The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Las Vegas area is currently fronting a draft plan that could eliminate or greatly restrict both casual and event-based OHV recreation on approximately 3 million areas in Southern Nevada. The draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) creates an unjustified risk that might preclude “dry washes” from being designated as OHV routes.
The elimination of dry or sand washes from subsequent project level travel management plans could functionally close the desert if they are not capable of being designated as routes, because motorized travel would be “limited to designated roads and trails.”
As OHVers know, washes are often the historic backbone of any desert-based route network. Washes can either function as a trail or trails traverse them.
BRC’s Don Amador spent February 17-21 touring popular OHV recreation sites with representatives from the Southern Nevada Off-road Enthusiasts (SNORE), Motorcycle Racing Association of Nevada (MRAN), American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), and Partners in Conservation (PIC). BRC and partners also attended a meeting convened by Clark County Commissioner Tim Collins’ office, where the BLM was an invitee as well.
BRC and OHV groups are not the only users concerned about the clear and present danger that is casting a dark shadow over the future of motorized access in Southern Nevada. Off-road champions and business leaders are also weighing on this important issue.
Adam M. Bosch, President of MGI/Mid America Underground, LLC, states,”The high risk currently threatening motorized recreation in Southern Nevada should be a clarion call to action for all of us who enjoy OHV recreation on public lands. We all remember the thousands of miles of roads and trails that were closed by the U.S. Forest Service during their travel management process.”
“We can’t let the same thing happen to desert-based OHV use as the BLM starts its sister version of FS travel management. Now is the time for powersports enthusiasts to gird for the fight by joining BRC’s effort to preserve and protect managed OHV recreation in the deserts of Nevada,” Bosch concludes.
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YOUR MEMBERSHIP GIVES US A STRONGER VOICE
Jimmy Lewis, ISDE Gold Medalist and Dakar Champion states, “I moved from California to Nevada to get away from land closures and now the BLM is looking to shut us out of most if not all of my favorite riding trails. It’s time to stand up and fight back. Please send in a comment letter today!”
BRC has prepared an easy to use action alert where you can select issues that are important to you and then send those comments to the BLM at the Las Vegas Field Office before the March 9, 2015 public comment period deadline.
Here’s the BRC Letter Generator page to help add your voice.