Urgent!Palm Springs trails / Skyline threatened by land swap

[guest]

Hi,
Many of you may have read Cynthia's previous post regarding this.
Here's some additional info.
BLM is close to exchanging 9+ square miles of prime public lands containing some of the best hiking & mt. biking trails, including the lower parts of Skyline, for 2.3 square miles of fairly remote lands.

How to comment on the BLM's environmental assessment related to the proposed land exchange:

The BLM is negotiating a deal with the Indian tribe that would take the Garstin, Araby, Wildhorse, Thielman, Shannon, Berns and goat trails, as well as a long segment of the Skyline Trail, out of public hands and transfer them to the Tribe. The BLM has allowed the public until October 15 to comment on its environmental assessment report that describes the deal and its potential impacts.

The Desert Trails Coalition, of which our club is part, sent a letter to the BLM commenting on the environmental assessment. A copy of that letter along with the BLM's environmental assessment is attached.

Anyone can comment on the land exchange. Letters can be sent to John Kalish, Field Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262. Alternatively, emails can be addressed to John Kalish and sent to Diane Gomez, a realty specialist who works for John Kalish. Her email address is Diane_Gomez@blm.gov

In letters or emails to the BLM, include the following reference near the top of the letter or message:

Re: CACA 42965
2200
(CA-066.62)

Additional information about the BLM's plans:

Through a land deal the BLM is negotiating with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the size of the National Monument will shrink. The BLM is planning to give up 9+ square miles of the National Monument, including land that is a virtual park in the City of Palm Springs used by locals and visitors alike. The land is crossed by popular trails including Garstin, Thielman, Araby, Shannon, Bern, Lykken and Wildhorse Trails. Built and maintained by the Desert Riders for nearly three generations, these trails are enjoyed by people hiking, jogging, bicycling, riding horses, and walking their dogs.

In addition, the land includes part of the Skyline or Cactus to Clouds Trail, an iconic route to Mount San Jacinto from the Desert Museum, a strenuous and beautiful climb through several life zones that attracts hikers from places all over the country. It is considered one of the most difficult hikes in the United States, enjoyed for its challenge, its elevation gain and its beauty.

The Garstin, Araby and Thielman trails begin in Palm Springs and connect with the Shannon, Bern, and Wildhorse trails. They are paths into a quiet wilderness with spectacular desert and mountain views. These are the paths that lead to Murray Hill which overlooks all of the Coachella Valley. The Thielman trail is the only western access to this area for people riding bicycles.

For many people, these are the jewels of the National Monument and it is unthinkable that the BLM would give them up. They are irreplaceable.

The BLM has allowed the public until October 15 to comment on this plan. Although the BLM has been working on it for ten years, most people are startled to hear about it because the BLM has not made enough of an effort to expose and explain its plan to the public.
A few weeks ago the Desert Sun published a brief and nonchalant disclosure of the plan. The underlying news release from the BLM was prompted by one informed citizen's inquiry into whether or not the BLM had published notice of its environmental assessment of the plan, which is the bare minimum requirement for public notice in the laws the BLM is compelled to follow. [b]The BLM has the legal responsibility to do more to involve the public. In addition, unless the benefits of completing the deal exceed the benefits of keeping the land the BLM would give up, the BLM is not allowed to approve it.
[/b]
The BLM's plan is part of a land deal it is negotiating with the Agua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla Indians. In the deal the BLM will receive 2.3 square miles of other land. That land is beautiful, but the public has limited access to it. It is simply too remote for most people to visit and by giving up the land that contains the Garstin, Araby, Thielman and Wildhorse trails, the BLM is giving up access to the land the public would receive. The value to the public of the remote land it would receive is a small fraction of the value of the 9+ square miles the BLM plans to take out of public hands.

A year ago the BLM signed a management agreement with the Indian Tribe. That agreement was disclosed to the public about a month ago when it was discussed in the environmental assessment report. The management agreement provides some public access to the land the BLM is giving up, but does not specify what that access would be and does not specify whether or not the public could be charged for that access. In addition, the agreement is cancelable after one year and contains no public remedies in case access is restricted. The value of the management agreement appears small if it even has any value at all.

Although the BLM has authority under the National Monument Act to enter into this land deal, it does not have the authority to make an unequal exchange or to eliminate an important public benefit. In fact, the BLM is charged by federal laws to execute this deal only if it represents a public gain and only if the lands exchanged have equal value. In addition, the BLM is charged by law to be transparent with the public about its plans and about what is at stake in such a deal. The BLM should have public meetings where it can describe the exchange in detail to the public and to discuss its benefits and costs with the public. Instead, the BLM has merely given the public a link to a pdf file containing a technical report and given the public a brief period of time to digest it and formally comment on it.

Over the last ten years, the GAO, the Inspector General and other federal government oversight agencies have criticized the way the BLM has handled such land exchanges. The criticisms are that the BLM does not assure public gain, gives up land with substantially greater value than it receives, does not sufficiently involve the public in its decision-making process and does not follow federal guidelines. And yet, in spite of these criticisms, the BLM is doing the same thing again here in our National Monument.

The National Monument land the BLM is giving up has great value to the public: value to its health, to its enjoyment of life, and to its concern for the preservation of wilderness. What the public will receive if the BLM's plan is permitted to go forward is very small.


Hi everyone. Thanks for your great response in comments and messages to John Kalish.
It turns out that two of you know Mary Bono and she is now involved. Ken and Gary Leuters will have a phone meeting with Mary Bono's deputy chief of staff on Monday! I copied below some of Mary's comments that you might find interesting. Also, there's additional info from Ken for anyone who wants to write a letter to the BLM about the land exchange.
Robin

more mary bono correspondence, below. i don't hear her taking a stand with us.


Mary Bono Mack October 8 at 10:10pm Report
It's odd but your post disappeared. Don't know if someone on my team took it off to address it as "case work". Anyway.... Here we are. There are many agreements that set the policies in place. All are available for viewing on BLM website. I'm tracking down the MOU the Tribe and BLM entered into. I will be focused on this thru Thursday. Our trails are critical. I hope you'll attend the celebration of the Monuments 10th anniversary coming up. Feel free to let me know if you have further thoughts. You can also call Elizabeth Mortenson or Paul Canciene in my DC office who are also engaged in this. 202-225-5330.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 9:33 PM, wrote:

Subject: Mary Bono Mack sent you a message on Facebook...


facebook
Mary sent you a message.
Mary Bono Mack
Mary Bono MackOctober 8, 2010 at 9:25pm
Subject: Trails

You've asked about the trails issue and I believe my staff may have posted something in response. I am sending a letter to BLM for clarifications and a request to leave the comment period open to the public for another month. We've fought this battles before so we're not in unchartered territory. It would help me if you could briefly tell me what your concerns are. As I read the documents, only mountainbiking would become newly restricted in a couple of places. Still, please let me know your issues. I will do my best to get them addressed.

Kind regards,

Mary

PS - I'm here in PS, as usual, working at my desk. Yup, not doing as many charity events with my picture everywhere.... funny thing, last campaign I was being criticized for that too!
Please remind them to contact the BLM and the Tribe. That outreach is critical. Comments should be made to John Kalish, Field Manager for the BLM. 1201 Bird Center Dr, PS 92262. 760-833-7100. John_Kalish@blm.gov. The deadline (at this point) is Oct 15.

Thank you for your help.

[Perry]

It sounds like talking to local BLM might be a waste of time. I think contacting these people might be more effective:

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/National_Pa ... ct_Us.html

http://www.desertmountains.org/

http://www.sierraclub.org/contact/

[bluerail]

Why do we even have a Bad Land Management bureau anyway ?

I've seen them try to fence off a mountain before....it didnt work as well as when it's a canyon.

[cynthia23]

Thank you Guest for bringing this up again and for the extensive information.

I'm taken aback by the apparent lack of concern from many of our 'regulars'. I don't think people are fully understanding the magnitude of this. I waded through the EIR and it clearly states "a permit will be required for access to the Skyline trail." The report states that the number one change will be 'control of unauthorized access" and talks about 'access control measures", "future trail-rerouting', or 'temporary closures." Consider this basic fact: they have some reason for doing this. They didn't spend thousands of dollars on an EIR and legal billing to trade these parcels just for fun. What the reason is, we don't know, but here's my paranoid theory: Florian mentioned there is some good development areas in section 36, which they're getting. However, because that area contains some endangered species habitat such as the Bighorn, and there are limits on how many acres of Bighorn habitat they can develop/destroy, they have to 'borrow' some Bighorn habitat from somewhere else. I think they are going to trade that habitat with the habitat up on Skyline, which is undevelopable and basically useless to them. I think: they will start strictly enforcing the Bighorn lambing closures, which the BLM (and all of us) totally ignore. That could mean that the only allowed months to hike would be September through December. They will require permits, which they could make difficult or impossible to get (if they require a permit the day of the hike, Skyline will be impossible to start before nine a.m.) The days of midnight hikes, four a.m. starts, large groups, backtobackstobacks, March through June hikes, will be OVER. The BLM unloads Skyline, which is now nothing but a problem to them (increasing fatalities and rescues, increasing degradation of the vegetation by all the irresponsible shortcuts and trashy behavior.) Yes, enforcing closures and limits will be somewhat difficult, but certainly not impossible. The BLM has one ranger for the whole valley and he literally didn't even know about SKyline. The tribal rangers actually do patrol, and at least some of the time, they will be up there. Who wants to get a three hundred dollar ticket or whatever it will be?

Please, everybody: WE NEED TO WRITE. Write the BLM, and write Mary Bono. In your letters, mention these basic facts: first, the BLM has NOT given proper notice or response time to the community. Second, the proposed trade will, most probably, essentially shut down Palm Spring's most famous trail: people come from all over the country, and even the world, to hike Skyline/ C2C. It's a national treasure and has been written about in numerous hiking magazines. Third, the mountain bikers are losing a huge chunk of their trail access, and that's not fair to them. Fourth, Palm Springs is a tourism based economy, and increasingly, many of the tourists come here to hike and mountain bike. Why, at a time like this, are we giving visitors one less reason to visit our town? Why has there been no discussion of this with the people most affected--the people of Palm Springs, and the Southern California hiking community?

Ok, soapbox off now ....please pick up keypad and write BLM/Bono right now ...

[bluerail]

Didn't mean to appear to have a lack of concern, I HAVE written a letter already stating my concerns and have spent time, and talked with other people who have a little more of an idea what the outcome will be than simply people that are familiar with the EA.

How much of Skyline is already under Indian control ?

[EMan]

Thank you, guest, for posting this information.

Due to the urgency of the situation, I took the liberty of posting a link to this subject on summitpost a few minutes ago.

I certainly hope that will help expand the audience of responders.

[guest]

Thanks guys (& girl!), for helping get the word out.
Even if many of you never hike the many trails mentioned, it would be greatly appreciated if your able to write, call, attend any possible public hearings that may occur to keep these many trails open to public access, including Skyline.

This appears to be a "inside deal", land grab which can only benefit one or 2 "special interests", not the general public.

After creating the San Jacinto / Santa Rosa Nat'l Scenic Monument to preserve & protect scenic lands for ALL to enjoy, the BLM wants to surrender some of the best areas to recreate in after just a few short years.

Also, as Florian & Cynthia mentioned, one area is nice mt. biking, so those folks need to be concerned as well. Also, the area apart from Skyline, has the highest concentration of trails that I'm aware of in our entire valley, no less than 6 with 1 or 2 square miles.

Remember, the Agua Caliente tribe has money & power, and the means to patrol & restrict access, as they have already done to many areas in & around Palm Springs. That's their right on lands they have under their control, but this lands in jeopardy are still public...for now!

Thanks

[Cy Kaicener]

Thank you, guest, for posting this information.

Due to the urgency of the situation, I took the liberty of posting a link to this subject on summitpost a few minutes ago.

I certainly hope that will help expand the audience of responders.

Ernie - There were 392 views on your post at summitpost
Now we need to contact http://friendsofpalmspringsmountains.org
Would they be able to help or hinder?

[Perry]

I got the 2 confused. Probably doesn't hurt to contact both of them. I do know that these people
http://friendsofpalmspringsmountains.org/
have previously prevented local development through political action.

[magikwalt]

This topic was brought up and discussed back in early 2009 but not too much interest was generated then. The local BLM has consistently not wanted public discussion and refused to allow info to be released so it could be posted on this site.

http://www.mtsanjacinto.info/viewtopic. ... highlight=

This is a huge deal to the local community and it is getting no attention at all. The areas involved are most of the local access trails and will have a definite impact on local recreational use.