- Location
- Desert Beach So Cal
While the major theme of this article deals with motorized recreation and the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, the specter of "threatened and endangered species" extends past the dunes area.
This is a win; it is not the end of the fight for access to public lands.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20030410-9999_2m10turtle.html
Land closed to protect tortoise to be reopened for off-roading
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20030410-9999_2m10turtle.html#
By Dwight Daniels
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 10, 2003
Even as off-road vehicle enthusiasts filed a lawsuit in Salt Lake
City yesterday to force the federal government to protect an
endangered desert tortoise, they received news that land previously
closed to protect the species will be reopened for off-roading.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an opinion in El Centro
that called for reopening the popular Imperial Sand Dunes for
recreational use despite concerns over the tortoise and the
purple-flowered Peirson's milk-vetch.
The announcement came as part of a long-awaited recreation management
plan for eastern Imperial County, one of the nation's most popular
off-road areas.
The opinion did not sit well with environmentalists who said they may
challenge it in court.
"It's really a sad day for anyone that believes in balanced land
management or using good science," said desert ecologist Daniel
Patterson of the Center for Biological Diversity.
In February, off-road vehicle enthusiasts had sued the Fish and
Wildlife Service to force it to decide whether to remove the
"threatened" designation from the milk-vetch that has kept them out
of nearly 50,000 acres of desert sand dunes overseen by the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management.
Now off-roaders are hoping their newest lawsuit in Salt Lake City
will ultimately pressure the Interior Department to reopen more than
6 million acres of land where the endangered tortoise exists.
The reptile, living in the Mojave and Colorado/Sonoran deserts of
California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern
Arizona, was first listed as endangered in 1989 after
upper-respiratory-tract infections began harming tortoise populations.
"The agency has spent millions and denied access to large areas of
land, but the tortoise is closer to extinction than it ever was,"
said David Hubbard, an attorney representing the off-roaders, among
them the San Diego Off-Road Coalition.
If the tortoise population continues to stagger, the off-roaders may
never be able to return to the land they wish to use, he said.
Off-roaders want the bureau and other federal agencies to act to save
the tortoise so they can return to the desert.
"We simply are demanding that these government agencies comply with
their own regulations and take a close examination of the millions of
acres that have been needlessly closed," said Michelle Cassella of
the American Motorcycle Association.
In the El Centro opinion issued yesterday, Fish and Wildlife Service
officials called for monitoring the milk-vetch population over the
next four years to determine if it drops below a certain threshold.
The opinion said the tortoise population isn't likely to be harmed by
the decision to allow recreational use since it is most prevalent on
the periphery of the species' range.
Still, officials will be required to increase public awareness about
the tortoise and develop a means for individual sightings to be
recorded and tortoise deaths to be reported.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml>http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
This is a win; it is not the end of the fight for access to public lands.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20030410-9999_2m10turtle.html
Land closed to protect tortoise to be reopened for off-roading
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20030410-9999_2m10turtle.html#
By Dwight Daniels
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 10, 2003
Even as off-road vehicle enthusiasts filed a lawsuit in Salt Lake
City yesterday to force the federal government to protect an
endangered desert tortoise, they received news that land previously
closed to protect the species will be reopened for off-roading.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an opinion in El Centro
that called for reopening the popular Imperial Sand Dunes for
recreational use despite concerns over the tortoise and the
purple-flowered Peirson's milk-vetch.
The announcement came as part of a long-awaited recreation management
plan for eastern Imperial County, one of the nation's most popular
off-road areas.
The opinion did not sit well with environmentalists who said they may
challenge it in court.
"It's really a sad day for anyone that believes in balanced land
management or using good science," said desert ecologist Daniel
Patterson of the Center for Biological Diversity.
In February, off-road vehicle enthusiasts had sued the Fish and
Wildlife Service to force it to decide whether to remove the
"threatened" designation from the milk-vetch that has kept them out
of nearly 50,000 acres of desert sand dunes overseen by the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management.
Now off-roaders are hoping their newest lawsuit in Salt Lake City
will ultimately pressure the Interior Department to reopen more than
6 million acres of land where the endangered tortoise exists.
The reptile, living in the Mojave and Colorado/Sonoran deserts of
California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern
Arizona, was first listed as endangered in 1989 after
upper-respiratory-tract infections began harming tortoise populations.
"The agency has spent millions and denied access to large areas of
land, but the tortoise is closer to extinction than it ever was,"
said David Hubbard, an attorney representing the off-roaders, among
them the San Diego Off-Road Coalition.
If the tortoise population continues to stagger, the off-roaders may
never be able to return to the land they wish to use, he said.
Off-roaders want the bureau and other federal agencies to act to save
the tortoise so they can return to the desert.
"We simply are demanding that these government agencies comply with
their own regulations and take a close examination of the millions of
acres that have been needlessly closed," said Michelle Cassella of
the American Motorcycle Association.
In the El Centro opinion issued yesterday, Fish and Wildlife Service
officials called for monitoring the milk-vetch population over the
next four years to determine if it drops below a certain threshold.
The opinion said the tortoise population isn't likely to be harmed by
the decision to allow recreational use since it is most prevalent on
the periphery of the species' range.
Still, officials will be required to increase public awareness about
the tortoise and develop a means for individual sightings to be
recorded and tortoise deaths to be reported.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml>http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
