Off-Road Enthusiasts

In “A Desert Dowry” (Dec. 16), you group off-road vehicle enthusiasts like myself along with illegal dumpers and land developers as those who are contributing to the decimation of Joshua trees in Lancaster. This is unfair to off-roaders, who are by and large law-abiding taxpayers who love the desert but who happen to actually go out and enjoy it. By comparison, illegal dumpers are slovens breaking the law, while powerful developers manipulate the law to their own ends, destroy whole areas and call it legal. Moreover, I fail to see how an off-roader can do any significant damage to a Joshua tree--some of them are kind of big.

The preservation of the desert is a very important effort, and many off-roaders are more than willing to be a constructive part of the process. Unsubstantiated, off-the-cuff and prejudiced allegations are counterproductive.

GEORGE BINER

El Segundo