAN POMBO HEARS CONCERNS
ABOUT THE SHRINKING CALIFORNIA DESERT

SAN DIEGO (Aug. 25, 2003) – There is no protection or mitigation for impacts to public land users within the California Desert Conservation Area, the leader of the 300-member Off-Road Business Association (ORBA) testified during a recent Congressional field hearing in San Diego.
“If Bureau of Land Management plans continue to provide for reduction in access to public lands, and never provide for protecting public access,” said Roy Denner, “eventually, all access to public lands will be gone.”
Denner was joined by other off-highway vehicle leaders, landowners and desert enthusiasts to testify at the hearing that was headed by Congressman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, who was recently selected as the chairman of the House Resources Committee, and Congressman George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.
With nearly 200 off-roaders from throughout California in attendance, most of whom wore orange shirts depicting their respective organizations or associations, Pombo told the hearing guests that “pretending that mankind is not part of the environment does not work and restricting access to humankind doesn’t work either.”
A common concern from all who testified was that regulations and lawsuits targeted at protecting the Desert Tortoise, the Peirson’s Milkvetch plant and other desert species have done more harm than good.
Jim Bramham, representing the American Sand Association and a past president of the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs, said that recent surveys have shown that more than 14 percent of all California households engage in some form of off-highway vehicle recreation and, nationally, less than two percent of all Americans use Wilderness designated areas.
“The anti-access advocates either emboldened by their desert land heist for just two percent of the population or just bent on recreational genocide, continue to use every avenue available to them to further their agenda to close the West,” said Bramham. “Their weapon of choice during the past several years at the popular Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area has been the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
David Hubbard, an environmental attorney for a host of off-road groups, cited the Peirson’s Milvetch that was listed as threatened in October 1998, with off-highway vehicle recreation identified as the biggest threat. Subsequently, the bureau closed 50,000 acres of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area to vehicle use while the plant could be monitored.
Hubbard told hearing leaders that the off-road community hired Dr. Arthur Phillips, a highly regarded plant biologist do conduct an in-depth analysis of the plant. Phillips’ studies revealed that this plant is thriving throughout its range, is prolific in its seed production and clearly does not fit the description of a threatened species.
Armed with this new data, the BLM is scheduled to release a new Recreation Area Management Plan (RAMP) this fall that would call for reopening the 50,000 acres to OHV use (33,000 acres are limited access to continue protection of the Peirson’s Milkvetch); however, Hubbard said the anti-access groups have already filed a new lawsuit challenging the biological opinion.

“Although the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently evaluating a petition to de-list the Peirson’s Milvetch, which is based on sound science,” said Bramham, “the whole planning process has its foundation in the unstable sands of poor science and friendly litigation. These anti-access groups sued for a process. What has been produced is a document with full public participation that they disagree with. Now, they have returned to court litigating over the result.”
“We (desert stakeholders) have met with Congressman Pombo several times in Washington, D.C. and he told us he was coming out to California to listen to our concerns and he did,” Denner said. “He is a fourth-generation rancher and a long-time supporter of farm and other land interests. He is known for protecting the rights of Western landowners and urging sound science when faced with issues involving the environment. We feel confident that our story will resonate in our Nation’s capital.”
In addition to the Off-Road Business Association and the American Sand Association, other organizations represented at the hearing were the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA), San Diego Off-Road Coalition (SDORC), American Motorcyclist Association District 37, Desert Vipers Motorcycle Club and the Tankslappers Motorcycle Club. Many individual off-highway vehicle enthusiasts were also in attendance.

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This is an important issue. We keep losing land to various types of closures, but no new land ever gets opened up for recreational use!! I was at one BLM meeting (including the head of the Calif. BLM) where Roy Denner proposed a "one for one" replacement of closed land by opening new land. While his fellow representatives voted down the one for one thing, they did agree that some mitigation was reasonable. We have to thank Roy for keeping this issue in the forefront.

The fact that only 2% of the population ever uses any "wilderness" areas, is a very telling statistic! This tiny fraction of the population is given way more clout than they deserve!