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Another Johnson Valley thread!

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Just another minion!
We had the 7th meeting of Friends of Johnson Valley last night.
Since you all asked me to keep you informed and be NAXJA's rep. on
the BOD of FOJV, I'll post up what is going on.

First off, I'd like to thank the members of NAXJA that attended any of the
scoping meetings that took place over the last week.
Helen Baker told me she met a few of the NAXJA people and she is grateful for your participation.

Some tough questions were asked last night and real answers were given.

First, I brought up the topic of mitigation. That is the avenue in which we would be given other BLM land in exchange (or for compensation) for the loss of land in JV.
Chances are that is not going to happen. The BLM has no mechanism to even propose such a transfer. The Marines also have no say in land exchanges. If we lose JV our only hope would be that effected state agencies (The Forestry Service for example, who would probably bear a good portion of the displaced 4X crowd) would petition the state to create additional off road vehicle parks or open other BLM land. Possible, but opening new land would be a tough sell.

Second, there was a level of disappointment in the turnout at the scoping meetings. I didn't agree that a low turnout should be viewed as disappointing. It's my contention that having one person at the meeting who there after presents all the information gathered to a larger group achieves the same goals. Those goals being the generation of letters to elected officials and the Marines as well as the dissemination of information to the user groups effected. We decided that it was more important to get the letters written than to make some sort of 'show of force' at these meetings.
More on the letters later.

We also were given a timeline that now becomes our most important factor in saving JV. We have until January 31st to get every letter sent that we can. I don't have the time to go into great detail about how these letters should be written, go to the FOJV site at www.FOJV.org and read up. Take the time. Do it.

I also volunteered to organize people to get out to JV and hand out fliers and the form letters as well as stickers to everyone who enters JV. Starting with the Boone Rd exit and heading west as people are available.

I'm hoping to count on this chapter to handle a couple of weekends between now and the Jan. 31st deadline.

Post up here if you could spare a Friday afternoon (the most active time for people to enter JV) to sit at the Boone Rd exit and hand out information. I plan on spending Friday afternoon, January 9th there. Anyone want to accompany me?

FOJV will be there the weekend of January 16 and will be having our next meeting on the lakebed on Saturday morning. Those who wish to attend are welcome to come on out.
We also appear to have the New Years Holiday covered as well.

Additionally....:D
We all need to remember that this expansion is not a forgone conclusion. The 29 Palms base is already the largest military base in the country, and presently they only use 40% of the land available to them on the base. Why can't they come up with a solution within the existing boundaries of the base?

Anyway, I am here for any questions and I encourage you all to visit
www.fojv.org.

thanks

Rick
 
Rick has there been any talk of declassifying the Wilderness Areas to the east and adding them to 29 Palms.
 
Rick has there been any talk of declassifying the Wilderness Areas to the east and adding them to 29 Palms.

Yes.
But what do you think the chances are that our Senate approves declassifation of any land?
The land in question would be a viable alternative though.
We have taken this option into account, after all it is the Marine Corps option #3 and one of our chances to keep JV....
 
Yes.
But what do you think the chances are that our Senate approves declassifation of any land?

Congress can just as easily declasify a WA as it can transfering administration of the JV BLM Open Lands to the USMC.

But yes I understand your point, it's time to make our voices heard.
 
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