Marc P

As some of you may have heard, the annual CORVA poker run at Truckhaven Hills was recently cancelled due to lawsuits....now Tierra Del Sol is in jeopardy...

Here is the link on Pirate 4x4 for more info..

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=548269

seanz0rz

sigh....

i wish these people could see that using trails does not hurt the environment if done correctly.

i just think there are much bigger fish to fry than this. start going after big companies that pollute.

im too tired to make any sense of anything. just really sucks...

what was there specific reason for shutting down the events?

mastacox

When I become a billionaire, I'll start buying up all the off road parks so we don't have this problem anymore. It'll happen.... maybe.... someday

Marc P

MORE INFO....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2007

Contact: David Hogan, Center for Biological Diversity, (619) 574-6800 or (760) 809-9244
Terry Weiner, Desert Protective Council, (619) 342-5524 or (619) 543-0757

Off-road Vehicles Could Tear Up Desert Parkland,
Endangered Species Habitat

Suit Filed to Stop Destructive Event This Weekend

SAN DIEGO , Calif.? Two conservation groups have filed for an injunction to stop the California Department of Parks and Recreation from allowing hundreds of off-road vehicles to roar through sensitive public parkland on January 20 th and 21 st. The lawsuit, which charges that the Department is violating the California Environmental Quality Act, seeks an immediate injunction to stop the off-road event and a court order requiring environmental review for management of the land, which would bar off-road vehicles till the study is completed. The suit was filed in California Superior Court in Sacramento by the Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Protective Council.

The California Off-Road Vehicle Association?s (CORVA) ?Truckhaven Extreme Challenge Poker Run & Satellite Safari? would occur in a desert area just west of the Salton Sea near Salton City, north of Highway S-22, and west of Highway 86. The event would involve and encourage extensive cross-country travel by hundreds of vehicles (400 in 2006 according to the Association?s Web site). A significant portion of the event would take place on sublime and fragile desert land known as the ?Desert Cahuilla property,? acquired in September 2006 by the California Department of Parks and Recreation for the protection of endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep and other rare wildlife, plants, Native American cultural sites, and fossils.

Addition of the Cahuilla property came after years of work by conservation and Native American groups and lawmakers to secure the land as an expansion of the adjacent Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It now appears that the Parks Department pulled a bait-and-switch: it claimed the land would be added to the state park and, based on this, chose not to prepare an environmental impact report. Now it has decided the land will be jointly managed by the state park and the Off-Highway Vehicle Division ?which has been angling since 1995 to expand the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area for off-road vehicle users?but never went back to do the required environmental impact report on the damage that could be done by this change.

?The off-road event permit is starting to look a lot like a lawless land grab by a desperate motorhead bureaucracy,? said David Hogan, Conservation Manager for the Center for Biological Diversity. ?When will these people start acting responsibly and stop trespassing on others? land??

?We are shocked that State Parks would permit an event that allows access by hundreds of jeeps across areas of Native American cultural sites, rare plant and animal species and endangered bighorn sheep critical habitat before they have a management plan in place for this beautiful area,? added Terry Weiner, Imperial County Projects and Conservation Coordinator for the Desert Protective Council.

The event would also take place on land owned by the California State Lands Commission and Anza-Borrego Foundation. For its part, the State Lands Commission sent a letter on January 17, 2007 notifying CORVA that it ?has no authorization to use state-owned school lands? for the event and requesting that the group ?advise your members and any other event participants that permission to cross State lands?has not been granted, and make every effort to assure that such trespassing will not occur.? The off-road association?s Web site for the event make no mention of the letter nor give any indication that the event has been canceled as of press time.

?The Anza-Borrego Foundation, both as a cooperating association of California State Parks and the owner of property within the Desert Cahuilla area, remains deeply concerned about the decision by Parks to allow continued off-highway vehicle use on this property,? said Diana Lindsay, President of the Anza-Borrego Foundation. ?Such continued use, especially without an interim management plan in place, subjects the property to irreparable damage.?

Staff from the Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Protective Council are available to meet reporters at the site of the event this weekend.

Please visit the Center?s web page to see the conservation groups? lawsuit, the letter from the State Lands Commission denying the California Off-Road Vehicle Association?s requested permit, photographs of ORV use and damage to the area, and more:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/s...lla/index.html

Information on the off-road event, including reports and pictures of the 2006 event is available at: www.corva.org

The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit conservation organization with more than 32,000 members dedicated to the protection of imperiled species and habitat.

The Desert Protective Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to safeguard for present and future generations those desert areas of unique scenic, scientific, historical, spiritual and recreational value and to educate children and adults to a better understanding of the desert

seanz0rz

wow, love the language.... roar through the desert... desperate motorhead bureaucracy... wow...

i do understand where they are coming from. if what they said is true. then an environmental impact report is due. however, they make it sound as we [offroaders] are going to set fire to the land, then salt the earth after we grind up the soil.

RobT2k

I saw in the paper today that the judge denied the tree huggers injunction, but they already won the battle with the cancelled poker run and the paper said the TDS safari has been moved as well. Not sure if the last part is true or not, I'll have to check w/TDS.

ecchamberlin

Great...

Well if TDS goes under we can always find a place to do TDP instead.

Good info Marc thanks for keeping us informed.

Marc P

From the UT today...looks like TDS is moving to Ocotillo Wells


Judge bars foes' bid to block access to state-owned land

By Mike Lee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 27, 2007

Off-road enthusiasts maintained access to a hotly contested recreation site in Imperial County yesterday, when a judge denied a request by environmentalists to immediately bar their vehicles from the area.


The future of the land ? known as both Truckhaven and the ?desert Cahuilla property? ? remains in legal limbo.

The larger and unresolved case involves conservationists' allegations that California State Parks officials didn't do proper environmental reviews when they acquired about 4,000 acres of the site in September.

Yesterday's ruling by Superior Court Judge Gail D. Ohanesian in Sacramento slows the momentum for environmental groups, which were able to force the cancellation of a major off-road event at the same site last weekend.

However, uncertainty about access to the area has prompted organizers of one of the nation's largest off-road gatherings to move their March ?safari? to a different location.



After the ruling, State Parks officials said they would continue to require permits for events on the property while they develop a land-use plan for it. A lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that sued, said that's a good step.
?What we are really seeking is interim protection of the resources,? said Lisa Belenky in San Francisco. ?It's taken (State Parks) a very long time.?

David Hubbard, an attorney for the California Off-Road Vehicle Association in Escondido, said that he was heartened by yesterday's decision, but that ?there is still work to be done? to maintain off-road access.

State Parks spokesman Roy Stearns also was pleased by the ruling.

?We can go forward with good land planning and work to preserve and protect special places within this acquisition at the same time,? he said. ?We do not believe there will be any further harm to the environment beyond what has already occurred? before the state owned the land.

Disputes over off-roading have simmered for years in California, but the current fight marks an escalation of tensions.

The properties purchased by State Parks are part of a checkerboard ownership pattern in a much larger area. The State Lands Commission and the Anza-Borrego Foundation own parcels nearby.

Conservationists want the entire area added to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with the goal of protecting sheep habitat, palm oases and historical American Indian sites.

Off-roaders generally don't mind if sections of Truckhaven are off-limits, but they aim to keep riding trails that they say they have been using for decades. The area's terrain offers some of the most challenging four-wheel drives in California, they say.

The current uproar was sparked last week when the Center for Biological Diversity and the Desert Protective Council filed legal papers to stop the 12th annual Truckhaven Challenge.

In response, the California Off-Road Vehicle Association dropped its request for a permit and officially canceled its program.

David Hogan, San Diego-based conservation manager for the biological center, showed up at the site last Saturday and said he saw ?the best-organized and best-attended so-called canceled event that I have ever witnessed.?

Hubbard responded in court papers that such accusations were ?flat wrong.?

Regardless, the flare-up quickly worked in the environmentalists' favor. Tierra Del Sol, a large four-wheel-drive club in San Diego, has decided to move its annual March event from Truckhaven to the nearby Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. Its Desert Safari attracted about 18,000 people last year.

?We are in this for long run, and we are willing to do what we can to support the continued existence of off-road recreation in that area,? said John Stewart, a consultant who works with off-road groups on resource issues. ?If that means we have to wait until the state does . . . the environmental documentation, then fine.?

sdstud212001

So glad I moved out of San Diego

wifesaysimadumbass

what there are no hippies in arizona? this is coming your way pal get ready.... it will be the endangered fairy gerbil that only live in areas right near where you love..... pretty soon we'll all be criminals

Pirate in Paradise

Center for Biological Diversity

Well....ain't that just a touchy feely title

I wonder if they filed all that drivel on recycled toilet paper?

Marc P

The Center for Biological Diversity is based in Tucson AZ....you will be next

crackerjack

[QUOTE=seanz0rz;50408551]sigh...

i just think there are much bigger fish to fry than this. start going after big companies that pollute.

Isn't kinda like making a separate deal with an alligator in hopes that it will eat you last?

wifesaysimadumbass

the biggest paradox with these "evironmentalists" is that they use one of the biggest sources of paper wasters in the world.... the US government via the court system..... when was the last time our government did something that wasn't wasteful? i've never seen any impact studies on how many f*@kin trees these a#@holes have to waste in order to complete one of their stupid lawsuits

Marc P

Looks like TDS is moving to Ocotillo Wells...that will be dissapointing for the hardcore crowd.

http://www.tds4x4.com/safariinfo.htm

I think the YT crew should camp and wheel Truckhaven.

ecchamberlin

I think you are correct sir. We should just do our own thing.

I also find it funny that they do not want orginized groups to do larger runs. Even though it is the larger groups that could easily be heald more accountable for any damage to trails or trash left behind. The individual small group seem much harder to hold responsible for any problems that come up.

Every org'd run I have been on has had dumpsters and strick trail run rule that were enforced.

I just don't get it. Maybe the big org'd runs are just better targets for these activists? Gives them a sense of victory that also helps them rally other like minded people to their cause and raise more money?

Tanto

I'm sure that there is quite a bit if legal digging to close-down a run and the amount of time that these events are scheduled for probably makes it easier to get all the paperwork filed in time.

Think about the media coverage too. I think they're just picking their battles to do the most damage.

deathrunner

Godzilla

bahaha,,,those are the species that should become extinct. lets see...homo homo homo sapiens, hairius bushiess, artsus studentis, oldus uglius ladius, selfus richeousnessis,,and so on and so forth..

wifesaysimadumbass

first step to a cleaner environment trash your 80s volvo or70's vw van
second take a bath(not in pechouly oil)
third stop wasting trees by having paper intensive lawsuits and impact studies