DesertBlog

ORV tracks in Area of Critical Environmental Concern

Harper Dry Lake, in the western Mojave between Barstow and California City, is not exactly wilderness. The lake is an historic airstrip serving the former town of Lockhart. It is ringed by alfalfa farms, most of them either fallow or abandoned. To the lake’s west is the Luz Solar Electric Generating Station, a 160-megawatt concentrating solar plant comprising the two largest solar fields in the world, covering most of what was Lockhart.

Most of the lake has been dry since the local agricultural economy overdrafted its groundwater, dried up, and blew away, but in its southwest corner the lake still holds marshes fed by runoff from a handful of nearby irrigated fields. Migratory and resident birds take full advantage of the open water, and thus the BLM has designated Harper Dry Lake a Area of Critical Environmental Concern. This designation, made possible by the 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), is given to southwestern places the BLM has determined are in special need of protection to preserve the irreplaceable and rare habitat or other cultural qualities they possess.

Despite its possible lack of wilderness qualities, then, one might expect a certain respect for the lake and its habitat, given that it is one of a very few places in the western Mojave that has open water nearly year-round, an important resting place for migratory wildlife and a gorgeous, quiet oasis.

Sadly, that doesn’t keep people from riding their ORVs through the marsh.

This isn’t news, nor is it surprising to any of us who live with and love these desert landscapes. And the damage shown here isn’t nearly as dramatic as the damage done to the creosote flats that surround the lake, in northwestern San Bernardino and eastern Kern counties, by essentially unregulated ORV use — though it is ironic that with all the hundreds of miles of deserted roads and tracks in the area, people still come to this wildlife gem to ride. It’s just a reminder of how callously some of us treat these irreplaceable treasures, and a reminder that we have to work to keep this kind of damage from continuing.

For more on ORV abuse, check out ORV Watch Kern County, and keep an eye peeled here for the upcoming El Paisano, with lots of useful information compiled by DPC’s Terry Weiner.