Off-Road Vehicles Thrashing State Park Lands, Report Shows

Off –road vehicle (ORV) use continues to damage both cultural and natural resources in the Desert Cahuilla Prehistoric Area (DCPA), according to a report released December 14, 2009 by the Desert Protective Council. Despite assurances from the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) that it would ensure adequate patrolling and signage to deter inappropriate vehicle use, the agency has done little to protect the area from increasing ORV damage.
The report, by the engineering firm SCS Engineers, compares aerial photos of the DCPA taken in December 2007 and again in March 2009. Comparing the two sets of photos, SCS found evidence that ORV damage to the DCPA has increased dramatically. The photographs show that since December 2007 off-roaders have carved new cross-country trails and spun “donuts” on delicate “desert pavement” that takes tens of thousand of years to form. Vehicles have crushed desert plants and petrified wood, and created new “hill climbs” — vertical tracks up hillsides that result in extreme erosion. Since acquiring the lands, DPR has failed to maintain even minimal staffing or signage educating users as to the fragility of the landscape.

DPR acquired 4,000 acres in the 23 square miles of mostly state-owned fragile desert land, located between Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Salton Sea, in a controversial acquisition three years ago. In 2006 conservation groups, which had attempted to buy the area as an addition to Anza Borrego State Park, urged the area be closed to vehicular use until resource surveys could be conducted and a sound management plan created. DPR maintained that existing staff and policies were sufficient to protect the land until a management plan could be put in place.

“DPR decided not to close Desert Cahuilla to ORVs, and the land has paid the price,” said Terry Weiner, Conservation Coordinator for the Desert Protective Council. “As a compromise we suggested they restrict ORV use to the southern portion of the Desert Cahuilla area and State Parks declined to do even that much. This report shows that DPR isn’t able to manage the existing use, and needs to suspend ORV use in Desert Cahuilla until resources surveys are completed and a management plan has been crafted that can stop the destruction.”

“The tragedy of this out-of-control off-roading which has destroyed plants, animals, cultural sites and other irreplaceable resources was predictable and preventable,” said Ileene Anderson, biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “This report unequivocally compels State Parks to act responsibly and immediately safeguard the public’s treasured resources before even more damage is done.”

Background: In addition to being home to the endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep, rare plant species, golden eagles, prairie falcons and desert horned lizards, the DCPA hosts a fossil record of seven million years of geological and ecological change in present-day Imperial County. Petrified wood, remains of some of the largest known mammoths, and remnant landforms detailing many millions of years of California geological history are found here. In addition, DCPA contains a fragile archaeological record of thousands of years of human occupation. Relics of the area’s ancient culture include old fish traps along the ancient Lake Cahuilla shoreline, ceremonial areas and millennia-old footpaths.

The report can be downloaded here. An executive summary is available here.

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