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Anza Borrego General Plan
Legislator's response to the General Plan
By: - 20050109
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
STATE CAPITOL
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
95814
September 23, 2004
The Honorable Mike Chrisman
Secretary
California Resources Agency
1416 9th Street, Room 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: Comments submitted by the California Off-Road Vehicle Association and others on the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Preliminary General Plan and Environmental Impact Report (SCH# 200201060
)
Dear Secretary Chrisman:
In January 2003, the Department of Parks and Recreation (“DPR”) issued the initial draft of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Preliminary General Plan (the “Plan”). When this version of the Plan was finalized, it included significant new information, including the establishment of additional Wilderness Areas that would be closed to most forms of public recreation. At the request of interested stakeholders, DPR reissued and recirculated the revised draft in July 2004 so that the public could comment on the proposed changes to the Plan.
After review of the document, we the undersigned Legislators who represent portions of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP), have determined that the July 2004 Plan for ABDSP reflects a public land use ideology that is not be in the best interest of the residents of California and our constituents. While acknowledging that the populations of Riverside and San Diego Counties will to continue to grow over the next 15-20 years, creating more demand for recreational opportunities at ABDSP and elsewhere, the Plan does nothing to accommodate this growth. On the contrary, the Plan takes pride in its efforts to reduce camping areas, eliminate access trails for vehicles, limit visitor-serving facilities, and expand Wilderness Areas that are closed to all but the most able-bodied hikers.
The Plan portrays itself as a referendum on natural and cultural resource protection; but it is actually an assault on the public’s right to use lands that have been dedicated to recreational purposes. Through this Plan, DPR seeks to abdicate its duty to provide outdoor recreational experiences for the increasingly overworked and overtaxed families that live in the congested urban areas of Southern California. The Plan treats ABDSP as a kind of sanctuary that can be experienced “up close” only by a select few (i.e., those who have the ability to hike long distances in desert conditions). Everyone else is reduced to experiencing much of the Park from great distances or not at all. Access to many of the Park’s features is denied to children, the aged, the physically handicapped, and to healthy adults who simply do not wish to backpack in the often-harsh Anza-Borrego climate.
The proposed ABDSP Plan implies that the Park is besieged with visitors, resulting in distinct threats to natural and cultural resources. This implication, however, finds little support in the technical data developed for ABDSP. Indeed, the claim of imminent jeopardy appears to be a false pretext for advancing the Plan’s restrictive use policies – a fabricated rationale for reducing the number of campers, OHV users, rock-hounds, and equestrians (i.e., undesirables) who can use the Park. This, in turn, benefits that small subset of visitors who believe that ABDSP should be experienced only via backpacking. To call this approach “elitist” would be an understatement.
We, the undersigned, find the proposed ABDSP Plan wanting in many key respects. Rather than encouraging families to visit the Park, it pushes them away and shuts them out. This is the wrong approach, the wrong attitude. Taxes paid by the residents of California fund DPR and the State Parks system, including ABDSP. The interests of these taxpayers must be served. It is disingenuous for DPR to take their money and use it to develop a land use plan for ABDSP that unreasonably restricts their access to, and use of, the Park.
In light of the foregoing, we respectfully request that DPR withdraw the Plan and redesign it with a view towards providing increased access and improved facilities for visitors to the Park. We believe this can be accomplished without creating significant impacts on natural and cultural resources.
Sincerely,
_____________________________ ______________________________
DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH JIM BATTIN
Senator, 36th District Senator, 37th District
_____________________________ ______________________________
JOHN J. BENOIT BONNIE GARCIA
Assemblyman, 64th District Assemblywoman, 80th District
_____________________________ ______________________________
RAY HAYNES JAY LA SUER
Assemblyman, 66th District Assemblyman, 77th District
cc: Ruth Coleman, Director, Department of Parks and Recreation
cc: Daphne Greene, Deputy Director, Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division
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