Off-roading holiday of death & destruction at dunes
People & child killed, land trashed, yet Bush Interior Dept. wants to expand off-roading
GLAMIS, CA – Over 200,000 off-roaders mobbed the Algodones (Imperial) Sand Dunes over the Thanksgiving holiday. At least six people were killed in off-roading incidents in Imperial County, including a five-year-old boy. At least one off-roader overdosed. The environment, air, and endangered species habitat were trashed.
Hospitals in Imperial and Yuma County were slammed. Imperial County Deputy Coroner Henry Proo called it “the worst weekend I have ever seen.” (Yuma Sun, Nov. 27).
Despite all the death and environmental destruction, the Bush Interior Department is still aggressively pushing to expand off-roading at the dunes by reversing a five-year-old conservation agreement.
“What doesn't BLM (Bureau of Land Management) understand about Glamis? Despite spending millions of dollars out there, an irreplaceable national landmark is being destroyed, children are being killed, mayhem continues, and BLM acts like everything would be just hunky-dory if they could just have more off-roaders out there. It's madness!” said Karen Schambach, California Director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER represents the concerns of many affected Interior Department biologists and staff.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced it will reconsider an off-road industry demand to end Endangered Species Act protection for the Peirson’s milk-vetch, an endangered attractive flowering plant found only at the Algodones Dunes.
Off-road industry lobbyists pushed for the de-listing before, but just last year FWS biologists said it was not justified. But this spring, Bush Interior Department political appointee Julie MacDonald took a trip to the dunes with off-road lobbyists to discuss ending Endangered Species Act protection for the milk-vetch.
Several months ago, the Center for Biological Diversity's Deserts Program filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking details of MacDonald’s trip, but Interior has not released the records. U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, who represents Imperial County, has been asked to investigate.
A federal court recently ruled that the flat-tailed horned lizard must be considered for Endangered Species Act protection in part due to off-roading damage in Imperial County.
In addition to the Peirson’s milk-vetch, the desert tortoise and dozens of endemic dunes plants and animals are imperiled by extreme off-roading at the Algodones Dunes. Hikers, birdwatchers, photographers and other people are displaced from the dunes by hordes of off-roaders and related dangers.
Watch for more problems and deaths every weekend, but especially over Christmas & New Years, Presidents Day, and Easter. At least two off-roaders were killed at the dunes over Halloween.
The Algodones Dunes are a fragile and scenic place being sacrificed to ‘Mad Max on meth’ mayhem. People and the environment are being killed out there due to Bush administration and industry anti-conservation ideology, and it has to stop.
Comments
Dude, that is a stretch to blame Bush for the deaths of 6 people ... a REAL stretch. You claim to not be a liberal, but maybe you should re-assess your views because you damn sure sound like one.
Off-roading events such as this one are regulated at the STATE level...they determine where, when and how these events go down. You want to blame someone? How about Nancy Pelosi whose district this is in.
Bush is to blame because his admin. wants to undo a 5 year old conservation agreement at the dunes. This would make the situation even worse. Bush Interior Dept. only favors more off-roading, and more death and destruction is the result.
Is that right? If this event is on federal land, then explain to me why the Imperial County Sherriff is making an arrest in the picture you posted? They have no juridstiction on federal land as they are not federal officers.
The proof..as they say..is in the pudding
I respectfully disagree, California law does not allow for it. I was in law enforcement for 10 years in Califonia, and we were NEVER allowed to make an arrest on federal land unless a federal officer was making the arrest in which case we were allowed to assist but only when the federal officer specifically asked for it. State peace officers in California are not authorised by statute to enforce federal law. Its why you always see DEA going in first on a drug search warrant, or the US Marshalls going in first on a fugitive warrant
Feds are in the lead out there, with local backup.