European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 30, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Amid the spreading deserts some Are fighting for their dict Zekind hordes of recreational vehicles. A by Richard Saltus asocial cd press he great California desert an arid Region the size of Ohio is a wonderland of dramatic terrain and Hardy increasingly scarce forms of life it s also a wilderness museum of human Habi tation from the dwellings of prehistoric tribes to the trails of mule skinners and Gold Rush miners. Naturalists scientists and seekers of Solitude love the desert. Rock hounds painters photographers campers horseback riders birdwatchers Dune buggy and motor Cycle devotees descend on the desert on weekends schools and colleges use it As an outdoor Laboratory to study biology and geology. .i,1 6 Litho living raises a Questi " s Over dangers tothe desert and dangers to the free use of it. Will the easily marred Sands be mined and motor cycled into a wasteland will the hordes of weekend Visi tors doom the animal species already rare and endangered will Scenic places be spoiled by Power plants pipelines elect air cables or will even the most responsible re creationists and their off Road vehicles be locked out of desert lands at the Behest of conservationists will miners be pushed off the desert As one mine Union fears and the desert s Mineral resources remain off limits beneath wilderness area closed to mining after years of near anarchy the Federal govern ment has ordered thai these kinds of questions be Scull cd and a master plan for managing the desert recreated. Under a Law passed by Congress last year special s Are combing the 12 5 million acres of Public land in Llic California desert walking driving flying Over it using satellite photos in the first sick of the $40 million planning Effort. In is the most ambitious conservation and development project Ever carried out in the United states according to the us. Bureau of land management. There Are More creatures and plants out Here than anyone Ever says Neil Pfulb. Head of the blk s desert planning staff based in Riverside Calif. By 1980. The staff must Complete the master plan which will iry to strike a balance Between exploiting the desert for us riches and preserving its natural Beauty the stars and stripes the 12.5 million acres of Public land under the Juris diction of the blk which formerly served As a land office to dispose of such lands lie scattered Over 20 to Square Miles that make up one fourth of California land area. Occupying the Southeast Corner of the slate those lands Are intermingled with slate private India municipal and military lands. Competition for lands and resources is keen Here in the desert with a growing demand for outdoor recreation Power Sites Widlic Energy transmission corridors. Grazing Mineral development agriculture and other uses says blk associate director George l. Turcott until recently most people thought of the desert As a Barren hot waste left Over in the Westward March to the California dream on Testate s Lush coast. Some still do. And wonder Why an expanse of Sand an rocks needs preservation. The California desert is one of the last great reservoirs of open space says state blk director de Hastey. It has become a play land for Many of the 12 million people who live jammed into cities and suburbs along the Southern calf Ornia coast. The desert gives us the feeling of an area that has t been carved says Ike eastvold of the Sierra club. You can hike off some roads and in half an hour Forcel that modern civilization Ever existed recreational use of the desert has jumped More than 1000 percent since 1w9 people spent 11.5 million vis Tor " 1873 or Chr h fall to a d1scrt so my grab Lac is a total cosy. Arroll an � Ca i a Usu i calms who i relation grows to Lack an quickly blemishes Are concealed. In the scantily dressed desert any wound remains undisturbed and a Only rarely overgrown. Wandering out from in Sert be. Of a p Tupu tracks a Cal by la � Eno Corge i Utton s forces that trained inure during Wal i Road it " 011 t x?losit"1. Pawned the surge of off not Only do the dirt scattering tires rip trigger erosion they also Send dirt partic fal contributing to air pollution and it storms thai have been photographed by s archaeological Sites and habitats of i have been destroyed by the buggies and b ruts across the huge figures known As Tod carved by ancient Indian tribes into the d along the Colorado River. Desert tortoises Are in bad trouble. That a from prime habitats in the Northwest land development overgrazing and says Kristin Berry wildlife specialist land managements planning staff. Of few destroying at least 200 Square Miles of habitat he says. Off Road vehicle Drivers have formed rations thai protest thai they re Becq. Damned. They contend that the desert ill withstand hard recreational use. C Ler that damage to the soil has been s. Or. Howard Wilshire of the . Studied nine Sites used by off Road vedic by the course of the now prohibited barsto1 motorcycle race. In addition to stripping Small Plant Shire running 3.000 bikes at a Lime Over a out 90 percent of Small mammals Fiat Nivea disputes Between the vehicle us. Zionists with the blk More or teal1 complicate the planning process. When the state of California proposed to a hide recreation areas of 19.000 and m,0�p usher of Cycle sews said. If they think put us on a reservation like the indians w Nave to think again " the Bureau of land management in w interim plan 10 control vehicle use do1 k cent of the desert leaving another i so noted vehicle use and imposing the Rno tur spi its fans feel the plan in lies the com Valn Hiing say in Spoor Toj plan a is Inu nerd la strike a fair Balbo to rms m Al l. The plan intensified the and i in Phirma Iii program by u1
