DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CA-650-01-1220-JG-064B]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Amendment to the
California Desert
Conservation Area Plan and Environmental Impact
Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an amendment to
the California
Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan and Environmental
Impact Statement
(EIS) for Surprise Canyon in Panamint Mountains, Inyo
County, CA.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 43 CFR 1610.2(c), notice is
hereby given that the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to amend the
CDCA Plan (1980
as amended). The proposed amendment will establish or
revise trail
designations for off-road vehicles within the Surprise
Canyon Area of
Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). The authority
to designate is in
accordance with 43 CFR 8342. The proposals will
pertain to public lands
addressed by the California Desert Conservation Area
Plan in Inyo
County that lie east of Highway 178 and approximately
23 miles north of
the community of Trona. The proposed plan amendment
will include an EIS
in accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act and CFR
1610.5-5.
The EIS will evaluate a full range of alternative
means of access
into the Surprise Canyon ACEC. During the 30 days
scoping period, the
public can assist the BLM in developing the range of
alternatives that
will be addressed.

DATES: The public is invited to submit comments on the
scope of the
plan amendment and EIS. Written comments will be
accepted for 30 days
from the publication date of this notice in the
Federal Register. The
specific date, time, and location of public scoping
meetings will be
announced by the Ridgecrest Field Office.

ADDRESSES: Scoping comments in response to this notice
should be sent
to Hector Villalobos, Field Manager, Bureau of Land
Management, 300
South Richmond Road, Ridgecrest CA 93555, (760)
384-5405. Comments,
including names and addresses of respondents, will be
available for
public review at the Ridgecrest Field Office during
normal working
hours (7:45 AM to 4:30 PM, except holidays), and may
be published as
part of the EIS or other related documents.
Individuals may request
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or
address from
public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act,
you must state this promptly at the beginning of you
comment. Such
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law.
All submissions
from organizations or businesses will be made
available for public
inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffery Aardahl,
Bureau of Land
Management, Ridgecrest Field Office, 300 South
Richmond Road,
Ridgecrest CA 93555, (760) 384-5420.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 29, 2001, BLM
implemented an interim
closure to all motorized vehicles on Route P71 in the
Surprise Canyon
Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The closure
will remain in
effect until the plan amendment is approved and
implemented.
The following are preliminary issues identified:
(1) The canyon
area currently does not meet the BLM's minimum
standards for a properly
functioning riparian system due to soil erosion and
streambed
alternations caused by motorized vehicle use; (2)
several federal and
state sensitive plant and animal species that inhabit
the area are
being affected; and (3) value of the canyon area for
recreation,
including use of motorized vehicles.
The preliminary planning criteria include: (1) The
CDCA amendment
will be consistent with officially approved resource
related plans,
policies and programs of other Federal agencies, State
and local
governments, and Indian Tribes; (2) the amendment
process and ORV trail
designations shall be conducted in compliance with the
Federal Land
Policy Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), planning
regulations (43 CFR
1600), ORV trail designation regulations (43 CFR
8340), BLM manual
guidance, and all applicable Federal laws affecting
BLM land use
decisions and ORV designations; (3) the planning
process shall include
an EIS with a biological evaluation prepared in
compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the
President's
Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations (40
CFR 1500), and
BLM guidance.
The public is invited to submit written
information to the BLM that
will be used to identify issues, concerns and
opportunities related to
various alternative means of access in the Surprise
Canyon ACEC. Those
members of the public who simply want to be placed on
the mailing list
for this project can make such a request in writing.
All such
information and requests should be submitted in
writing to: Field
Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest Field
Office, 300 S.
Richmond Rd., Ridgecrest, CA 93555, Attn: Resources
Management Branch
Chief.
Digital electronic photos and maps of the Surprise
Canyon area can
be found at: http://www.ca.blm.gov/ridgecrest.

Dated: April 12, 2002.
Alan Stein,
Acting California Desert District Manager.
[FR Doc. 02-13571 Filed 5-29-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P

GET WRITING PEOPLE!!!!!!!! THIS WILL BE THE LAST CHANCE AND IT"S LOOKING GOOD FOR US!


Be Polite and friendly in your letters and emphasize family, safety, and environmental respect...


:usa:

BTT

BTTT. Someone please sticky this thing! This is HUGE!!

A chance to get Surprise back!!! SWEET!!! I've never been there but have heard absolutely awesome things about that place! I will spend some time this evening and get some letters out. This would be a great thing!

Just remember, you have 30 days from today. Even thought the notice is dated in April, it was in todays (5/30) FR. Goes from the date of publishing.:eek:

Scoping for Surprise Canyon

Now is the time to send in letters on Surprise Canyon.

The issues that the Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest have identified are the following:
1. The canyon area currently does not meet the BLM's minimum standards for a properly functioning riparian system due to soil erosion and streambed alterations caused by motorize vehicle use.
2. Several Federal and State Sensitive plant and Animal Species that inhabit the area are being affected.
3. Value of the canyon area for recreation including use of motorized vehicles.
Letters need to be written to Hector Villalobos on what your value of the Canyon is and why it is important for it to be reopened.

Letters need to be addressed to:
Hector Villalobos
300 So. Richmond Rd.
Ridgecrest, CA 93555

Please send the letters on club letterhead stating how many people in your club. You need to send individual personal letters. This is important for everyone to get involved in this process. If anyone has any questions I will be talking about this more at the EA meeting June 13th and the South District meeting July 13th or feel free to call me at 760-956-2783. I would like to have copies of all letters sent to me for CA4WDC records, either hard copy or email is fine.

Thank you
Jeri Ferguson
CA4WDC NRC

Is there a sample letter available?

BTT

here's a question........ :confused:
How tha fawk do you make a bypass on a trail that has walls on each side that is 100 feet high or more ????

they know that , just another way to make us think we are getting somewhere with this . oh , we might wear the rocks down:confused:

:usa:

For Release: June 11, 2002
Contact: Doran Sanchez (909) 697-5220; E-MAIL: dasanche@ca.blm.gov
CA-610-02-61

BLM Schedules Public Meetings to Prepare Draft EIS

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has scheduled five public scoping meetings to gather public comments and recommendations on the preparation of draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and proposed amendment to the 1980 California Desert Conservation Area Plan that will establish or revise off-highway vehicle route designation for Surprise Canyon, located in the Panamint Mountains in Inyo County, CA.

Each meeting will include two sessions that will be held from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the following dates and locations:

July 29
Desert Empire Fairgrounds
Mesquite Hall
530 South Richmond Road
Ridgecrest, CA. 93555

July 30
Doubletree Hotel
3100 Camino Del Rio Court
Bakersfield, CA. 93308

July 31
Boulder Creek RV Resort Clubhouse
2550 South Highway 395
Lone Pine, CA. 93545

August 5
Sheraton Pasadena Hotel
303 East Cordova Street
Pasadena, CA 91101

August 6
Hilton San Diego Mission Valley
901 Camino Del Rio South
San Diego, CA. 92108


The Draft EIS will evaluate a full range of alternatives regarding access into the Surprise Canyon Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). Upon completion of the EIS and decision processes, BLM will issue a Record of Decision that will amend the 1980 California Desert Conservation Area Plan.

Written comments will be accepted through Friday, August 30, 2002. Comments should be mailed Hector Villalobos, Field Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 300 South Richmond Road, Ridgecrest, CA 93555.

For more information contact the BLM Ridgecresst Field Office at (760) 384-5400.

-BLM-

California Desert District Office - 6221 Box Springs Blvd, Riverside, California - (909) 697-5220
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Crowdog

Think there will be a meeting this time?:rolleyes:

"If it's not on the national roster, then it ain't happening"..... what I was told by a BLM official over the phone. In other words if you were at a past meeting by the BLM, and you signed your name and address as a guest, you will recieve notice by mail on the next meetings...

I sent mine:

Drew Persson
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
6/19/02

Mr. Hector Villalobos
300 So. Richmond Road
Ridgecrest, CA 93555

Dear Mr. Villalobos,

As an environmentally responsible outdoors lover who has experienced the beauty of Surprise Canyon, I can sincerely say that motorized vehicle use in the canyon over the last fifty years has caused absolutely zero environmental damage to the area of concern. The few wet areas are rock, which certainly does not erode under OHV use. All one need do is glance five feet to either side of the trail to see that it is as unspoiled as the most remote wilderness area. Ironically, the only real damage to the area is an anti-OHV statement carved in the rock wall by some self-proclaimed but sadly misguided "environmentalist".

1. The canyon area currently does not meet the BLM's minimum standards for a properly functioning riparian system due to soil erosion and streambed alterations caused by motorize vehicle use.

Soil erosion caused by motorized vehicle use cannot possibly be compared to natural erosion caused by melting snow and storm runoff. Why, the state of the canyon was completely transformed by the last big El Nino.

2. Several Federal and State Sensitive plant and Animal Species that inhabit the area are being affected.

I think not, there has been a road in Surprise Canyon for a hundred years, and the area is still pristine.

3. Value of the canyon area for recreation including use of motorized vehicles.

Surprise Canyon is a true jewel of the desert and rich in history, it would be a great tragedy if the OHV trail is not reopened to outdoor-loving families and people not physically or financially capable of long-duration and strenuous hikes to the upper reaches of the canyon.

Thank you for your consideration, I hope the BLM will do everything it can to stand up for responsible and reasonable use of our great public lands.

Sincerely,


Drew Persson

:usa:

BTW, I just yesterday received my offical register notice in the mail.

=============

June 28, 2002

BLM
Mr. Hector Villalobos
300 So. Richmond Road
Ridgecrest, CA 93555

Subject: Comment for the Record,

Notice of intent to prepare an amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Surprise Canyon in Panamint Mountains, Inyo County, CA.

Dear Mr. Villalobos,

My family and I have enjoyed motorized vehicle access in Surprise Canyon over the last forty years, and witnessed zero recent significant environmental damage to the area of concern from vehicle use. The road has been washed out and repaired many times in my memory. Each time the road was repaired we would go up the canyon to see the smelter stack(s), to make sure they survived the earthquakes. We would roll a trolley ore-car in one of the mines to feel what real life mining was like (not some Disney substitute). The opportunity to use four wheel drive vehicles and winches to access the canyon reopened Panamint City to both old and young visitors in our family, and I urge you to keep this access open.

The stated reasoning for closing this road to the public is misdirected. The claim of "damage" from vehicle use is absurd compared to work of having the road repaired after floods of past decades (and the water erosion and damage from flood itself). The surviving plant and animal species have survived even after past building of the "road" and repeated floods. The currently poorly maintained canyon floor is rock and sand wash which does not suffer lasting effects of Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) use. OHV impacts, if any, are much less than the effects of weather and flood. Any species that can survive the floods can certainly survive the current low density motorized usage.

The Wilderness areas on either side of the Canyon are as unspoiled now as since the City of Panamint was abandoned. The only real damage to the area is an anti-OHV statement carved in the rock wall by some sadly misguided "environmentalist". I would hope that the BLM locates and persecutes the vandal, and removes this damage as part of the future management of the Canyon.

I wish to offer comment to specific statements in the register notice:

1. The canyon area currently does not meet the BLM's minimum standards for a properly functioning riparian system due to soil erosion and streambed alterations caused by motorize vehicle use.

Comment: melting snow and storm runoff caused the soil erosion and streambed alterations I have witnessed. I have observed the canyon floor terrain to be completely transformed by the El Nino floods of 1969, 1978, 1983, 1987, and 1997. The reported streambed alteration by motorized vehicle use (no alteration) appears to be confused with natural erosion.

2. Several Federal and State Sensitive plant and Animal Species that inhabit the area are being affected.

Comment: this road in Surprise Canyon has been in use for over a hundred years, and the area is still considered pristine, even after historical clearing of the area for wood and fuel during the Panamint City years. Native Americans used the route before Californians. Californians have used the route, as a developed road, for decades of the recent historical past. There has been no recent observed damage to any Plant or Animal Species other than natural flood damage. There is no recent observed impact to any species above the flood line of extreme flash flood events.

3. Value of the canyon area for recreation including use of motorized vehicles.

Comment: the canyon value is much more than a venue for motorized access, and all recreation and education opportunities will be restricted if motorized access is prohibited. I urge you to look past the view that the only Canyon value is motorized use, and I urge you to recognize motorized access must be maintained to preserve more than use of the road.

We take camping gear and photography equipment up in the canyon. We enjoy taking up lights to look at the different rocks in the mines and geology. We take a telescope to view the sky without the light pollution of the city or Death Valley floor development.

The public will not be able to continue these learning opportunities without motorized access to the canyon. You cannot backpack gear into the canyon to enjoy these opportunities. You cannot backpack into Panamint City with any time to enjoy these opportunities over the typical three or four day weekend available to the working public.

Families without the physical or financial stamina demanded to partake in long strenuous hiking will not be able to visit the canyon above the series of exposed bedrock falls if motorized access is prohibited. These falls are already an obstacle to density impacts, already limiting access to only those dedicated to the effort to reach the upper canyon, even with motorized access. Limitation of potentially damaging access, to protect the plant and animal species, is already accomplished by nature's continuing alteration of the terrain inside the canyon; management does not need to impose additional protection measures.

I urge the BLM to do everything it can to preserve responsible and reasonable motorized access to Surprise Canyon and Panamint City. Motorized canyon access survived the Wilderness review of the California Protection Act and should not be eliminated to appease new special interests demands. The prohibition interests appear to have never visited the area and have no history or connection to the unique opportunities Surprise Canyon and Panamint City provides; I believe they are unqualified to make claims regarding the canyon. I urge the BLM to acknowledge that the balance of protected Wilderness surrounding Surprise Canyon already affords more than adequate protection to plants and animals residing in the Panamint Range.

Please place me on the list of requestors for all information regarding the Panamint Range, Death Valley, and Surprise Canyon.

Thank you for consideration of my comments.

Sincerely,

Who knows the names of the two California Senators who originally purchased all the clams for the Panamint Mines (up Surprise Canyon) in 1873 & 1874?

What was the discoverer of Surprise Canyon (the Frontiersman, not the seasonal Piute and Shoshone residents) famous or infamous for in regards to law enforcement?

What was the intended use of the only wheeled vehicle that was able to survive the difficult climb up Surprise Canyon in the mid-1870s (long before the "road" was established)? What was the vehicle's unintended use?

When you comment on the need to keep Surprise Canyon open to mechanized motorized travel a little history (and an expressed appreciation for living visitors contact with history) may help.

Two weeks before public meetings… a good reason to keep this thread visible.

Any history buffs chance a guess?

Happy Trails!