We had a successful letter-writing campaign promoting conservation for the Desert Cahuilla Prehistoric
Vehicle scars mar the desert pavements of the Desert Cahuilla Area Photo by Phil Farquharson
Area during the first round of public comment, which closed February 13th (see previous alert HERE). But we’re not stopping there! We’re asking members of the public to keep sending letters to California State Parks Director Ruth Coleman and Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, requesting interim protections for Desert Cahuilla during the 2- to 3-year planning process.
You can submit comments two ways, either by writing to your public officials at the addresses below, or by using
CitizenSpeak, a quick and easy online tool to make your voice heard. If you choose the first option, you’ll find several “talking points” below the addresses to use in your letter.
Whichever way you choose, be sure to include your own personal comments with your reasons for supporting preservation of the area, your experiences in the desert, and any other knowledge or information that will set your letter apart.
Send your letters, via regular mail, e-mail, or FAX if available, to:
Ruth Coleman, Director
California Dept. of Parks & Recreation
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296
E-mail: directorATparks.ca.gov
Mike Chrisman, Secretary
Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: (916) 653-8102
E-mail: secretaryATresources.ca.gov
Over the years, many natural and cultural features of the Desert Cahuilla Area, including fossilized trees, ancient trails, cleared circles, California fan palm groves, and populations of sensitive plant species such as Salton milkvetch, have been damaged, degraded or destroyed by careless or malicious off-road vehicle activity. Since acquisition of the Freeman properties in 2006, this senseless destruction has only increased, not only in the new acquisitions, but all over the Desert Cahuilla Area.
Unless interim protections are put in place immediately, much more destruction will inevitably occur while the general plan is being crafted. Since this process is likely to take two to three years, or even longer, the area should be closed to all vehicles until a plan is complete. At the very least, vehicles should be limited to the street-legal variety, and confined to designated routes in wash bottoms.
To ensure a fair and open process, the general plan should be taken out of the exclusive control of the OHV Division. Staff from the Colorado Desert District of State Parks should be fully involved in the planning process, including crafting the scope of work for resource survey contractors and environmental consultants writing the Environmental Impact Report and associated general plan.
HELP PROTECT THE DESERT CAHUILLA PREHISTORIC AREA
FROM ABUSIVE OFF-ROADING!
click image to enlarge
The Desert Cahuilla Area: Sediments derived from the Grand Canyon and deposited by the Colorado River create scenic eroded sandstone hills.
A starkly beautiful and culturally rich area of California needs help from anyone who cares about the conservation of our southwest deserts. The Desert Cahuilla Prehistoric Area contains fossilized clues to the environment of past epochs, the last traces of ancient cultures, and habitat for endangered and unique plants and animals, including the Peninsular bighorn sheep.
Unfortunately, for over 40 years the area has suffered from unauthorized abuse by dirtbikes and other off-road vehicles. Now, the California Dept. of Parks and Recreation wants to sanction that abuse by acquiring private and State Lands Commission parcels in the area and turning them over to Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. While an environmental review process was promised to equally evaluate different management options, including preserving the area as part of the adjacent Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the process has been slanted toward putting the area under the control of the OHV Division of State Parks.
While this process could take years, destruction of the area continues, with record numbers of vehicles observed in the area over this past New Years weekend. Signs placed to protect the area’s natural features are ignored and even knocked down. Tires crush rare petrified wood and other paleontological features and leave scars on ancient Native American paths, cleared circles and geoglyphs. One of the area’s most precious archaeological treasures, fish traps that the Cahuilla people used to harvest fish from the ancient Lake Cahuilla, are especially vulnerable, because they can appear to be just inconspicuous piles of rocks.
“Donuts” made by dirtbikes mar ancient trails in the Desert Cahuilla area
State Parks officials and the company conducting the environmental review need to hear from members of the public, telling them to preserve this area rather than allow its destruction to continue. The deadline for comments on the first phase of environmental review is February 13th.
For a more complete description of the events leading up to the current situation, read this article, from the Sierra Club’s Desert Report magazine.
To read the Notice of Preparation for the upcoming Environmental Impact Report, go here.
HOW YOU CAN HELP The Best Way:
Write your own letter. Unique letters written by people with a passion for a particular place carry more weight than form letters (although those have a place as well). Send your letter by regular mail, e-mail of FAX if available to:
Chris Moore, Senior Project Manager
EDAW, Inc.
1420 Kettner Blvd. Suite 500
San Diego, CA 92101
E-mail: Christopher.MooreATedaw.com *In order to protect recipients from spam, we’ve made their e-mail addresses non-active. Please copy and paste the addresses into a new e-mail window and replace the word “AT” with the @ symbol.
Ruth Coleman, Director
California Dept. of Parks & Recreation
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296
E-mail: directorATparks.ca.gov
Mike Chrisman, Secretary
Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: (916) 653-8102
E-mail: secretaryATresources.ca.gov
Please reference the following title at the beginning of your letter: Truckhaven/Desert Cahuilla and Ocotillo Wells General Plan NOP.
In your comments, be sure to talk about your personal experiences in the desert, why you think it’s important to protect desert places, and experiences or evidence you have about damage caused by off-road vehicles. Then make these points:
The Desert Cahuilla Area is rich in cultural features and geological formations. It is home to endangered and rare plant and animal species. Management of this precious area must be oriented toward protecting these natural qualities. The best way to protect the area is to turn it over to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, as envisioned by park planners as early as 1955, well before off-roading in the area became popular. As in Anza-Borrego, many established routes, mainly in wash bottoms, will remain open to street-legal vehicles for those wishing to experience the unique qualities of this landscape.
The analysis of any alternative that includes “open play” vehicular recreation, as currently practiced at Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area, must show that this type of recreation will not harm the area’s natural resources.
The current environmental review process should be separated from the Ocotillo Wells General Plan Update. Combining them predetermines that the area will become part of Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area.
Contractors for the environmental review should be hired jointly by the Ocotillo Wells District and Colorado Desert District, to ensure a fair and impartial study. The current contracts have been issued by Ocotillo Wells, and the contractors admit that they look out for the needs of their clients. How accurate can these studies be when the primary goal of the OHV Division is to acquire new lands for off-roading?
The Quick Way:
Click HERE to send a message through CitizenSpeak. It’s important to provide personal comments in the window provided, in addition to the form letter.
to help support this campaign.
Thanks for helping to protect the California desert!
Desert Cahuilla Successes
Off-Road Vehicle Groups Change Plans for Desert Cahuilla Events
As a result of DPC’s seeking an injunction, two off-road vehicle organizations changed their plans
Desert Cahuilla Area: It may look indestructible, but it contains fragile desert pavement, ancient Native American artifacts such as trails and fish traps, and habitat for the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep
this winter for massive jeep safaris in the Desert-Cahuilla area. These lands, known to off-roaders as “Truckhaven,” are bordered on the west by Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and on the south by Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. Four thousand acres of the area were acquired by the California Department of Parks and Recreation in 2006, and now a contest is being waged to determine which branch of the department will end up managing the new acquisition.
The off-roading events have been going on for years, but the difference this year is that for the first time they would have been officially sanctioned by State Parks. Our position is that the state should not be permitting such large off-road vehicle events in an area containing Critical Habitat for the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep, as well as a wealth of sensitive archaeological and paleontological remains.
Desert Cahuilla Area: It may look indestructible, but it contains fragile desert pavement, ancient Native American artifacts such as trails and fish traps, and habitat for the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep
On January 19, DPC and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit and sought an injunction to prevent State Parks from issuing a permit for the California Off-Road Vehicle Association’s annual Truckhaven Challenge, an event which draws hundreds of participants. While the judge eventually denied our request for a Temporary Restraining Order, CORVA did call off its event and withdrew its request for a permit. There were still plenty of drivers in the area over the weekend of January 20-21, but the potential for a precedent-setting issuance of a permit was avoided.
At the same time, the Tierra del Sol off-road vehicle club decided to move its annual Desert Safari, scheduled for March 2-4. This event, which draws as many as 18,000 riders, has been held in the Desert Cahuilla area since 1964, apparently without a permit from the State Lands Commission or permission from the owners of private property in the area. This year, as a result of our injunction, the event’s directors relocated the event to south of Highway S-22, avoiding the newly acquired lands in the Desert Cahuilla area north of the highway. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune,
the organizers seemed willing to wait for the state to conduct appropriate environmental review before returning to the Desert Cahuilla area: “We are in this for the long run, and we are willing to do what we can to support the continued existence of off-road recreation in that area,” John Stewart, a consultant for Tierra del Sol, told U-T reporter Mike Lee. “If that means we have to wait until the state does . . . the environmental documentation, then fine.”
According to all reports, Desert Safari riders did stay south of S-22 during the event. We applaud Tierra del Sol for making the right decision, and giving the land a break until appropriate environmental reviews can be conducted. For more info on the issue, see our Winter 06-07 issue of El Paisano, and our Press Room section.
Desert Cahuilla: Moving Forward with Environmental Review
Thanks to a lawsuit brought by DPC and the Center for Biological Diversity, the State Department of Parks and Recreation is moving ahead more quickly to develop a management plan for this starkly beautiful and fragile area. After a year of foot-dragging since the acquisition of 4,000 acres in the Desert Cahuilla area, State Parks has now agreed to initiate review under
A scar left by a dirt bike mars ancient "sleeping circles" in the desert pavement of the Desert Cahuilla area. Such disrespectful and destructive behavior would be outlawed if the area were appropriately managed by Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, while responsible drivers of street-legal vehicles would still be able to access the area on appropriate routes. Photo by Larry Hogue.
the California Environmental Quality Act for a comprehensive management-plan process by December 15, 2007; to process any applications for “special events” such as off-road vehicle gatherings at least 45 days in advance of the events; and to implement interim measures to protect rare and sensitive cultural and biological resources from degradation.
Recognizing that the development of this management plan will be a contentious public battle, DPC Conservation Coordinator Terry Weiner said, “We are dedicated to helping craft a management plan that will enable recovery of some of the damaged areas in Desert Cahuilla and ensure protection of these fragile and beautiful lands for future generations.” Our main goal will be to put as much of the Desert Cahuilla area as possible into the stewardship of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, rather than the less conservation-oriented management of Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. Stay tuned for what is sure to be a raucous public debate. When the time comes, we’ll need all of our members and capable volunteers ready to send in comments and attend public hearings to ensure protections for this worthy area.
For more information, see our joint press release with the Center for Biological Diversity in our Press Releases section.
