Posted on 12/20/2006 2:27:12 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Off-roaders, environmentalists vie for canyon near Death Valley
By GILLIAN FLACCUS,12/18/06 00:52:32
Whoever named Surprise Canyon got it right. Mere miles from bone-dry Death Valley, the canyon cradles two unexpected jewels within its soaring, whitewashed walls: a gushing mountain stream and what's left of a once-bustling silver mining town.
These treasures have attracted visitors going back decades - and now they're at the heart of a legal battle between two modern foes, off-road drivers and environmentalists.
Five years ago environmentalists successfully sued to get the narrow canyon and its spring-fed waterfalls closed to vehicles. In response, more than 80 off-roaders purchased tiny pockets of private property at the top of the federally owned canyon and are suing for access to the land.
To butress their case, the off-roaders have dusted off a Civil War-era mining law that places the public access rights of local governments and private individuals above the rights of the federal government. The tussle in this remote California corner is one of several recent cases that, if successful, could unlock thousands of miles of roads in federally protected parks around the West that are off-limits to motorized vehicles.
The fight over Surprise Canyon boils down to a central question: What is more important, the rights of private property owners or the protection of a fragile desert oasis?
A coalition of environmental groups allege that before 2001, off-roaders destroyed the canyon by cutting trees, stacking boulders in the water and using steel winches to haul their Jeeps up a series of near-vertical waterfalls.
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
Death Valley needs protection from evil humans who want to kill it?
In 2004, San Juan County in Utah sued the National Park Service, claiming that a creek in Canyonlands National Park had once been a county road dating back to the 1890s.
The case is before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Another clueless reporter. It's called "winching your Jeep up..." not "hauling."
This is an important issue though here in the West where the Feds are closing roads at an alarming rate. They also have map makers remove existing open roads that they don't want people to travel on. Compare a map of Death Valley printed 30 years ago with one published today. Many roads are no longer shown as the Feds pressure map makers to remove them.
Mr. LL is getting a brand new "Warn" winch this Christmas, I'm going to sign the card "for hauling yer jeep up the side of the cliff" LOL!
I just posted a blog over on the bloggers page, please check it out, it is incredibly important. It is called "The Fall of the American Empirte"
Will do. First I have to get to the store, I'll check it out when I get home from work.
My household is well aware of what the environmental lobby is trying to do. Permits get harder to come by and more expensive to boot. This thread is of interest to me, wish it had not posted so late in the day.
LL
"Mr. LL is getting a brand new "Warn" winch this Christmas..."
Steel or synthetic line?
Unfortunately, irresponsible off-roaders who abuse the land only fuel the case for envirowhacks.
If you're going off-road, leave a good impression: TREAD LIGHTLY.
http://www.treadlightly.org/
I'm all for off roaders riding on their private property.
And eco-fascists should not be telling people what they can do on federal land because the damn federal government shouldn't own any land unless it's needed for national security.
If the federal government wants to own land for parks, forests, deserts, let's pass a constitutional amendment that allows it. If not, let's hand the land over to the states where it belongs.
this was the subject of Rush's Morning Update today
he felt like the off roaders had turned the tables on the whackos by using similar legal tactics
And Death Valley Scotty's mansion has evidently disappeared.
Woah, there! Don't know where you get your info, but The Book amply notes that there are to be NEW HEAVENS and a NEW EARTH. After all, J.C. ain't comin' with new carpet, an armload of wallpaper, and a few gallons of fresh paint; He's flat gonna kick this ol' rock to da curb and roll out a brand, spankin' new one. There's nobody going to be spending their eternity on a "preowned" Earth.
Check this; especially the way it's explained in the book of Hebrews:
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the LORD of hosts in the day of His burning anger.
Isaiah 13:13
18 Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken asunder, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack, for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again.
Isaiah 24:18-20
17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
Isaiah 65:17
22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure.
Isaiah 66:22
13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
2 Peter 3:13
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
Revelation 21:1
26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."
27 This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Hebrews 12:26 & 27
And Death Valley Scotty's mansion has evidently disappeared.
Scotty's Castle is still there, but the FEDs (BLM, Forest Service, Park Service) are asking map makers to take most dirt roads off of modern maps in hope that they will not be used anymore so they can claim that they are not in use and can close them permanently.
I'm not a bit surprised that the maps are missing roads. We're dealing with Marxists in the natural resources agencies. Marxists rewrite history to attain with the their goals.
I'm not famaliar with this case, but I can tell you that the re-writing of maps, facts, history is a common tactic of these left wingers.
Same thing happened on Isle Royale on Lake Superior, land given to the federal goverment for a national park. The supervisor tried to wipe out the docks for boaters. He refused to maintain the docks. The congressman who established the park clearly stated in the legislation that the island would remain open to boaters - forever.
We had to take this fascist scumbag to federal court and sue. Cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why do we need to re-establish rights over and over again? Because our filthy federal government protects fascist bureaucrats, regardless of how many people are screwed or how many people have their civil rights violated.
I have zero respect for the federal justice (Ha!) department. There are federal fascist bureaucrats here in Michigan that should be wearing prison strips in a federal pen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.