Coalition Fights Plan to Reopen Dunes

A coalition of a dozen national conservation groups is fighting the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s plan to open all but a small portion of the Imperial Sand Dunes to recreational vehicle use, continuing a protracted legal battle over access to the 160,000-acre dunes east of San Diego.

The conservation groups, which claim more than 2 million members, filed a protest with the Department of the Interior this week opposing the BLM’s decision to abandon a 3-year-old policy that set aside about 50% of the dunes to protect rare plants and animals.

A handful of off-road vehicle groups previously lodged a protest against the proposed management plan, which was announced last month. Those groups are unhappy that the policy -- which would allow vehicle access to more than 100,000 acres of the dunes -- still bans off-road driving on more than 50,000 acres of protected areas.

The protests will be considered by the BLM, which is expected to officially adopt the plan next month.

The Imperial Sand Dunes is the most popular off-road recreation area in the Southwest. As many as 250,000 visitors congregate there on busy weekends, creating a regional law enforcement headache. Earlier this year, the California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission denied the BLM more than $1 million in state funding, accusing the agency of poor management of the dunes.

The Sierra Club, Wilderness Society and several other conservation groups said they will challenge the agency in court if it doesn’t protect more of the dunes. “They are blowing off so many environmental laws, they are vulnerable legally,” said Karen Schambach, director of the California chapter of the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

She said the decision runs afoul of the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act, among others. A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit brought in January by off-road interests that had argued there was no legal justification for the original closures.

At issue is protection for the Pierson’s milk vetch plant and the desert tortoise. Both are classified as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has judged that the primary threat to the purple plant is off-road vehicles and recreation in the dunes. Off-road organizations contest that finding and are petitioning to have the plant taken off the list. It is but one of the potential legal strategies recreational riders say they will pursue to gain access to more of the dunes.

“Both sides are unhappy. We are as unhappy as they are,” said Mark Harms, legal chairman of the American Sand Assn., a group representing dune riders. “Twenty years ago, we had 80% of the California desert. Now it’s in the neighborhood of 3 1/2% to 4 1/2%. If they are going to go to court, we are going to go toe-to-toe with them.”