Desert Park Rangers Angered by Easing of Off-Road Vehicle Ban

In a move that has angered park rangers, the state will soon ease a ban on unlicensed, off-road vehicles in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to allow groups of off-road enthusiasts back on park trails.

Since last May, dirt bikes, three- and four-wheel all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and some dune buggies have been banned from the 600,000-acre park because some riders had veered off of trails and damaged environmentally and archeologically sensitive sites.

But new guidelines being prepared by the state Department of Parks and Recreation would loosen the restrictions to allow groups of people to ride the unlicensed vehicles over the 500 miles of park roads. The final regulations, which would require ATV users to obtain permits from park rangers, could be ready as soon as next month, state Parks Director Henry Agonia said Wednesday.

While the prospect of riding in the park again has delighted off-road vehicle enthusiasts, it has angered Anza-Borrego park rangers, who say the ban brought a new kind of tranquility for campers and other users of the desert playground.

“The effect on the park and the visitor’s experience here was like rolling the calendar back 25 years,” said Mark Jorgensen, a naturalist at Anza-Borrego--the largest state park in the continental United States.

“The general user comes out, flags you down on the roadway and says, ‘Thanks for letting us have our park back,’ ” Jorgensen said.

Now, Anza-Borrego park rangers are so disturbed by the planned easing of the ban that they have sent a protest letter to Agonia, Jorgensen said.

Staff Strategy

“The staff has decided to get together in its off-duty hours and figure out what we’re going to do about this,” Jorgensen said of the 24 employees at the park. “We don’t want the public to think that we’re sitting back and letting the park be degraded.”

Agonia, however, said Wednesday that the new rules were envisioned when the ban was put into effect. It is only now that his department has gotten around to hammering out the language to put the regulations into effect, he said.

“It’s a little late to be objecting to it,” Agonia said.

Rick Bates, president of the California Off-Road Vehicle Assn., agreed that the original ban called for a special permit for groups of riders.

But, Bates added, that provision was not enough. Angered by the ban and other differences with Agonia, Bates said the association mounted an intense letter-writing campaign opposing the park director’s confirmation.

Facing such political heat, Agonia agreed to streamline the permit process so that groups of off-road vehicle users could have freer access to Anza-Borrego, Bates said. As a result, the association stopped writing letters, and Agonia was confirmed by the state Senate on Monday without dissent.

Greater Control

Agonia said requiring permits would allow park rangers greater control over who can ride off-road vehicles in the desert. Riders in the past were allowed to enter the park freely without restriction, but the new rules would force them to meet face-to-face with rangers to fill out the permit applications and listen to a recitation of park rules.

The Park Department has yet to determine the size and number of groups that will be allowed inside the park under the permit system, Agonia said.

Currently, the ban does not affect so-called “street legal” vehicles, such as four-wheel-drive trucks and motorcycles. These have proper equipment--mirrors, turn signals, mufflers, license plates--and their drivers are required to carry liability insurance.