OFF-ROADERS BOOTED FROM ARIZONA MONUMENT DUE TO ABUSES

[nosmokes]

Mark your calendars! The BLM is actually protecting land entrusted to it. color me gobsmacked.
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original-peer

For Immediate Release: May 13, 2008
Contact: Carol Goldberg [phone]

OFF-ROADERS BOOTED FROM ARIZONA MONUMENT DUE TO ABUSES

— Section of Sonoran Desert National Monument Off-Limits to ORVs for Two-Years

Tucson — A large portion of the Sonoran Desert National Monument will be closed to off-road vehicle traffic for two years to help it recover from the environmental toll of growing motorized abuse, according to agency e-mails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This would be the first long-term ORV ban on BLM public lands in Arizona due to natural resource damage.

Under orders to be published this week in the Federal Register, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages the monument, will declare nearly 55,000 acres (approximately four times the land area of Manhattan) off-limits to all ORV traffic for “up to two years or more, depending on the restoration success,” according to the acting monument manager. An estimated 90 miles of ORV routes will also be closed to motorized use. This no-ORV zone lies southeast of the North Maricopa Mountains wilderness.

“BLM is taking a good first step toward protecting the Sonoran Desert National Monument from off-road excess,” stated Southwest PEER Director Daniel Patterson, an ecologist who formerly worked with BLM. “It is the first of what likely will be many more ORV bans to shield public lands that cannot handle the growing motorized traffic and are literally being ripped apart.”

Located between Phoenix and Tucson, the nearly half-million acre Sonoran Desert National Monument includes some of the most scenic and biologically rich desert lands in North America. The Monument has also seen an exponential increase in ORV traffic that, by BLM’s own admission, is beyond its ability to effectively manage. Damage to its lands has reached the point where, last year, agency officials suggested a monument-wide prohibition on ORV use.

Unfortunately, the deteriorating situation at the Sonoran Desert National Monument is becoming prevalent on public lands across the West. Beyond the environmental toll, off-road vehicles are now, by far, the number one law enforcement problem on federal lands in the Southwest, according to agency statistics compiled by PEER. Increasingly, agencies such as the BLM and U.S. Forest Service are overwhelmed by the sheer number of off-roaders, widespread disregard for agency route restrictions and the enormous, cumulative damage inflicted on the landscapes.

For the Sonoran Desert National Monument, the length of the ORV-ban and the restoration criteria will be much scrutinized. The Federal Register notice will spell out those terms and go into effect 30 days later, sometime in mid-June.

“This protective order is long overdue, and two years will likely not be enough time to heal the land from the extensive ORV damage.” added Patterson. "This is a good move, but BLM must do more to truly manage the Sonoran Desert and other monuments for conservation, rather than for how much abuse they can withstand."

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complete release including links to related sources here

[Warpy]

1. Wow, somebody's going to get into a lot of touble

for protecting public land and inconveniencing conspicuous consumers with gas powered toys and no respect for the land.

It's just a shame that the clods ruined it for people who enjoy exploring off road while sticking to rough trails and not spoiling fragile wilderness.

I imagine Patterson will be looking for a new job instead of the clods looking for new territory to spoil.

[G_j]

11. maybe Bush will write a signing order.. n/t

[alstephenson]

2. Good!!!

Maybe this will set a precedent.

[blondeatlast]

3. Good! That is some of the most breathtaking scenery one could ever hope to see.

Whenever I go to Tucson or points south, I take Arizona Highway 79 even though it's a much longer drive; seeing that incredible beauty just restores me somehow.

[Greyskye]

4. My father was career BLM

The BLM used to actually protect the Public land.

He started working for the BLM in the early 60's, and was proud of the Bureaus charter to protect the public land. He chose to take early retirement under Reagan in the 80's, when James Watt was the Secretary of the Interior (the parent organization of the Bureau of Land Management). He did that because he was being forced to carry out policies which were anti-environmental, pro-business, and diametrically opposed to everything he had spent his entire career working for.

We was a Political Science major in college, now pursuing his first love, and is heavily involved in the Democratic Party in Oregon. He and Mom are both disappointed ex-Hillary fans who are now Pro-Obama. I'm sure that he will be thrilled that the BLM is starting to go back to its' roots. :thumbsup:

[Neshanic]

5. Thank you President Clinton and Bruce Babbitt.

"President Clinton designated seven new national monuments as well as expanding an existing monument on January 17, 2001, at the recommendation of Interior Secratary Bruce Babbit. The seven new monuments are Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Pompey's Pillar National Monument, Carrizo Plain National Monument, Sonoran Desert National Monument, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, Minidoka Internment National Monument, and U.S. Virgin Island Coral Reef National Monument. Buck Island Reef National Monument was expanded by 18,135 acres."

If Babbitt was not the visionary he is, this would now be in the hands of 10 developers with 50 master planned communities.

It is truly a spectacular place.

[coriolis]

6. big whoop...55000 acres is about 9 x 9 miles.

:eyes:

[blondeatlast]

7. Most of the area isn't usable by motorized traffic, so yes, it's a HUGE deal for those

of us who value the vanishing Sonoran Desert.

It's along a 100+ strtch of state highway and a singularly beautiful drive.

So, :eyes: right backatcha..

[coriolis]

8. I suppose it's better than nothing.

Makes me think about the stimulus checks...

[struggle4progress]

9. That landscape is so fragile that the scars will remain for a century or more

[lonestarnot]

10. Bout damned time! K & R