(If you need transportation assistance to attend the hearing on Tuesday, please go to the end of this message for information.)

On Tuesday, March 23rd at 2:30pm at the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors hearing room, proposed changes to weaken the county ORV ordinance by eliminating controls on large stagings will be discussed and perhaps voted on.

(Note: Our recent ads in the HiDesert Star and Desert Trail stated that the meeting time would be at 10 AM. That is the usual time that Supervisors meeting begin. After the deadline to submit our ads, the BOS issued a statement saying that public comment on the ORV Ordinance would start at 2:30 PM. We suggest that you arrive at the Government Center no later than 2 PM.)

If the off-roaders get their way, as many as 199 riders will be able to gather on 2.5 acres of land in a neighborhood near you to ride for 6 days out of every 30 days without permits or oversight.

The off-roaders will be there in force and if you want to defend our communities from large stagings of ORVs Morongo Basin residents must be present to protest the decision by Supervisors Mitzelfelt and Derry to weaken the ordinance.

They need to hear loud and clear:

* DO NOT remove the staging portion of the ordinance.

* RE-CONVENE the stakeholder's process to address any proposed changes to the ordinance.

* DO NOT allow special interests to dictate public policy.

* PROTECT our private and public lands from ORV abuse.

Attend this meeting has sign-up to speak your mind to the Supervisors.

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED -- defend our desert communities from ORV abuse.

Update: Transportation Assistance:

If you need assistance getting to the SB Government Center for this hearing there are a few people who can provide a ride. If you need a ride contact us at orvwatch@orvwatch.com NO LATER THAN MONDAY, 3/22 AT 8 PM and we will try to make arrangements to get you there. We will have two pick up points:

Twentynine Palms Pick up location
Bucklin Park
Located at Desert Queen and 29 Palms Hwy
Map Link

Yucca Valley Pick up location
Yucca Valley Park-n-Ride, located near the west end of Yucca Valley, on the northeast corner of State Route 62 and Kickapoo Trail. You can safely leave cars in one of the 137 lighted parking spaces.
Map Link

Free T-Shirts, Breakfast, BBQ Lunch and Music Festival

On Saturday, September 26th, the Barstow Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is organizing a large volunteer clean-up of the Poste Homestead Natural and Historical Area in Wonder Valley as part of their annual National Public Lands Day (NPLD). The BLM is partnering with local organizations including the Mojave Desert Land Trust, the Morongo Basin Conservation Association, the 29 Palms Historical Society, Community ORV Watch and ORV groups and vendors that promote responsible recreation including Hutchins Motor Sports of Yucca Valley.

Everyone is welcome to participate in the clean-up and each volunteer will receive a free T-shirt, a breakfast of coffee, tea and pastries, BBQ lunch and live music at The Palms Bar and Restaurant at 8131 Amboy Road in Wonder Valley located about 10 miles east of 29 Palms.

The Poste Homestead Natural and Historical Area is located off of Chadwick Road between Amboy Road and Highway 62 in Wonder Valley. Over 100 volunteers will help remove trash, protect 100 year-old adobe ruins, erect signs and place barriers to protect sensitive habitat and historical resources from illegal off-road vehicle activity. Local groups have been working to protect this historical and natural resource that is home to threatened wildlife species and magnificent displays of wildflowers in the spring.

The clean-up begins at 7:30am with pastries, coffee and tea at the parking lot of The Palms Bar and Restaurant. Volunteers will be shuttled from the parking lot to the Poste Homestead site, about 4 miles to the east. After the clean-up, a free BBQ lunch and free live music concert will be provided back at The Palms Restaurant . Organizations are invited to table at the program. Everyone is invited to participate at this fun and exciting event.

Community ORV Watch is funded in part by the Desert Legacy Fund.

Morongo Basin BLM Ranger Kevin MacLean is moving on to other position and will not be able to concentrate his law enforcement activities in the Morongo Basin.

Every holiday weekend, ORV riders trespass on BLM lands with limited or no enforcement. It is unacceptable that our public lands will be unprotected in the future.

After advocating for a resident ranger for over 3 years, the BLM has no immediate plans to replace MacLean.

Email or call BLM DESERT DISTRICT MANAGER Steven Borchard and tell him that we need a ranger dedicated to protecting our public lands in the Morongo Basin.

Email: Steven Borchard

Saturday, April 5th from 9:00am to 4:00pm at the Joshua Tree Community Center. Joshua Tree Community Center located at 6171 Sunburst Road in Joshua Tree.

In 2005, COW and ARR organized a conference on ORV abuse attended by residents by many different desert communities. The event was a great success and helped to launch many successful initiatives to obtain law enforcement and to protect our precious desert lands and our quality of life.

Community ORV Watch (COW), the California Wilderness Coalition (CWC), the Morongo Basin Conservation Association (MBCA), the Desert Protective Council (DPC), The Mojave Land Trust and the Alliance for Responsible Recreation (ARR) (partial list) is organizing another conference for updates, information and the development of effective strategies.

Dr. Howard Wilshire, respected desert advocate and author of The Environmental Effects of Off-Road Vehicles, will be our keynote speaker. The conference will feature reports from grass-roots
activists and presentations on a number of relevant topics including: impacts on cultural resources, private property and protected areas; instruction on how to use the law; conservation efforts; addressing harassment and intimidation; challenges with law enforcement; and, grant funding.

We have invited representatives from local, county and federal law enforcement agencies, county supervisors and local elected officials who will be asked about their efforts to address ORV abuse.

There is no cost to attend the conference but donations are welcome.

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE CONFERENCE. CONTACT US FOR POSTERS AND FLIERS TO DISTRIBUTE IN YOUR AREA.

The Yucca Valley Sheriffs Department has applied for a grant to obtain funds from the
California Department of Parks & Recreation, Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division,
(OHMVR) to be used for the enforcement of laws related to the illegal use of Off-Highway Vehicles, rider education, and the purchase of support equipment.

Read the grant application (PDF or Word Document) and a press release (PDF or Word Document) from the Sheriff's Department.

Download, fill out and send in this comment form and support their efforts to protect our lands from ORV abuse.

A public meeting was held on Wednesday, August 8 at 6:00pm at the Yucca Valley Community Center.

Support Your Local Sheriff ORV Enforcement Team.

REVISION OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY ORDINANCE 3973
AS PROPOSED BY FRIENDS OF GIANT ROCK

INTERPRETATION AND RESPONSE

Community ORV Watch - July 2007

INTRODUCTION:

The Friends of Giant Rock proposal to revise San Bernardino County off-road vehicle Ordinance 3973 is not a proposal simply to revise that important Ordinance; it is a radical proposal to destroy that Ordinance. The removal of the trespass and staging provisions would gut the law and render it close to useless, sending us back to the conflict, lawlessness, and wasted enforcement resources that prevailed before the Ordinance went into effect. It would set the clock in reverse and blast us back to the “sand age.”

ORV Ordinance (3973) FAQ

• What is County Ordinance 3973 – the “ORV Ordinance”?
• Why do we need an ORV ordinance?
  

The ORV Ordinance Review Meeting before the Board of Supervisors will be scheduled for June 2007 – the exact date has not been set yet.

Off-roaders are sending hundreds of letters (many of which are fabricated) to the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors advocating for the repeal and undermine the ORV ordinance. They want free reign to ride wherever they want whenever they want.

The Supervisors have responded by recommending changes to the ordinance that will allow for more ORVs per staging event and make it easier to get special use permits with less opportunity for residents to protest.

WE MUST ACT NOW TO SAVE THE ORDINANCE!

Write to your county supervisor and demand that they renew the ordinance WITHOUT CHANGES that will weaken it!

You can send a message supporting the as-is renewal of the ordinance to Supervisors Mitzelfelt and Hansberger by clicking here, or downloading and mailing this letter to each Supervisor.

REMEMBER a letter that you write yourself and mail to the supervisor of your district carries much more weight and will get a mailed response.

We will present the following resolution to the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors at the hearing where they will consider renewal of the ORV ordinance passed last year:

Whereas the sales of off-road vehicles have increased dramatically over the last few years …

ACT TODAY --

Last year, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously
passed a balanced and fair ORV ordinance. The ordinance is up for
review and vote before the board before July 1, 2007. Extreme ORV