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Off-highway vehicle users can be their own worst enemies. If irresponsible OHV riders would mend their ways, stay out of sensitive areas and use some common sense instead of riding roughshod over public land, federal land-management agencies wouldn't have to get heavy-handed with restrictions.
But the reality is grim.
Congressman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., entered legislation in the House of Representatives Friday that would designate a stretch of the Amargosa River on the California side a wild and scenic river.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
The designation would fulfill a dream for many years of some residents of southeastern Inyo County like Brian Brown, owner of the China Ranch Date Farm, and a founding member of the Amargosa Conservancy. It would protect flows on 23 miles of the river from Shoshone to Dumont Dunes.
One of the people who are going to save the wilderness I love -- the Yaak Valley of extreme northwestern Montana -- is Wayne Hirst, a man who has been proclaiming his hatred of wilderness for as long as I can remember. From his office on Main Street in Libby, Wayne and his wife, Shirley, run their accounting firm, Hirst & Associates. Rumpled, voluble, and, despite recent heart trouble, coiled with excess energy, Wayne can recall the days when the sawmill in this town of 2,400 employed 1,200 people -- all their clients, all their friends.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Tuesday he would introduce a bill to create a desert wilderness area east of Bend.
Wyden made the announcement amid the juniper and sagebrush of the area known as the Badlands, which is overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
"After years of increasing interest and excitement about protecting this beautiful place, I am ready to introduce the legislation necessary to create the 30,000-acre Oregon Badlands Wilderness," he said.
A bill introduced Thursday by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., proposes to protect the federally owned land east of the Arkansas River, between Nathrop and Salida, as Browns Canyon Wilderness.
If that smacks of deju vu, it is because an almost identical bill was scuttled in 2006 by opponents in Washington - notably at the behest of high officials who speak for the National Rifle Association.
Under bipartisan legislation recently introduced in both bodies of the U.S. Congress, more than 400,000 acres of wilderness in Inyo and Mono Counties and 45 miles of the Owens River Headwaters and Death Valley's Amargosa River could have their wild heritage preserved.
In addition, there could also be another 40,000-plus acres of wilderness and several more miles of "wild and scenic river" protected in the northern San Gabriel Mountains in the Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valleys of Southern California.
When Congressman Buck McKeon visited the Eastern Sierra two weeks ago, the word on the street was that his wilderness legislation was dead in the water, and years of haggling and compromise between environmentalists and the motorized community seemed a monumental waste of time.
There has been much discussion and debate over idea of Badlands wilderness area over the years - now, that debate will shift to Capitol Hill (photo courtesy ONDA)
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., traveled to the wide open spaces east of Bend Tuesday to announce that he will introduce legislation to declare the 30,000-acre Badlands area as wilderness.
Colorado conservation, hunting and angling groups are hailing a proposal to set aside about 20,000 acres of federal land in Chaffee County as wilderness.
A similar bill in 2006 by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and former Colorado Congressman Joel Hefley failed after the National Rifle Association opposed it because it would close a trail used by all-terrain vehicles.
Motorized vehicles aren't allowed in federal wilderness.
The bill's supporters include the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
Wilderness is the earth untrammeled by man where he has not dominated the landscape with such things as shopping centers and track homes. It is where Joshua trees grow against a vast backdrop of sunset-drenched mountains. In the wilderness man is allowed to hike, fish, ride horses, hunt, camp and more, but he is just a visitor.
The California Desert and Mountains Wilderness Campaign, a nonprofit union, was formed by a group of people, organizations and businesses working together to protect some of Riverside County's wilderness.
