Public Comments on BLM's Moon Rocks Project

By now most of you are aware of the BLM's announcement of their Moon Rocks project.  If you aren't, you should be - and you should be aware that we are currently in the public commenting period which ends on January 21, 2021.

Here is the link to the BLM’s project summary.  On that summary page, make sure you click the link to the full Scoping Information Package.  Although the scoping is 9 pages long, it’s not a difficult read if you have 20 minutes to spare. **Note: I was unable to open the full information package on the phone.

Here is a summary of the specific tangibles which BLM is proposing within the scope of this project:

• Installing additional signage and kiosks
• Installing porta potties on cement pads
• Grading public access roads
• Constructing a new public access road around private land to guarantee long-term public access
• Establishing and maintaining 6 main access points
• Adding some loading ramps
• Installing targeted fencing along the boundary that is approximately 25 miles (part of the Moon Rocks OHV area neighbors tribal land and private property)
• Constructing an administration site at the junction of Winnemucca Ranch and Bedell Flat roads, which would include a helicopter pad for emergency medical responses
• Recreation route maintenance (see our commentary on this further down).

Here is a breakdown of the specific intangibles proposed to be effectuated with the project:

Designating the area as a Developed Recreation Site.

• What this does NOT mean:  This does not take away the “open OHV” designation (which means that any OHV can traverse any part of the land).  It also does not mean that any fees will be charged.
• What this DOES mean:  Per 43 CFR § 8360.0-5 (c), developed recreation sites and areas means sites and areas that contain structures or capital improvements primarily used by the public for recreation purposes such as delineated spaces for parking, camping or boat launching; sanitary facilities; potable water; grills or fire rings; tables; or controlled access.

Adding and enforcing some rules aimed at people who don’t have any common sense or decency:

• No firewood which contains screws, nails or other hardware
• 15MPH speed limit within 50 feet of a campsite
• Speed limits on Bedell and Antelope Junction roads
• No drinking while operating a motor vehicle
• No dumping wastewater from your trailer

 

• What this means: There will be a greater law enforcement presence in the main Moon Rocks camping and staging areas.  If you have a registration sticker, are not dumping your trash and aren't being an obvious hazard to people around you, you will not be bothered. Instead you’ll get to enjoy the lack of presence of trashy people leaving nails in your riding and camping area.  

Conducting an Environmental Assessment of the area.  

• What this does NOT mean:  The government/Sierra Club/communists are laying the groundwork to shut the area down! 
• What this DOES mean: Environmental Assessments are simply a necessary procedure which is required if you want to make any improvements such as the tangibles the BLM is wanting to implement (see list above), hold any large events (such as MRANN races), and develop more riding systems (for example, RAD's Peavine Maze Connectivity Project). MRANN must pay for E.A. studies on BLM land each time it needs to apply for a Special Use Permit to put on a race.  E.A.'s also serve as a great leg to stand on for preserving OHV access when the land manager would be able to essentially say to any critics, “this area has been formally studied and OHV use isn't hurting anything."  

 
What’s frustrating to us is that even though the 20,000 acres of the Moon Rocks territory is already designated as Open OHV and it's perfectly okay to ride off trail anywhere... but it's not okay to perform any maintenance on trails which already exist.  Although everyone recognizes how silly that is, we are not in a position to change the procedural requirement that an E.A. study must be done regardless.  As such, by the BLM getting around to these studies, it will open up some doors which can ultimately give us more control over how these trails are managed.

Within the scope proposed, here is copy of RAD's official public comment:

We encourage everyone to develop informed opinions based on specific facts directly related to the actual project at hand, whether you echo RAD’s positions or have different ones of your own.  Comments must be emailed to Arthur Callan at [email protected] (or mailed to the address reflected on our letter) by no later than January 21, 2021.
 
We are aware of the automatic negativity bias associated with any government project; however, keep in mind that just because something was closed somewhere in California doesn’t mean that every government recreation project ends up with the same fate. There are countless examples of good public land management projects (for example, if you’ve ever ridden in Moab, Utah or Idaho or Colorado) as well as ones that went south for reasons that are not one-size-fits-all. 
 
RAD is supportive of this project (taking into account the additional comments in our letter) because Moon Rocks just simply is not the way it used to be a decade ago, and no one has a time machine to bring that era back.  In reality, what needs to be addressed now are problems which are associated with any public space that receives a high volume of visitors from the general public: chronic littering and dumping, graffiti, people cutting down trees for firewood, degraded access roads, and innocent visitors getting shot and injured from the carelessness of others.  Left unattended, these problems will continue to compound … which is EXACTLY how areas get shut down. 
 
We see this project as a good thing for the OHV community as a whole.