L A Times & motorcycles at Juniper Flats

The LA Times published their long awaited article on this contentious issue.
Mike Castro's mug graced the front page of the California section. Bad JuJu, man!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rangewar25mar25,1,2862980.story?coll=la-home-local

Here is an excerpt:
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Concern over the potential for permanent loss of some resources ? especially archeological remains and wildlife habitat ? has spurred former BLM Barstow field manager Alden Sievers to publicly accuse the agency of failing to protect the area from an "inappropriate use that flies in the face of all the work we did in developing a cultural resource management plan for the area in 1988."

That kind of talk does not sit well with Mike Castro, a neighbor of Greenwalt's and an off-road motorcyclist who vowed to continue riding the trail he described as "one of the best."

Sitting on a cot in his spare wood-frame home about a mile from Cottonwood Springs, the lanky, long-haired man who charges people $4 a person to cross his land, said environmentalists "don't understand that there are others with a different opinion who are taxpayers and happen to be motorcycle riders."

He also suggested that the recent spate of fence cutting could be the result of motorcyclists "responding to overzealous attempts to sabotage or close them off."

Champion off-road motorcyclist Ty "Zipty" Davis, who has been riding in the area for 26 years, agreed.

"The environmentalists are [angering] motorcyclists, so now some people are cutting fences," he said. "I can see this whole thing evolving into a ground war, which is where it maybe needs to go.

"The environmentalists have all kinds of money, dwell on closing the land and want to fight in the courts?. If it was the old days, they wouldn't be so aggressive. In those days, people fought for their stuff. They just duked it out."

Davis also said the "trails I've burned with my motorcycle have actually improved conditions for wildlife. Animals use those trails now. It's the coolest thing."
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I'd copy the entire article but..... it would be wrong.

Celtfire