SB 767 (Glazer) Off-highway vehicular recreation: Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area: Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area (As Introduced February 22, 2019)
SB 767 (Glazer) passed out of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee on Tuesday, April 23, and will go to the Senate Appropriations Committee. It will be heard no earlier than Monday, May 6.
SB 767 would deny opportunities for local Bay Area residents, including the elderly and disabled and motorized recreation enthusiasts, to enjoy the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area: Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area.
The ASA has filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission to reopen previously closed crossings across the tracks in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area.
Reprinted from the Imperial Valley Press, November 20, 2018
IMPERIAL SAND DUNES — Discussions are underway regarding the possibility of re-establishing previously closed railroad crossings for off-highway vehicle users in the Imperial Sand Dunes.
The discussions were prompted in part by a recent California Public Utilities Commission complaint filed by a coalition of OHV groups against Union Pacific Railroad, which in recent years had eliminated several railroad crossings that were widely used by OHV enthusiasts at the dunes.
The ASA is excited to announce a new feature on our website that will allow you to join the ASA, renew your membership, make donations, buy season permits and merchandise, and register for events – all with one login. You will be able to log in to see all of your purchases, see when your membership expires, and manage your contact information and preferences.
To get started, use the link below to either log in or create a new user account. Please note: we may have already set up an account for you. Try doing a password reset prior to creating a new user account to avoid creating a duplicate account.
A Win for OHV!!
In what many are calling a huge victory for the OHV Community, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the Imperial Sand Dunes RAMP, which in 2014 reopened thousands of acres of dunes to OHV recreation, can remain in place as-is.
In a unanimous opinion, the three-judge federal court panel rejected plaintiffs' claims that BLM's decision to open additional land to OHV use violated the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The panel held that impacts to the federally-threatened Peirson’s milkvetch did not require an “incidental take” statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, the panel held that BLM did not act arbitrarily or capriciously when determined that reopening the previously-closed dune areas would not cause an increase in air quality impacts, such as dust.
Unless Anti-access groups want to expend an exorbitant amount of resources on a full 9th Circuit Court hearing and/or appeal to the Supreme Court, the validity of the ISDRA RAMP is confirmed.
The Anti-access group’s only viable option now is to have one or more species in the dunes declared threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. So we must continue our vigilance in protecting our right to motorized recreation at the Imperial Sand Dunes.
