Of Tortoises, OHVs in the Mojave and Imputing BRC’s Intentions

The LA Times had a comprehensive story on OHVs on BLM in Southern Cal.

Here’s the summary:

• A federal judge ordered the Bureau of Land Management to close off-road vehicle trails that cut through tortoise habitat in the western Mojave Desert.
• The ruling follows years of legal battles between environmental groups and the BLM.
• Resistance to the decision remains fierce both among Californians that recreate in the area, and the small businesses they support.

It is interesting to note the color in the beginning of the article..

Biologist Ed LaRue, who has taken up the cause of the animals, watched the other day as a lifted pickup truck with a large American flag and a utility task vehicle raced down a trail in the Mojave, sending up plumes of dust. The two vehicles barreled over a road and careened into the Ord Rodman Area, which the federal government has deemed critical to the desert tortoise’s survival. One appeared to then drive off the designated route.

Why use “drove” when you could use “raced” “barreled” and “careened”? Oh, well.

“These public lands are our shared heritage. They provide important habitats for these species and they’re important for many people who love to recreate,” said Lisa Belenky, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “But right now, one form of recreation, motorized recreation, is dominating these lands and literally ruining them.”

So there are ORVs with trails going off-trail (bad)  but it kind of sounds like a slippery slope about vehicles (OHVs and cars) and roads.

LaRue used to work for the BLM as one of two biologists who helped create the West Mojave Plan, which crafted a strategy to conserve more than 100 native plants and animals, a plan that included a survey of the threats affecting local tortoises. The list included upper respiratory tract disease — which scientists attribute to people releasing infected tortoises kept as pets — as well as habitat loss and degradation from a variety of sources, including development, military maneuvers, livestock grazing and offroading.

Vehicle access is linked to more vegetation destruction and soil disturbances, according to the report. That in turn leads to the spread of invasive weeds, which can crowd out the plants tortoises eat and fuel wildfires.

People are also more likely to dump garbage alongside established roads, which can then attract ravens that feed on baby tortoises.

Here’s my favorite part..

Climate change-supercharged droughts, and large-scale solar development across the Mojave have also emerged as growing threats, LaRue said, standing atop the tawny Cinnamon Hills in the Ord Rodman Area. But OHV use is different, he said, because it’s “one of the threats that we could ostensibly control.

So “we” can’t control development, military maneuvers, livestock grazing or large-scale solar development.  That seems problematic. Also problematic is enforcing the route closures. So can “we” really “control” them?

It’s unclear how the agency plans to enforce the route closures across such a massive and remote area. The Barstow and Ridgecrest field offices have 15 law enforcement rangers tasked with overseeing about 5 million acres of land, which includes most of the critical tortoise habitat in the western Mojave.

“I fear that recent staffing cuts and budget reductions are going to make this a difficult challenge for the BLM,” said Randy Banis, president of Friends of Jawbone, a nonprofit that promotes off-roading in Kern County’s Jawbone Canyon.

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The story does talk about the loss to individuals and businesses in the area.

Most painful is the prospect of losing access to cherished places, Travis said. He and his wife may no longer be able to take visitors to Cuddeback Dry Lake Bed, a massive playa they describe as magical, or to some of the nearby hiking trails they’ve grown to love.

“The vastness and the quiet and the peace you get here is unlike anywhere else you can find in California,” Lorene said. “It is devastating to realize a massive amount of land will be completely inaccessible.”

Many off-roaders are good stewards of the environment and shouldn’t be blamed for the continuing decline of the tortoise, the Frankels said, pointing to the ravens as the real issue. The intelligent corvids were once hard to find in the desert but their numbers have exploded due to increases in food, water and perching opportunities that came alongside human development.

I’d be interested in what kind of “human development” occurs on or near BLM land.  Is it just campers that lead to corvids, or towns or ???

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So, just another controversy over uses and impacts.

Except Center for Western Priorities in their newsletter this AM, quotes Jonathon Klein as saying that the BlueRibbon Coalition is a “disinformation group” (I guess that’s code for “someone we disagree with”) and that BRC is only complaining about the closure to  fuel the agenda to sell off public lands.

He notes that BlueRibbon Coalition is led by Ben Burr, a former staffer and relative of Senator Mike Lee, who has a long history of attempting to dismantle public land protections. “They are stooges to these public lands sell-off ghouls and haven’t spoken out about anything but these distractions since the Trump administration’s war against public lands has begun in earnest,” writes Klein.

The article warns that the real threat to Americans’ access to outdoor recreation isn’t the temporary closure to protect wildlife, but the broader movement to dispose of public lands. Klein urges riders not to support groups like Blue Ribbon Coalition, which he says “are fighting against your interests, plain and simple.”

I don’t think that was the CWP’s intent, but the article makes me want to send bucks to BRC.  And I have never ridden an OHV. , Waving the “Mike Lee selling off public lands” fearmongering banner is getting increasingly tiring.  I suppose I should be glad they didn’t bring up the Bundys- this time.