Judge rejects BLM off-road policy

A federal judge has rejected a Bureau of Land Management plan for managing millions of acres of public land in the California desert, overturning a Bush-era policy favoring off-road vehicle use over environmental concerns.

In 2006, the BLM incorporated and updated its 2003 plan for designated routes in the West Mojave Desert. The new plan called for route changes and additional routes. This prompted the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups to file a lawsuit against the bureau.

Lisa Belenky, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said there was scientific evidence that showed the plan affected plants and wildlife by fragmenting the habitat, but the bureau chose to ignore the evidence.

“We’re just very, very pleased with this decision and we think the judge got it right,” Belenky said. “It really says they need to look specifically at the impacts that these (off-road vehicle) routes are having to the resources, the damage they’re doing to the land and wildlife.”

David Briery, spokesman for the BLM, said the agency was heartened that a large portion of the 12-year planning effort completed in 2006 was upheld by the court, including the biological opinion required by the EndangeredSpecies Act.

Briery said the bureau was reviewing the court’s decision regarding route designations and would prepare an evaluation before a court-ordered conference later this month.

Brad Mitzelfelt, 1st District supervisor for San Bernardino County, said he was glad overall the county’s position was affirmed in that the biological opinions and conservation strategies of the BLM’s West Mojave Plan were within the law. He said all the stakeholders had to compromise on a multi-use plan that adequately affected all species, and the court’s decision largely upheld that compromise.

“I think the whole impetus of the West Mojave Plan is to protect species and the habitat in a comprehensive and effective way,” Mitzelfelt said. “It respects the rights of all of the competing users of the desert, and so there are varying opinions on how well the Bureau of Land Management took those considerations to heart. I think they did, very much so.”

He said the court’s ruling against extra routes was a technical shortcoming of the plan.

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Amanda Getchel can be reached at 951-6234.