Category: WEMO

What we call “WEMO”, or the WEst MOjave Route Network Project (WMRNP), is a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to designate thousands of miles of routes across the Mojave Desert, most of which would be open to off-road vehicles. And many of those miles would be right here, in the Morongo Basin. WEMO as currently proposed would superimpose ORV routes on top of many of our residential roads – roads that local residents live on, drive on, and pay to maintain.

Basin residents are familiar with the problems that can accompany irresponsible ORV use in their neighborhoods. Trespass and vandalism on private and public property, noise, dust, fumes, conflict – the issue has been a headache for years. Law enforcement is swamped and underfunded, and many complaints go un-remedied. The current BLM proposal would intensify the issues by drastically increasing the miles open to ORVs, bringing them into our neighborhoods and making the area a magnet for out-of-area riders.

The WEMO plan designates almost all roads and tracks that cross BLM land as “routes”. In the Basin, due to our homestead legacy and checkerboard pattern of public-private land ownership, many of these routes also cross private property and pass through residential areas.

Example of Routes Proposed Under Alternative 3, WEMO Plan

The bright green line segments are proposed ORV routes. They are on BLM land (beige color), but they frequently run into private property (white color) and private or taxpayer maintained roads. This snapshot from a WEMO map is a neighborhood north of Amboy Road in Wonder Valley and is typical of other homestead areas in the Morongo Basin. Source: WEMO SDEIS, TMA 3, Map 18
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This would create unsafe conditions in our communities and conflict with street legal vehicles, and it is in direct violation of San Bernardino County Ordinance 3973/4103, which regulates ORV use. Many of the proposed ORV routes would lie on top of CSA roads that are maintained by assessments on local residents, with resultant damage to roads, berms, and flood control infrastructure creating a tax burden on residents. Further, as many residents have experienced, off-road vehicle use does NOT stay restricted to the roads, but often spills over onto private property and public lands, increasing trespass and escalating the potential for vandalism, crime, and intimidation of residents.

How did we get here?

The WEMO plan was originally completed by the BLM in 2006. Thereafter residential and conservation groups successfully sued the BLM over their designation of over 5,000 miles of ORV routes in the Western Mojave, since the routes cause damage to invaluable natural and cultural resources and encourage trespass on private lands. The current WEMO Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is the result of that lawsuit, but the BLM has failed to meet the mandates of the legal decision, instead doubling the amount of miles proposed for motorized recreation and ignoring other requirements of the court. The current proposal designates a spaghetti network of over 10,000 miles of ORV routes – most of which were created haphazardly through decades of mismanaged and irresponsible ORV use.

What happens next?

The original comment period on the WEMO DEIS ended in June, but the BLM agreed to commenters’ demands and reopened the comment period. The new deadline is January 25, 2016. After that the BLM will issue a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), with final recommendations on route designations within Travel Management Plans (TMP). Following the FEIS release, there will be a public-comment period of 45 days.

What can we do about WEMO?

It is up to Basin residents to tell the BLM that we do NOT want the WEMO plan as proposed, that our roads are NOT intended to be ORV raceways, that our neighborhoods are NOT available to be de facto ORV playgrounds, and that our tax dollars are spent to maintain our roads for street-legal vehicles and residential and other appropriate access, NOT recreation. You can comment to the BLM by January 25, 2016; find out how here.

More about WEMO:
The full document of the WEMO Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (WEMO SDEIS) and supporting information is available through the BLM project website here .

What is WEMO supposed to accomplish?

The WEMO Supplemental Draft Impact Statement (SDEIS) states: “The purpose and need of the West Mojave Route Network Project (WMRNP) is to provide a framework for transportation management, and specific travel management implementation strategies in Limited Access Areas of the West Mojave Planning Area. This framework and these strategies would (1) limit conflicts and threats to sensitive resources, (2) respond to current and anticipated future transportation and travel needs, (3) provide appropriate recreational access, and (4) be consistent with the overall motor vehicle access goal of the 2006 WEMO Plan. The MVA goal of the 2006 WEMO Plan is to provide appropriate motorized vehicle access to public lands for commercial, recreational, and other purposes in a manner that is compatible with species conservation.”

Anatomy of WEMO:

Alternatives: The SDEIS proposes for review four Alternatives, each having variations in, for example, number of routes and conservation strategy. Alternative 3 is the BLM’s Preferred Alternative – the Alternative they have decided is most likely to meet their goals. It also has the highest number of miles of motorized routes (10,428) of any of the alternatives.
Travel Management Areas: The WEMO planning area is divided into eight Travel Management Areas, or TMAs. The Morongo Basin is within TMA 3. TMA 3 is further divided into subregions, viewable on the WEMO maps. Of note, the WEMO maps are almost impossible to view through the BLM website; view them instead on the COW website here

Minimization criteria: When designating routes, the BLM is required to meet the Minimization Criteria for Motorized Recreation, 43 CFR Section 8342.1. Their failure to consider the Minimization Criteria was one of the issues on which the court sent the BLM back to the drawing board. View the Minimization Criteria here.

Don’t forget: Comments due January 25, 2016! Learn how to comment here .

Two upcoming drop-in letter writing sessions to help you with your comments to the BLM re WEMO routes in your area:

• January 9th, from 9:00 to noon at Wonder Valley Community Center. More information.
• Jan 16th session from 9:00 to noon at Copper Mountain Community Center. More information.

According to BLM officials who attended a meeting at the Wonder Valley Community Center on December 14, 2015, the agency has received many comments from Morongo Basin residents. Edythe Seehafer (WEMO Project Manager) and Katrina Simons (Field Manager, Barstow BLM ) attended at the invitation of Teresa Sitz, Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) representative for Wonder Valley. They gave a brief presentation and answered questions from two dozen strongly focused residents.

Among many points covered in a lively discussion, the BLM revealed the following: The Final WEMO plan proposal will be dependent on provisions of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), which is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2016. The Final WEMO plan proposal will include a fifth alternative, in addition to the original four, that is currently being developed by the WEMO Interdisciplinary Team. When the Final plan proposal is issued, refinements of all the proposed WEMO routes and designations will be in the form of Travel Management Plans (TMP). The public will then have 45 days to comment on the TMPs.

The officials said the BLM has been working with San Bernardino County about Special Districts issues, meaning our CSA roads. They currently are exploring using a route sub-designation of “Street-Legal Only” on our residential roads, which they believe would simplify the regulatory frameworks and law enforcement.

For more details on these and other points of the discussion, Teresa Sitz’s notes may be viewed here.

On Saturday, December 5th COW hosted a public meeting and workshop on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) West Mojave Plan (“WEMO”) for the purposes of informing participants of concerns with the current proposal from the BLM, supporting participants in identifying and documenting their concerns about proposed ORV routes in their neighborhoods, and sharing these concerns with the BLM during this open comment period (until January 25, 2016.)

The workshop was well attended (standing room only at some points!) and participants were quite engaged with the speakers.

A few comments from the workshop’s attendees:

• I am a bit newer to community activism, but I would say that the workshop exceeded my expectations in its civility and warmth in its approach; genuine concern and individual empowerment.
• The workshop went beyond my expectations and included more information than I imagined! I found it very helpful.
• The workshop acted as an excellent link between concerned citizens and actions they can take. PS- suggest a larger venue next time.
• The workshop explained the issue clearly and simply, and offered problem solving suggestions.

The forms for you to document routes have now been posted to the website (see the side column), and for your convenience are shared again here:

1. WEMO Route Form Orientation – To get you started
2. WEMO Route Form – Use to actually document routes of concern
3. BLM Tips and Tricks Document – Helpful in using the route designation maps

Many thanks to those of you who attended the WEMO workshop. Thank you for braving the cold room (Brrr!!) and hanging in there during the workshop. We appreciate your participation and your support in preserving our neighborhoods and natural environment.

The BLM is proposing to designate a spaghetti network of over 10,000 miles of OHV routes – most of which were created haphazardly through decades of mismanaged and irresponsible OHV use. This is double the mileage of the 2006 route network that a federal court found was illegal.

OHV use on this vast network has and will continue to:

• Result in crushing of fragile desert soils and vegetation
• Produce dust, noise, and fumes that disturb wildlife, hikers, equestrian users, and other members of the public enjoying the desert through quiet forms of recreation
• Encourage illegal dumping, vandalism and looting of archaeological resources, and other irresponsible and illegal behavior
• Facilitate trespass across private lands and parks and other areas closed to motorized use to protect their sensitive resources
• Disturb desert tortoise, bighorn sheep, and other sensitive wildlife

According to BLM’s own environmental analysis, the proposed route network will have the most adverse impacts to fragile desert resources of any options considered, despite the legal requirement that routes open to OHV use minimize resource damage.

Hundreds of proposed routes crisscross the West Mojave’s crown jewels that BLM itself has identified as warranting the highest level of conservation protection.

Tell BLM it must close damaging OHV routes and come up with a new plan that does not reward decades of illegal and irresponsible OHV use and does not prioritize that use at the expense of our beloved desert resources and communities.

Attend our workshop on Saturday, December 5 (details here) on how the WEMO plan could negatively effect you and the desert.

On Saturday, December 5th from 2:00pm to 5:00pm at the Community United Methodist Church, 6213 East Parkway in Joshua Tree, The Alliance for Responsible Recreation will host an informational workshop on the proposal by the federal Bureau of Land Management to dramatically increase access for off-road vehicles in our rural communities by allowing ORVs to ride on our private property, public lands and the local county roads that we maintain with our tax dollars. Many people are not even aware of this plan, and others are looking for a way to voice their concerns.

The workshop will include a detailed explanation of the BLM’s West Mojave Route Management Plan, maps of proposed ORV routes in the Morongo Basin and ways to comment on the plan.

Please join us.

Map Link.

The public comment period for the BLM’s WEMO proposals has been reopened. The new deadline for submitting comments is now January 25, 2016. See the official announcement in the Federal Register.

Alliance for Responsible Recreation (ARR) Community Meeting, December 5th 2015

Due to an outpouring of comments and strategic negotiation by our legal team, the BLM has agreed to extend the comment period for the WEMO DEIS until January 2016. Desert residents are encouraged to gather information about problems with the proposed routes in their areas to submit to the BLM asking that the routes be eliminated. Refer to the WEMO DEIS maps on this web site.

Everyone is encouraged to attend our next community meeting on Saturday, December 5th in Joshua Tree.

More details to come.

BLM PROPOSES TO SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE ORV ROUTES IN THE WESTERN MOJAVE

BY ILEENE ANDERSON AND PHIL KLASKY

In a move that has angered private property owners, conservationists, desert residents and visitors to the Western Mojave Desert, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to double the miles of off road vehicle (ORV) routes from 5,338 miles proposed in 2006 to 10,428 miles in the preferred alternative. Revision of the West Mojave Plan (WEMO), including its route designations, was required by a 2009 court order which found the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to minimize impacts from off-road vehicle (ORV) routes to cultural and natural resources or to minimize conflicts with private property owners. The new proposal by the BLM ignores years of citizen effort to address ORV destruction of fragile desert landscapes and widespread trespass on private property.

The desert has suffered from years of ORV trespass on private and public lands causing damage to wildlife habitat, conservation areas including Desert Wildlife Management Areas (DWMAa), Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), designated wilderness areas, public lands off-limits to motorized vehicles, Native American cultural resources and archeological sites, and private property. By its own admission, the BLM has been unable to protect the public lands under its management from illegal ORV activities.

Read the whole article here.

Read this article: UTAH COURT PROTECTS THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF SCENIC LAND FROM ATV, DIRT BIKE RIDERS

The fight to protect public lands from ORV use is wide-spread. Given our efforts to push back on the BLM re the current WEMO proposal it is great to see successful efforts elsewhere.

From the article:

“Thanks to Earthjustice litigation, the BLM must now conduct comprehensive environmental and cultural surveys before deciding whether to designate dirt roads and trails in this area for off-road vehicle use. Prior to the ruling, the BLM had set aside 4,200 miles of trails for these vehicles—almost enough for a round trip from Los Angeles to New York City—as part of their Richfield Resource Management Plan without following legal requirements to “minimize” impacts or survey for cultural sites.
…

“This important decision flatly rejects Utah BLM’s ‘designate trails first, think later’ approach to off-road vehicle management,” said Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “Utah’s remarkable redrock landscapes demand better.”