Urgent!Palm Springs trails / Skyline threatened by land swap

[EMan]

You do realize, of course, Ellen, that those of us who appreciate the clip are on the other side of the hill...
And in denial!

[cynthia23]

I don't know how many of you saw ACBCI tribal chairman Richard Milanovich's editorial in the Desert Sun this Saturday (Oct. 23). I'm not able to link to it but maybe somebody else who's less of technophobe than me will Anyway, the gist of Mr. Chairman's response to Gary Lueders of Desert Trails is that there is no problem here, folks, so just move along! With his usual smug corporate bonhomie, vague catchphrases, and truly nauseating references to the native american tradition of land stewardship (which their sleazy union-busting gaming empire is emulating how??), he slickly finesses the question of potential closures, stating vaguely that "the question of fees or reduced access is one dictated more by environmental abuse, overuse, or dumping". Hello, can you say three giant loopholes? Once the land is in tribal hands, they can decide what constitutes environmental abuse (i.e. "The Bighorns aren't having enough lambs. Trails closed."), overuse ("thirty people hiked Skyline last Saturday. Overuse. Trails closed." ), and dumping (how many discarded plastic water bottles and gu tabs would constitute dumping? "Oh, how about three? Trails closed.")

However, leaving aside Milanovich's obfuscations, he never addresses the main point, which I believe is the one we should constantly hammer home in our letters and statements: why should we give th ACBCI any land at all? ! In all the BLM docs and press releases, there isn't one clearly articulated good the public gets out of the so-called exchange. Let us DEMAND that the BLM clearly state how this massive land giveaway benefits the public. They can't. It only benefits two private parties: the tribe, and the bureaucrats of the BLM. We should stop being so nice and stop being on the defensive here. I'm troubled to hear some saying "well, if they would just give us a guarantee that they won't charge us a fee or reduce hours, ok, maybe." No!!! No compromise! Why the HELL should two hundred millionaires get three thousand acres of public land for free?? Demand that the BLM state what the public good is in this giveaway!

Flood the Desert Sun with letters to respond to Milanovich's piece. If you live out of town, be sure to state that you come here specifically to hike, and mention local restaurants, hotels, etc that you frequent. Here's the
address: mydesert.com/letters Remember to keep letters under 200 words.

[Florian]

Here is the Richard Milanovich article that Cynthia mentions ► http://goo.gl/W5tz

I still remain more concerned about possible future commercial development of section 36 than i do about trail access. Perhaps the tribe wants to move focus to Skyline trail access, which most people outside of these forums don't really care about, and get the land they want for development years ahead. In fact, i would think lots of non-hikers in Palm Springs want to see the Skyline closed as all they know about it are when they read about hikers being rescued in the news.

°Florian

[cynthia23]

Thanks for posting that link! I think you're probably right that the primary goal of the giveaway (it's wrong, as in Orwellian-wrong, to call it an exchange) is to get the tribe a chunk of developable land, i.e. the land in Parcel 36. We can hardly think that they are going to all this trouble just to shut down Skyline. Nonetheless I think trail closures will be the result if this deal goes through. But you may be right that for most of the public, that's not an important issue (although the economic loss to Palm Springs tourism, certainly is.) You are right that it's important to give attention to the issue of Parcel 36 and its possible development. Does anyone know if the Sierra club or Friends of the Desert Mountains are responding to this (very) possible threat? Are they aware of this?

[HikeUp]

It only benefits two private parties: the tribe, and the bureaucrats of the BLM.

How do the bureaucrats benefit? (honestly I am not seeing this explained anywhere. sorry if i am missing the obvious.)

[cynthia23]

The honest answer is that we don't know. But my best guess is that Skyline makes the BLM look bad and make other agencies mad at them, and they want to get rid of the responsibility, work, and cost. This is based on what I've heard about how unhappy the Riverside County Sheriff's dept. is about all the Skyline rescues, and how unhappy I know the State park people are about SKyline (it's not in their domain, yet they spend a lot of time hosting rescue parties for it.) Getting rid of the trails in Western Coachella Valley will lessen the BLM's workload and get the other govt agencies off their back. The BLM, as Ellen pointed out, has a long and shameful history of getting way too cozy with private landowners, and trying to dump as much public land as they can get away with.

[guest]

Just to clarify,
from about flat Rock on IS State park domain.

[cynthia23]

I had a long talk with Ken (Wildhorse) on the phone, and I have some new info for us all. Here's some things I learned: Ken is the contact person for the Desert Trails Coalition. He has been looking into this issue (the BLM land swap) for a long time, as in years. I found him very knowledgable. He is also involved in the Coachella Valley Hiking Club, who are now gearing up to fight this swap. The CVHC is having a meeting this upcoming Tuesday, November 2, at 4 pm, at a member's house in Palm Springs. (PM me for directions) At this meeting, they will discuss the points they want to bring up at the Palm Springs City Council Meeting, which is the following day. At the Tuesday meeting, they will distribute the cards you need to fill out to speak at the City Council. The idea is to have as many speakers ready to go, as possible, of course. If you think you want to speak at the City Council meeting, it might be good to attend this pre-meeting, if you can. Or, simply go to the City Council meeting.

The City Council meeting is Wednesday, November 3rd, at 6pm (the CVHC suggest getting there by 5.30.) Even if you don't want to or get to speak, it's very important to have a big anti-swap audience, to support the speakers with lots of applause, cheers, etc. Ken strongly urges all of who can, to attend. Palm Springs City Hall is at 3200 E. Tahquitz, at the northwest corner of Tahquitz and El Cielo, right across from the airport.

After talking to Ken, I'm rethinking the idea of trying to 'organize' board members into some kind of meeting or group. We're too farflung and anarchic for that It makes more sense--really--for us as individuals to hook into the pre-existing efforts of the people who've been working on this for a while, i.e. the CVHC and the Desert Trails coalition. So I urge everyone with concern about this issue to contact the CVHC at cvhikingclub.net. One thing Ken mentioned is that it would be very valuable to have speakers at the City Council meeting who are primarily Skyline hikers, as the CVHC is more made up of Araby hikers.

Again: Palm Springs City Council meeting, 6pm on Wednesday, November 3rd. Come if you possibly can.

[pete]

Good news, the public comment period has been extended by the BLM . . . until November 19. So, we have more time to get our letter in.

Also a big turnout is planned at the next P.S. City Council Meeting, Wednesday, November 3, at 6 p.m. We understand the City is planniing to weigh in on the issue with the BLM. We want the City to know how we users of the trails feel about the proposed exchange, namely that we fear a loss of access to a great natural resource that makes our city special. In addition, we want to make them aware the city risks losing a major source of revenue, i.e., hikers and bikers coming to enjoy our terrain. A number of speakers plan to address the Council during the public comment period. Come on out to support them and show they speak for you too when they do. Speakers just need to fill out a card down by the microphone with the City Clerk before the meeting. See you there!

[neverwashasbeen]

For people thinking about going to the PS council meetings, from past observations I noticed that some groups have a significant affect on the council by wearing all the same color, it may be worth considering.