BLM must revise parts of West Mojave Plan

April Reese

A federal judge has ordered the Bureau of Land Management to reconsider portions of a sweeping management plan for the western Mojave Desert governing off-highway vehicle (OHV) use, affirming environmental groups' contention that the plan failed to adequately protect desert species and their habitats, air quality and cultural resources.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled Jan. 30 that BLM must consider alternatives in its West Mojave Plan that would scale back an estimated 5,000 OHV routes that crisscross the region, some of which have caused extensive damage, according to the coalition of environmental groups that challenged the plan.

Illston gave the agency until 2014 to complete a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), which must include a more thorough examination of the potential impacts of OHV use on desert resources. Meanwhile, BLM must post signs at the entrance to each designated route to clearly delineate which trails are open. The agency is also required to monitor air quality in the area, which lies within a basin that is in violation of Clean Air Act standards. A federal judge has ordered the Bureau of Land Management to revisit portions of its West Mojave Plan pertaining to off-highway vehicle (OHV) use. The region is estimated to have 5,000 OHV routes, including many unauthorized trails.

The San Francisco-based court also directed BLM to re-examine grazing designations in the West Mojave region after finding the agency failed to fully analyze grazing's effects on sensitive desert soils in its first EIS.
The decision breaks a stalemate between BLM and environmentalists, who could not agree on how to implement an earlier 2009 ruling rejecting parts of the West Mojave Plan.

The plan was initially challenged by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Desert Survivors, which argued the plan violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by favoring OHV use over protection of sensitive desert resources.

In her latest order, Illston dismissed a request by environmentalists to force BLM to close three off-road vehicle areas. But those areas -- Juniper Flats, Edwards Bowl and Wonder Valley -- will be included in the agency's re-examination of its OHV route system.

David Briery, a spokesman for BLM's California Desert district, noted that the decision struck down only certain parts of the plan and left much of it intact.

"While the judge's ruling specifically requires BLM to revisit the portion of the West Mojave Plan that relates to off-highway vehicle route designations, it's important to note that other parts of the plan were found to be sound," he wrote in an e-mail. "Portions of the plan that deal with conservation and habitat protection -- among other things -- will be left in place."

The OHV revision will be developed with full public involvement, he added.

John Stewart of the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs said that even though he believed BLM's current plan was adequate to protect desert resources, he could accept the ruling. "I think given all circumstances it was a reasonable result," he said.

Ileene Anderson, a Los Angeles-based biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said she was pleased with outcome, even though the court failed to impose a tighter, two-year timeline for BLM to issue its revisions.
The 2014 deadline "is not unreasonable," she said. "That's pretty quick for BLM to do a supplemental EIS."

Anderson said the biggest victory for environmental groups was the requirement to clearly mark which trails and roads are open to OHVs and which are not. Initially, BLM had wanted to post signs marking only closed routes.

"We always maintained that a closed sign can disappear, and then it looks like the route is open," she said. The new signs will help OHV riders understand where they can and cannot go and allow for better enforcement of closures, she added. New vs. old routes

The fracas over OHV use in the sprawling section of California desert dates back nearly a decade, when in 2002 BLM expanded OHV access in some parts of the West Mojave. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2006 to scale back the OHV provisions.

Under Illston's latest decision, BLM must either comply with a larger land use plan for the California Desert region that limits OHVs to the route system that existed in 1980, or amend the West Mojave plan to lift that restriction and determine what new routes should be added. That's likely to be a daunting task, given the huge increase in OHV ridership and the expansion of the trail network over the ensuing decades.

Anderson of CBD said no one knows which OHV routes date back that far, and many of the current routes have been blazed over the past 30 years, some without authorization from BLM.

"That's theoretically what should be done, but there's no way we can go back to 1980 because there's no inventory from 1980," she said.

Anderson and Stewart also agreed that BLM will likely have a hard time finding the money and resources to comply with the judge's order. The signs, air quality monitoring and new enforcement required by the court may force BLM to divert resources from other priorities, Anderson said.

"I know BLM has been struggling with a lack of money in failing to implement the plan," Stewart added. "It's a tough road for them to please everybody."

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Source: Land Letter

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