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| CFMS PLAC South Report June 2011 Latest Information on the Largest Land Use Issues in California John Martin PLAC-South 2011 S-138 California Desert Protection Act of 2011 (0 Cosponsors) A bill to provide for conservation, enhanced recreation opportunities, and development of renewable energy in the California Desert Conservation Area, and for other purposes. What this Bill will do. It will create: MOJAVE TRAILS NATIONAL MONUMENT Authorize the continued recreational uses of the Monument (including hiking, camping, hunting, mountain biking, sightseeing, off-highway vehicle recreation on designated routes, rockhounding, and horseback riding), if the recreational uses are consistent with this section and any other applicable law; ADVISORY COMMITTEE A representative from each of the following recreational activities: ‘(A) Off-highway vehicles. ‘(B) Hunting. ‘(C) Rockhounding. SAND TO SNOW NATIONAL MONUMENT Authorize the continued recreational uses of the Monument (including hiking, camping, hunting, mountain biking, sightseeing, off-highway vehicle recreation on designated routes,rockhounding, and horseback riding), if the recreational uses are consistent with this title and any other applicable law. ADVISORY COMMITTEE A representative from each of the following recreational activities: ‘(A) Off-highway vehicles. ‘(B) Hunting. ‘(C) Rockhounding. DESIGNATION OF WILDERNESS AREAS AVAWATZ MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS - 86,614 acres GOLDEN VALLEY WILDERNESS - 21,633 acres GREAT FALLS BASIN WILDERNESS - 7,871 acres KINGSTON RANGE WILDERNESS - 53,321 acres SODA MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS - 79,376 acres DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK WILDERNESS ADDITIONS - 59,264 acres BOWLING ALLEY WILDERNESS - 30,888 acres (Collecting area – Off Limits) RELEASE OF WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS ‘(1) the Cady Mountains Wilderness Study Area; ‘(2) the Great Falls Basin Wilderness Study Area; and ‘(3) the Soda Mountains Wilderness Study Area. DESIGNATION OF SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREA The Management Area shall consist of the public land in Imperial County, California, comprising approximately 74,714 acres The Secretary shall allow hiking, camping, hunting, and sightseeing and the use of motorized vehicles, mountain bikes, and horses on designated routes in the management area ( No Rockhounding) POTENTIAL WILDERNESS Indian Pass Wilderness Additions - 9,160 acres (collecting area lost) Milpitas Wash Wilderness Area - 17,436 acres Buzzard Peak Wilderness Area - 13,647 acres Palo Verde Mountain Wilderness - 8,090 acres PROHIBITED USES The following shall be prohibited on the Federal land I) the use of mechanized vehicles; and (II) the establishment of temporary roads. NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM ADDITIONS DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK BOUNDARY REVISION (1) the approximately 33,041 acres of Bureau of Land Management land abutting the southern end of the Death Valley National Park that lies between Death Valley National Park to the north and Ft. Irwin Military Reservation to the south and which runs approximately 34 miles from west to east, as depicted on the map entitled ‘Death Valley National Park Proposed Boundary Addition’, numbered 143/100,080, and dated June 2009; (2) the approximately 6,379 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Inyo County, California, located in the northeast area of Death Valley National Park that is within, and surrounded by, land under the jurisdiction of the Director of the National Park Service, as depicted on the map entitled ‘Proposed Crater Mine Area Addition to Death Valley National Park’, numbered 143/100,079, and dated June 2009; and (3)(A) on transfer of title to the private land to the National Park Service, the approximately 280 acres of private land in Inyo County, California, located adjacent to the southeastern boundary of Death Valley National Park, as depicted on the map entitled ‘Proposed Ryan Camp Addition to Death Valley National Park’, numbered 143/100,097, and dated June 2009; and (B) the approximately 1,040 acres of Bureau of Land Management land contiguous to the private land described in subparagraph (A), as depicted on the map entitled ‘Proposed Ryan Camp Addition to Death Valley National Park’, numbered 143/100,097, and dated June 2009 MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE (1) the 29,221 acres of Bureau of Land Management land that is surrounded by the Mojave National Preserve to the northwest, west, southwest, south, and southeast and by the Nevada State line on the northeast boundary, as depicted on the map entitled ‘Proposed Castle Mountain Addition to the Mojave National Preserve’, numbered 170/100,075, and dated August 2009; and (2) the 25 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Baker, California, as depicted on the map entitled ‘Mojave National Preserve-Proposed Boundary Addition’, numbered 170/100,199, and dated August 2009. JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK BOUNDARY REVISION 25 acres of land more particularly described as lots 26, 27, 28, 33, and 34 in sec. 34, T. 1 N., R. 8 E., San Bernardino Meridian. DESIGNATION OF OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE RECREATION AREAS EL MIRAGE OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE RECREATION AREA - 25,600 acres JOHNSON VALLEY OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE RECREATION AREA - 180,000 acres (Loss of public access by potential inclusion in the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, California, for national defense purposes.) RASOR OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE RECREATION AREA - 22,400 acres SPANGLER HILLS OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE RECREATION AREA - 62,080 acres STODDARD VALLEY OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE RECREATION AREA - 54,400 acres IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall continue to authorize, maintain, and enhance the recreational uses of the offhighway vehicle recreation areas designated by subsection (a), including off-highway recreation, hiking, camping, hunting, mountain biking, sightseeing, rockhounding, and horseback riding, as long as the recreational use is consistent with this section and any other applicable law. HR 1581 Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act (22 Cosponsors) BLM manages over 12.27M acres in 546 Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) BLM has recommended that 6.72M acres of WSAs under its jurisdiction are not suitable for a wilderness designation. Relating to Inventoried Roadless Areas USFS identified roadless areas in the National Forest System. RARE II recommended 15M acres to be designated as wilderness, 36.1M acres as not suitable for wilderness, and 10.7M acres needed further study Relating to Wilderness Study Areas This legislation would release Wilderness Study Areas recommended by BLM as not-suitable for a Wilderness Area designation from the requirement under current law (Section 603(c) of FLMPA) that these areas be managed as wilderness. The bill directs BLM to manage the released lands in accordance with multiple-use and sustained-yield provisions of Section 202 of FLMPA. Relating to Inventories Roadless Areas This legislation would release roadless areas within the National Forest System, which have been recommended as not suitable for a wilderness designation by the Forest Service (as part of the second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation Program) from being managed to maintain roadless characteristics/values, as well as any land-use restrictions imposed the lands as part of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule or the 2005 State Petition Rule. The bill directs the Forest Service to manage the released roadless areas in accordance the principles of the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960. This BILL needs our support – Write your elected official and ask them to support this legislation. Clear Creek Management Area New Report Examines Asbestos Exposure at Clear Creek Management Area near Hollister, California. The Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Division of California State Parks today released a new independent report analyzing naturally occurring asbestos exposures associated with motorcycle riding and hiking in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Clear Creek Management Area (CCMA). The report was completed by scientists from the International Environmental Research Foundation (IERF), the Department of Physics at Harvard University, and the Center for Applied Studies of the Environment at the City University of New York. The OHMVR Division commissioned the IERF report to gather more data to determine if management and operational strategies could be employed at the CCMA to mitigate risk while still allowing access to this premier off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation destination. Conclusion Although it is not for the IERF study to decide what, if anything, to do about riding or hiking on the trails in the CCMA, we believe that this preliminary study provides a spot check on the two earlier studies and show that the risk to health from inhaling asbestos from trail riding and hiking at certain times can be very small. It is, however, desirable to study further the following: * The tremolite fragments were found only in the motorcycle air samples indicating it is not uniformly distributed in the serpentine. Additional studies to strengthen our conclusion that tremolite asbestos or other amphibole asbestos types are not present would be useful. *It might be helpful to verify that at any one of the day camp areas the level of fibers is indeed as low as we reported here for the area samples. *The airborne asbestos levels observed in this study are similar to background for asbestos in the ambient air. The number of days per year when similar condition will exist at CCMA has not been determined. Since the conclusions of this preliminary study conflict with the conclusions of other published studies, it would be helpful to examine the other two other studies in more detail, including examination of samples collected for the other studies using ATEM to see whether there is a real discrepancy and if so how these discrepancies can be resolved. This will now require that all three studies be taken into consideration when making a final decision on the use of CCMA for recreational purposes. |
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