Off - Roaders Fight Ecos for Calif. Canyon

[Judi Lynn]

Off - Roaders Fight Ecos for Calif. Canyon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 17, 2006
Filed at 2:18 p.m. ET

BALLARAT, Calif. (AP) -- Whoever named Surprise Canyon got it right. Mere miles from bone-dry Death Valley, the canyon cradles two unexpected jewels: a gushing mountain stream and what's left of a once-bustling silver mining town.

These treasures have attracted visitors for decades -- and now they're at the heart of a legal battle between off-road drivers and environmentalists.

Five years ago environmentalists successfully sued to get the narrow canyon and its spring-fed waterfalls closed to vehicles, arguing that the federal Bureau of Land Management was not carrying out its duty to protect the land.

In response, more than 80 off-roaders purchased tiny pockets of private land at the top of the canyon, and now they're suing the federal government for access to their property, arguing that the canyon is a public right of way.

It is one of several recent cases that could unlock thousands of miles of roads in federally protected parks around the West.

The fight over Surprise Canyon boils down to whether the rights of private property owners trump the protection of a fragile oasis on public land. The off-roaders have dusted off a Civil War-era mining law that places the public access rights of local governments and private individuals above the rights of the federal government.
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Off-Roading-Rights.html?_r=1&oref=slogin



I wanted to see how the Canyon looks, and immediately saw this article by a 4 X 4 fiend you might find interesting:

Panamint Valley Days
Surprise Canyon 4x4 Trail
NE of Ridgecrest, California

by Vernon B Young

http://www.4x4now.com/trcasc8.htm

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Here are some thumbnails of the Canyon. Just click for larger photos:

http://www.endangeredearth.org/slideshows/SURPRISE/index.htm

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I had no idea there were people around like this. Good grief. I wonder if they'd mind leaving a little planet for the rest of us!

[raysr]

1. I had a jeep for years,

and LOVED off-roading. I'm really torn on this issue today. On edit, the off-roader's I've known were very reponsible and had great repect for the land. No trash or messes. Cleaned everything up when they left. These mountain streams tend to regenerate themselves due to flash floods thereby erasing all traces of man that were left. However...........now, after becoming a hater of republics, most of these off-roaders are republics. So fuck them!

[Submariner]

2. Same here

I love going off road on the Cape Cod beaches and surf fishing, but the few who illegally blast the dunes and bird nests ruin it and make it hard on everybody.

[CRF450]

4. True that most of them are republicans...

But I myself am an offroader, hince my screen name. And yes that is a dirtbike. I hate seing offroad parks close, this is a hobby and a sport that I dont want to give up! Most of my riding is on single trails, mostly woods riding, motoX tracks are not my thing.

[Javaman]

3. Correct me if I'm wrong...

Isn't lead part of the by product of silver mining? Call me kooky, but that would be the last place I would ever want to off road.

Kick up that dust and you get a lung full.