The Ridgecrest Area Task Group of the BLM Desert Advisory Council’s WEMO Subgroup will convene its second meeting, this time at SpringHill Suites in Ridgecrest, on May 24th from 6:30-8:30 pm. The first meeting was held at Jawbone Station with nearly 40 people in attendance, about fifteen of which contributed route data in various forms.
For the next event the task group hopes to see additional people turn-out with their route maps and other information. Once again, staff will be on-hand to directly enter the data electronically, offer assistance in sorting through our vast collection of maps, and answer any questions you may have about the process.
The purpose of the Task Group meetings is to engage and assist members of the public in identifying important motorized routes in the greater Ridgecrest area that should be designated open by the BLM.
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We knew it would happen eventually, but as of this week it is official: our OHV Green Sticker funds are under attack. For those of you who aren’t aware, when you register your OHV and receive your ‘Green Sticker’ your fee goes into a money-pot which is then used to fund the restoration, safety and education, law enforcement, development, planning, and ground-works which are so vital to keeping our public lands accessible, safe, and open.
In the past few years our access to the full pot of funding has been steadily eroded. Now, this past week it was proposed that the Green Sticker funds be commandeered in their entirety and used to fund State Parks as an effort to prevent their own closures. As a result this would deny us access to the $30 million dollars in funding which OHV recreation sites have come to rely on. ]]>
This Sunday, May 20th, a partial solar eclipse will be occurring across Southern California. The Maximum eclipse (that is, the time when the moon will most obscure the sun) is expected to be at about 6:38 p.m. and it will cover roughly 78.6 percent of the sun’s area. Good news for us desert dwellers is that the weather is expected to be clear and warm out here: perfect for viewing the solar eclipse as the sun will be low in the western sky in a spot where even a few clouds can spell disaster for sun-viewers.
Even at its totality during our partial eclipse it will not be safe to look directly at the sun. There are eclipse viewing goggles that one can purchase online or at specialty stores, but, if you don’t feel like making the investment there is a simple way to do it:
1. Take two index cards and poke a hole in one with a pin
2. Line up the two index cards with the sun so that it shines through the one onto the other (please see illustration below!)
The Stewards of the Sequoia volunteer organization is having a fundraiser on May 2, 2012 at The CycleSmiths in Kernville, CA. There will be BBQ in the offering, fun raffle prizes and, for a donation of $150, Jimmy Lewis will be hosting one of his famous Off-Road Schools at nearby Keyesville (a class normally offered at $300). Raffle prizes will include overnight accommodations at Kern Lodge, Motion Pro goodies, Demo Dirt Riding gear and much, much more. All funds raised will go to helping Stewards of the Sequoia campaign to stop trail closures during up-coming BLM and National Forest trail designation plans.
For more information, please visit www.stewardsofthesequoia.org. Raffle tickets can be purchased ahead of time by visiting this link. If you cannot attend the fundraiser but would still like to make a tax-deductible donation, please click here.
To download the flyer, click here. To View a map of this destination click here.
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With May now upon us and June fast approaching, the first of the Pacific Crest National Trail (PCT) hikers are starting to filter through Jawbone Canyon on their way to Kennedy Meadows. No section of the PCT is easy, but the section that runs from highway 58 to Walker Pass presents some difficult logistical problems: namely that water is hard to find in regular supply in the desert.
In fact, the longest section of the PCT without any reliable water happens just north of 58 and has just a little over 38 miles between water sources. Other parts of the PCT cross and re-cross streams and rivers that run with fresh snowmelt year-round, but the section in our backyard doesn’t have any springs directly on the trail and some of the more reliable water-sources are up to three miles off the main trail. Thus, at key points, hikers must step off the trail and head down the local dirt roads in search of springs or the water caches that were left for them.
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By all accounts it was a perfect day for the grand opening of the new Jawbone Canyon interpretive center this past weekend on April 28th. Blue skies, warm weather, and a notably light breeze made for refreshingly cool shade and a mild enough day that the tortoises weren’t the only ones who had a spring in their step as the crowd started to gather at about 9 a.m. The sales and interpretive booths were open well in advance of the official opening and Robin Mallow and her employees were a picture of enthusiastic efficiency as they handed out free t-shirts, raffle tickets, and meal vouchers to the pre-registered attendees. Coffee was drank and old friends greeted as attendees, some of whom had attended the first Moose Anderson Day, chatted with fellow OHV enthusiasts and anticipated getting a look at the inside of the new building.
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About forty members of the public, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) representatives, and Desert Advisory Council (DAC) members met early on Friday morning, the 20th of April, to take a tour of the El Paso Mountains and Jawbone Canyon. The Desert Advisory Council advises the BLM on the management of the nearly 11 million acres which comprise the California Desert District. To be sure that they have an accurate knowledge of the areas on which they are advising the DAC periodically takes tours of various areas of interest, in this case with the BLM leading the tour in conjunction with Friends of Jawbone. For DAC Members it was a chance to see the backroads of the El Paso Mountains and Jawbone Canyon regions. For the public it was a unique opportunity to see the DAC and BLM in action and witness first hand the areas being affected by the WEMO act and various conservation projects.
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On March 21 a group of nine Friends of Jawbone volunteers, organized by longtime volunteer George Baland, installed two new desert tortoise information panels in the OHV parking area in Randsburg. It took about two hours of digging and hard work under the already-hot California sun to get the holes positioned and dug deep enough to secure the displays. The new panels give information on tortoise habitat and habits and are now located in front of the FOJ OHV information kiosk.
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As Highway 14 prepares for another expansion, this time north of Red Rock Canyon, Friends of Jawbone President Ed Waldheim is once again hard at work with BLM & CalTrans to maintain OHV access to the designated routes on both sides of the highway.
]]>As we gear-up for Moose Anderson Day and the ribbon cutting of our new building expansion we’d like to remind area riders that you no longer have to choose between camping out in the desert heat or the long drive in from Mojave. The new Best Western Hotel has opened in California City proper, a mere 15 miles from the Jawbone Canyon station!
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