BLM Meeting

I attended a meeting today held by the Bureau of Land Management concerning access issues that affect their entire management area. There were about 100 people who attended. The equestrians and off-road vehicle people were well represented.

The equestrians have been concerned because of recent comments made at a meeting concerning the classification of horse use as "heavy impact". It was agreed that the equestrians would draw up a proposal for their use to be classified as "low impact".

Because of the expansion of Fort Irwin and the settlement of the lawsuit with the Southwest Center for Biodiversity and the Sierra Club, the Bureau of Land Management is being pushed to develop a new open route system considering endangered species and access. This will affect the entire management plan area for the Bureau of Land Management from Barstow, Needles, Joshua Tree, El Mirage, etc. They are mapping the entire area indicating all the roads that are in existence and deciding which ones should be closed.

There is another meeting on May 14th 9:00 AM at the Green Tree Inn in Victorville, you can't miss it off of Palmdale Road exit.

I ordered copies of the preliminary maps for the Deep Creek and El Mirage areas. There are many places that will be affected and you can receive copies of these preliminary maps for any areas that you are interested in. The Bureau of Land Management then would appreciate the public's input on these roads, which ones are important to them and why. They would also like to know when their maps are inaccurate.