WEMO WTF BLM?
Gotta comment by tomorrow. BLM wants to double access for OHVs, ORVs, ATVs all across the Mojave. They call the plan Jade Helm, uh, no, wait that's something else... yeah, here it is, The Draft West Mojave Route Network Project, or WEMO for short. Looks like the problems may lie with the increased access in TMAs (Transportation Management Areas) across the WEMO.
How the hell does anybody understand this mess, let alone wade through the mass of crap that we're supposed to comment upon, or just blithely accept as law?
The WEMO draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement), is, of course, hundreds of pages of something resembling English, along with nearly 200 maps (all labeled so the average visitor to the BLM's website will have no idea what geographic area they represent, making it a monumental task to sift through the list, and obviously out of date as those in our area are labeled with "Joshua Tree National Monument") resulting in a recommended change to Alternative 3, where off-roading would be king on 10,428 miles of motorized routes - nearly double the 5,338 miles available today.
But wait. Didn't environmental and community groups like the Center for Biological Diversity sue the BLM over its designation of those 5,338 miles of routes back in 2010? Didn't those groups sue because they were concerned about trespass on private and public lands, and harm done to Desert Wildlife Management Areas, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and historic and Native American sacred sites?
So how the hell does doubling the access for off-roading fulfill the court order to try and minimize off-roading impact?
It doesn't. Instead, it stinks of retribution by the BLM. You sue us, we'll make the public lands we manage twice as messed up. Could this new recommended alternative be born out of sheer spite and vindictiveness?
Well, let's just say it wouldn't surprise me. Or a lot of other people.
After all, the BLM has been showing disrespect and disregard for tribal sovereign nation consultation, Native cultural and sacred sites, and desert habitat for some time now. There are definitely good people in the BLM, but their overall approach toward the desert resources they are supposed to steward has been defiantly negligent at best, and criminal, at worst.
This publication has caught the agency skulking about the edges of criminal behavior before, and has not been impressed with BLM's willingness to ignore both laws and the right for the public to have access to information about public lands managed - not owned - by the BLM.
So, what about WEMO? This plan of action with Alternative 3 is difficult to understand. Yes, there are additional limitations (subdesignations) that may or may not be placed on some of the routes being added. But deciphering which routes or pieces of routes may have some kind of restriction is nearly impossible, leaving desert residents who may be impacted, in the dark, wading through the tens of thousands of routes and chunks o' routes contained in the plan.
Meanwhile, many of the BLM routes that may be open to off-roading are only accessible via county road or through other means, which may not allow off-road vehicles. Did the BLM bother to consult and plan with the agencies responsible for the roads connecting BLM routes with those who would be utilizing those routes? Our sources say no. How in the world can the BLM recommend off-road vehicles be allowed on BLM routes that are only accessible via a county road that is not open to off-road vehicles?
And it seems that maybe even the BLM doesn't know what the BLM is proposing.
"I'm sad to say that I went to the 'public meeting' the BLM held on April 15 in Yucca Valley, and I don't believe a single one of them understood their own proposal," notes a local source who has invested a great deal of time and energy into researching the WEMO plan. "They stated outright that they weren't taking any questions, and it was clear it was because they didn't know the answers! I've been to a lot of BLM shindigs in my time, and this was the sorriest. I went there sincerely looking for information, because I was as confused as anyone, and I left as ignorant as I'd arrived. Breathtaking.
"And at the meeting in Yucca Valley, where I was naively hoping to get some insight on where to begin, there were NO answers. It was like no one in the BLM had given a moment's thought to what the public might actually like to know. The single presentation that was given was about their new high-tech aerial photography, about which they were all gee-whiz excited."
As the countdown to the public comment period ticks down to nothing, is this plan even ready for public comment to begin, or is this entire "public" process of involvement just a pathetic sham?
That's a rhetorical question for you. I think the BLM needs to begin this entire process again. This time with meaningful information that is comprehensible by the public, with greater public outreach (The Sun Runner received virtually zero notifications from the BLM regarding this proposal - after more than 20 years in print), more public meetings in all impacted areas (instead of four meetings where comments weren't taken and the staff didnn't understand their own proposal), and field workshops where routes would be discussed in detail with the public and the other agencies with roads connecting to BLM routes. If this proposal was getting graded, it would get an F or "Incomplete," and they'd be told to come back with useful work.
So, my comment to the BLM is this: it's time to head back to the drawing board. Your current proposal isn't even reasonably accessible to the public and there is no way in hell you can intelligently recommend doubling the miles available for off-roading, especially in and around rural residential areas. You clearly didn't either think this through, or you were purposefully vindictive in your planning. If you proceed, you're going to wind up back in court for another spanking and more wasting of taxpayer money. This plan isn't acceptable, the process you've used for involving the public isn't acceptable, and there's more work to be done before you decide upon any alternative.