BLM Reaffirms Closure of Sand Dunes to Off-Roaders

The Bureau of Land Management on Friday reaffirmed its decision to close 49,300 acres in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area east of Brawley.

Off-road vehicle enthusiasts vowed to continue their fight to get the regulation lifted. The closure, which affects about a third of the recreation area, is meant to protect the Peirson’s milk vetch, an endangered plant that grows only in the Imperial Valley desert.

“We have been recreating out there for years and the plant has increased,” said Jerry Seaver, president of the La Verne-based American Sand Assn. “We see no conflict.”

Seaver’s group plans to appeal the bureau’s decision through a process provided for by the Department of Interior.

Daniel Patterson, desert biologist with the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, which had sued the bureau to force the closure, praised the agency for “keeping its word to protect imperiled wildlife and the public lands they depend on.”

The dispute involves differing estimates about whether the milk vetch is flourishing or is close to extinction. So far, the bureau has sided with environmentalists.

The sand dunes, some of the tallest and most majestic in the western United States, have long been a favorite site for off-roaders who love skimming across the desert at high speed. More than 80,000 of them flock to the area each Thanksgiving weekend.

Also on Friday, the bureau issued three closure orders meant to protect desert tortoise habitat.

One closes 25,600 acres east of the Imperial dunes to camping; a second closes 3,200 acres north of Adelanto in San Bernardino County to vehicle use; and a third closes four areas in the western Mojave Desert.

The bureau was forced to reconsider its closure decision in the sand dunes after the American Sand Assn. raised a legal challenge.

While the association plans an appeal to overturn the no-drive rule, the diversity center said it will continue urging the bureau to monitor compliance by off-roaders and seek prosecution of violators.