I have a couple of legislative items to report on and  land use policy
items to bring to your attention this month.  In December the County Board
of Supervisors (BoS) approved a proposal to develop a Memorandum of
Agreement (MoA) with the State of California Department of Parks and
Recreation regarding Off Highway Vehicle Recreation Areas in the County of
San Diego and in January the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the
County sent out a letter outlining a timeline for Off Highway Vehicle
Planning Activities for the County.  The BLM is going to initiate an
overnight camping fee in certain areas of the Imperial Sand Dunes starting
in April and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has started its Park Use
Permit program.


BoS Memorandum of Agreement

First was the proposal presented to the Board of Supervisors on December 9
by Diane Jacob.  The issue was, "Should the Board of Supervisors begin
negotiations with the State of California Department of Parks and
Recreation to develop a Memorandum of Agreement that will expand the role
of the citizens and the County of San Diego in the planning of Off Highway
Vehicle Recreation Areas?"

Diane's recommendation was to ask the CAO to draft a letter to the State
requesting them to enter into negotiations with the County for the purpose
of developing a MoA that will result in:

"1.  All future public hearings on proposed Off Highway Vehicle (OHV)
recreation areas in San Diego County and all other OHV issues whose impact
is limited to the County of San Diego shall be held in San Diego County."

"2.  The State of California shall not proceed with establishing a new OHV
recreation area in the County of San Diego without concurrence from the
County of San Diego.

What the board members of the San Diego Off-Road Coalition took this to
mean is that Diane wants the BoS and anti-OHVers to be able to stop any
plans for future OHV actions as soon as possible regardless of what the
state wants to do. The BoS approved these recommendations despite the fact
that the SDORC board members suggested some type of more positive wording
to the effect that the state and county should work together to identify
and develop OHV areas in the county.

In late December a letter from Cliff Glidden, the Deputy Director of the
Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, to Diane Jacob said that the
state has been working on requests from the county for years trying to find
appropriate sites for OHV areas with little success.  He invited the county
to become more involved in helping to find suitable areas because they have
a greater knowledge of the area and concerns.  As you can no doubt tell he
did not really address the county's specific requests.  You see the state
HAS BEEN working with the county all along but since Diane is so strongly
opposed to OHV use she thinks she can strong arm and bully the state out of
our county with these intimidation tactics.


OHV Planning Activities

The next order of business is the letter from the CAO, Lawrence B. Prior
III, dated January 20, 1998 to the BoS.  It includes an updated timeline
for the OHV Route Location Study.  This was the issue at the BoS meeting on
April 30 last year that approximately 300 off-roaders attended and helped
convince the Board to continue.  The letter also addresses other OHV
planning activities by saying there will be periodic status reports every
six months beginning in June.

Here is the timeline for the Route Location Study:

Late January - Consultant completes phases I & II (submits Preliminary
Study and Corridor Map)

Early February - Staff review of phase I/II submittal

Late February to late April - 90 day public comment period
	(This only adds up to 60 days on my calendar?)

Late March - Hold Public Workshops - 1 rural, 1 urban location

Mid June - Consultant completes phase III (submits Draft Final Study and
Route Map)

End June - Staff review of phase III submittal

July to September - 90 day public review period

End October - Planning Commission hearing

Mid December - Board of Supervisors receives revised Final Study and Map,
and considers initiation of a General Plan Amendment

The Off-Road Coalition will continue to follow events as they develop on
these matters.  If you are interested in being involved we welcome you to
check our web site at http://www.off-road.com/~sdorc for more information,
attend our meetings and join our organization.

BLM Camping Fees at Imperial Sand Dunes

On Easter weekend (April 12, 1998) the BLM will initiate an overnight
camping fee for the developed camping sites within the Imperial Sand Dunes
area.  The areas this applies to are: the Gecko Road area including Gecko
and Roadrunner campgrounds and the Grays Well area including Buttercup,
Midway and Grays Well campgrounds.  The fee will be $5 per night per vehicle.

The BLM is saying that the fees (all 100%) will be reinvested back to the
Imperial Sand Dunes area without further involvement from Congress.  The
plan is to update the outdated recreation area management plan for the
dunes by looking at them as a whole and considering how to achieve long
term security for the area.  This will be accomplished through a planning
effort during this year and next year including an in-depth look at fee
collection in the dunes.

The BLM has been managing the dunes since the early 1970s relying heavily
on funds from the State's Green Sticker fund.  With costs for services
escalating and all funding decreasing they are being forced to implement
this user fee for the area.  They are saying that the funds will NOT be
used for BLM overhead costs and that the users will have a say in where the
funds are going to be invested.  The fees can be used to pay for needed
operations and maintenance of the dunes, rehabilitation of the existing
facilities, interpretation of the natural environment, additional
information and brochures for the area, actions needed to make the area
more safe and hazard free, additional law enforcement and visitor patrols,
additional efforts needed to remove drunk drivers from the area, and
greater one on one contact with your BLM staff.

The BLM is currently passing out flyers announcing this plan, which is
where this information came from, in the dunes area.  It includes, on the
back, a survey form for the area users to fill out with their suggestions
on what to use the fees for.   I encourage everyone that uses these areas
to fill one out and get it back to the BLM.  You can return them to the BLM
employees, mail or fax it in, or drop it off at their office in El Centro.
If you have any questions, concerns or want one mailed to you contact Elayn
Briggs at (760) 337-4440.  Return the surveys to:  Bureau of Land
Management, El Centro Resource Area, 1661 S. 4th Street, El Centro, CA
92243-4561, fax to (760) 337-4490.

Anza-Borrego State Park Use Permit Fee

Also in the user fee area I would like to point out that the Anza-Borrego
Desert State Park has implemented its Park Use Permit Fee program.  These
permits are required for all vehicles leaving paved highways within the
park boundaries.  The fee is $5 a day per vehicle for day-use and overnight
camping and is valid until noon the day following purchase.  There is also
a $20 Weekly permit and a $50 Seasonal permit good until July 1st.

The $5 day permits are available at the Park Visitor Center at Borrego
Springs, the Fish Creek Ranger Station and Park Headquarters and at the
following campgrounds: Borrego Palm Canyon; Tamarisk Grove; Culp Valley;
Blair Valley and Bow Willow.  For more information call the Park
Headquarters at (760) 767-5311 or the Visitor Center at (760) 767-4205.
Remember you can only drive street licensed vehicles in the park and only
on established roads.

########################################################
Alan Klumph
Director of Legislation and Natural Resources
San Diego Off-Road Coalition (SDORC)
P.O. Box 712214, Santee, CA. 92072-2214
http://www.off-road.com/~sdorc
########################################################









Last Updated March 1, 1998