Weekend Riders Fight Backers of Desert Park Plan

Off-road enthusiasts and environmentalists are squaring off over whether a chunk of the Mojave Desert used as a weekend playground should be made into a national park.

Supporters of the park plan say the 1.5 million acres of high desert needs protection from the “weekend warriors” who tear up the fragile habitat and mangle small animals with their jacked-up pickup trucks, all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles.

“Unless action is taken soon, many of the California desert’s loveliest lands will be destroyed forever,” says Peter Burk, president of Citizens for Mojave National Park.

Opponents disagree, claiming the national park designation will bring visitors from all over the country to the area 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles, increasing the number of annual visitors tenfold and defeating the very purpose of those who want to protect the land from overuse.

Visitors Could Swell

Gerald Hillier, district manager of the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that currently controls the land, said that about 70,000 people visit the East Mojave National Scenic Area annually--most of them from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

He predicted that figure could swell to 750,000 a year if the area were designated a national park.

Park critics also say national park restrictions would unfairly block miners, cattle ranchers, off-road vehicles, rock collectors and hunters from the desert.

“Once they make that a wilderness area, nobody is going to be allowed in there at all,” said Mary McKey, a Fontana off-roader who is helping distribute cards opposing the plan to be mailed to congressional leaders.

Simmering Debate

The debate over the fate of the land has been simmering for years, but it was rekindled earlier this year when Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston unveiled a bill to put the area known as the East Mojave National Scenic Area under national park protection.

The battle for the East Mojave will be heating up in the coming weeks. The Barstow City Council and Chamber of Commerce have scheduled meetings later this month, and off-road groups are holding strategy meetings from Los Angeles to Barstow.

Several members of the House Interior Committee will tour the area March 28 by car and helicopter to acquaint themselves with the terrain and the issues.

Many park critics say the tour will show the congressmen that the area, which many know only as the barren stretch of landscape to the east of the highway midway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, is not special enough to warrant more protection.

Unique Features

Others say the area has many unique, delicate features that need more care, from Indian rock paintings known as petroglyphs, to the 130-mile, rugged wagon trail known as Mojave Road, built by the Army in 1859 to link Ft. Piute to civilization.

The area is bounded by Interstate 40 on the south, a valley near the Nevada border on the east, Interstate 15 on the north and Baker and environs on the west.

The area is also home to more

than 300 animal species, including 36 kinds of reptiles and mammals ranging from the bighorn sheep to the porcupine.

Cranston has said the plan would not cost taxpayers much money because the land is already federally owned.

The bill would merely transfer the land from the control of the Bureau of Land Management to the National Park Service, both part of the Interior Department.

Potential Cost

If the area is turned into a park, however, taxpayers would probably have to eventually pay for a staff of rangers, a headquarters building and information centers, Citizens for Mojave National Park board member Stan Murphy said.

No estimate has been made on the cost, he said.

The key difference between the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service is that the bureau allows more varied use of the land, such as livestock grazing, mining, hunting and off-road use.

Howard Dare, a Hinkley resident and president of the loosely knit United Mining Councils of America, said there are deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead and “rare earths” in the East Mojave.

Officials say there are about 8,000 mining claims staked out in the area, although only three are active.