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7 days to save the hammers

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MrMindless:
Please take a look at Shannon Welch's video update on the main issue here - it's four and a half minutes and wraps up the current status of the issue nicely.

Please check out savethehammers.org to look at the specific targeting that is the aim of this project. Yesterday was the day to contact Senator Diane Finstein. This is what I faxed to her office. I worked off their talking points which you can find on the facebook event page, but made them my own. Please do the same. Today is the day I'll be faxing the same to Rep. David Drier.


--- Quote ---Monday August 6th, 2012

Senator Diane Feinstein
Los Angeles, CA
p.310-914-7300
f.310-914-7318
Senator Feinstein:
My name is Michael Maskalans, and I am writing you regarding the Johnson Valley OHV Area. I am an offroad enthusiast, offroad racer, active offroad club member, and I strongly support the continued existence of the OHV Area.

Johnson Valley is a world-renowned OHV recreation area visited by at least 300,000 users per year. The Bureau of Land Management estimates the OHV Area draws $71.5 million annually into the local economy and $191.2 Million into the national economy.

The Marine Corps plans to acquire 160,000 acres of BLM land next to Twenty Nine Palms eliminates most of the land available under the California Desert Conservation Plan (1980) for off highway recreation. The Corps intends to conduct live fire training on all but 40,000 acres - permanently closing public access to 120,000 acres.

Options other than those in the just-published Draft Environmental Impact Study need to be considered – such as Permitted Use of the land from the BLM as the Corps currently does for other BLM training sites; or expansion to other BLM land in the region.

The US House of Representatives passed an Amendment to the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act that requires, prior to transfer, the Secretary of the Navy to provide a report on the new Marine requirement for this land and on the economic impact and on other potential solutions to the elimination of recreational land.

The Secretary of the Navy just entered the final EIS into the Federal Register, and a Record of Decision to acquire the land could be his next step. Local and state authorities and thousands of citizens are opposed to the transfer of this land, and you must take action now. Please call the Secretary of the Navy and tell him to stop this process until all stakeholders - including federal legislators - have had their voices heard.

Once live-fire training starts, the land is permanently lost. We need to find accommodation for OHV needs and local interests now.

Thank you for your consideration,

 [signed]
Michael Maskalans
Fingerlakes 4x4 Member-at-Large
Codriver, Game Day Racing #571

--- End quote ---

MrMindless:
Second update video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE9pyCzxuFo

Spencer:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-chit-chat/1110150-sema-johnson-valley-press-release.html

http://www.sema.org/sema-enews/2012/51/californias-johnson-valley-guaranteed-temporary-protection-from-marine-base-expansion

Thanks to the efforts of SEMA, the Off-Road Business Association (ORBA) and a coalition of other land use groups, continued off-highway vehicle (OHV) access to Johnson Valley, California, has been guaranteed for now by the U.S. Congress. Congress has included a provision with the 2013 Defense Authorization Act that requires the U.S. Marines to study alternative ways to share the area with the OHV community without taking ownership of the land. The Johnson Valley off-road area draws at least 200,000 visitors annually and may generate as much as $191 million annually into the economy.

Johnson Valley is home to “King of the Hammers” and many other OHV events. The land has been controlled for years by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which provides special-use permits for various motorized recreation activities. The U.S. Marines want to expand their base at Twentynine Palms, California, to include nearly 147,000 acres of adjacent land within Johnson Valley in order to conduct large-scale training exercises for one or two months per year. The land-use coalition is urging the Marines to simply obtain BLM special-use permits. Any transfer of land rights is subject to Congressional approval. Final action on legislation directing the Marines to conduct an OHV study is expected to be completed in the next few days.

s0l0ithz:
Good news for now

MrMindless:
Celebration is premature... But fingers crossed. The Marie's still like Alternative 6 the best and this doesn't bar them from it, at all.

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