Wind-Swept Residents Renew Plea for Help

Although they couldn’t agree on what’s causing the problem, Antelope Valley residents Wednesday renewed their call for county help to combat the dust and sand storms that are a growing plague in the high desert.

About 50 people--farmers, sheep ranchers, developers and residents--turned out for a two-hour hearing in Lancaster on a new county law that requires permits for land-tilling and sheep-grazing in the Antelope Valley. The measure, intended to reduce blowing sand, drew a mixed response.

The Board of Supervisors passed the four-month measure last month after some residents complained that sheep grazing the soil bare were a major cause of erosion. County officials said they are now considering some permanent measure to deal more comprehensively with the problems.

No one could agree during Wednesday’s session on who or what is responsible for the blowing dust and sand--the drought, farmers tilling land, hungry sheep, developers grading land, or just the natural desert environment. But virtually everyone agreed something needs to be done.

“I think it’s obvious there’s a severe dust problem in the valley. It’s awful and something should be done about it,” Lancaster farmer Gene Nebeker said.

During the hearing, residents told of blowing sand creating dunes up to several feet high in roadways, obstructing visibility and causing car accidents, worsening respiratory problems of residents and piling dunes against homes in some outlying areas around Lancaster.

Many of those testifying suggested the county require owners of problem land to furrow it, tilling ridges and trenches meant to collect sand that would otherwise blow across a flat surface. County officials said they would consider that.

“We don’t have any answers about what we’re going to do in the future. We’re looking to you for answers,” said Cato Fiksdal, the deputy county agriculture commissioner who conducted the hearing. Fiksdal said the county expects to have a long-term proposal prepared within several months.