A plan to keep open roughly 300,000 acres of Southern California desert for off-road vehicle use — a land area nearly as big as Los Angeles — and preserve hundreds of thousands of other acres is being considered in the Senate after being approved last month by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sponsored by Rep. Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, the California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act has the support of San Bernardino and Inyo counties along with off-road vehicle and some environmental groups. But the Sierra Club has concerns about the bill.

Cook represents Inyo and Mono counties along with desert and mountaintop communities in San Bernardino County, including Adelanto, Apple Valley, Big Bear City and Lake Arrowhead. About 90 percent of Cook’s district is federal land, and the goal of his proposal is to balance conservation concerns with off-roaders’ desire to roam vast stretches of Southern California landscape, said Tim Itnyre, Cook’s legislative director.

“Land suitable for conservation should typically be managed as part of a desert park or wilderness. Similarly, lands appropriate for energy generation and economic development should not be encumbered with conservation designations such as ‘wilderness study areas,’” Itnyre said.

“Additionally, popular off-highway vehicle recreation areas should be given the same sort of protections in law that are granted to conservation areas to prevent arbitrary closures. (The bill) attempts to solve these problems by setting aside land for conservation and off-road recreation, while releasing wilderness study areas that have been found unsuitable for a wilderness designation.”

‘It’s taken away’

Cook introduced a similar bill in 2015. A year later, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., offered similar legislation, creating 142,000 acres of off-highway recreation areas around three national monuments in the Mojave Desert created by President Barack Obama.

Cook objected to Obama’s monument designations, which totaled 1.8 million acres. His 2015 bill would have allowed new mining claims, expanded off-roading areas, and made Mojave Trails National Monument a less-restrictive special management area.

Co-sponsored by Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, the 2018 bill that passed the House by a voice vote strips out “controversial provisions” from Cook’s earlier proposal and Feinstein’s bill, including restrictions on desert groundwater use and incentives to boost large-scale renewable energy projects, Itnyre said.

The bill establishes or expands six off-highway vehicle recreation areas, including Johnson Valley in San Bernardino County, and includes language to keep those areas open.

“With the increasing popularity of the sport, (off-highway vehicle) users deserve to have lands set aside without worry that a bureaucrat or president will unilaterally close the area for questionable reasons,” Itnyre said.

Loren Campbell of Palm Desert, who serves on the board of Inland Empire 4 Wheelrs, said federal land that could be open to off-roading is often off-limits.

“The use is allowed by permission … (but) the permission is never granted,” Campbell said. “It’s taken away, the right to enjoy the land, but it’s never given back.”

The bill also designates about 18,000 acres of federal land as the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area. The move would restrict large-scale solar and wind energy projects while preserving other commercial and recreational uses.

Another 39,000 acres would be added to the National Park System, including “significant acreage at both Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park,” read a news release from Cook’s office. The bill also designates 329,000 acres as wilderness, according to Itnyre.

‘Too much’

While the California Wilderness Coalition supports the bill, the Sierra Club believes too much land is set aside for off-roading.

“Every acre of federal land that’s open to new off-highway vehicle use is too much,” said Athan Manuel, director of the club’s Land Protection Program. “There’s no shortage of trails on public and private land. There’s no shortage of places to ride.”

Off-roading can damage grasslands and wetlands and cause noise and air pollution, Manuel said. “We’re not trying to shut down existing off-highway vehicle areas. But we don’t want to see any new areas open up.”

Campbell said his club spends 1,500 hours a year preserving the trails it uses. Itnyre said off-roading is a multi-million dollar industry that supports thousands of jobs.

The bill’s strong bipartisan showing in the House “should give it some momentum” in the Senate, Itnyre said.

“The fact that the Senate is scheduled to be in session through the end of August should expand the window for a hearing and a vote this year,” Itnyre said. “While passing anything through the Senate can be challenging, Rep. Cook is optimistic that (the bill) has a real chance of being enacted this year.”

BY THE NUMBERS

The California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act, sponsored by Rep. Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, passed the House last month and awaits action in the Senate.

Here are the numbers behind the bill:

329,000 – The amount of acreage to be designated as wilderness under the bill.

300,000 – The bill would establish or expand six off-highway vehicle recreation areas in the California desert totaling about 300,000 acres. These areas could not be closed administratively.

39,000 – The number of acres the bill would add to the National Park System.

18,000 – The number of acres of existing federal land that would go into the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area. That would restrict large-scale renewable energy projects on the land while preserving existing recreational and commercial uses.

CORRECTION, 7/13/2018: The California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act designates 329,000 acres as wilderness. Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of the story omitted this amount.