DESERT FUTURE MULLED RED ROCK CANYON PLAN BEING PREPARED.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer MOJAVE - State officials are trying to determine how they will manage a 20,500-acre addition to Red Rock Canyon There are more than 30 parks and canyons in the U.S. named Red Rock Canyon: Parks
Parks officials say they are trying to juggle the desires of environmentalists, off-road enthusiasts and a host of others, including archeologists and astronomy enthusiasts. ``The ultimate goal is to allow the public to enjoy what they have,'' said Jeff Brown
Officials are preparing a general plan amendment for the area known as Last Chance Canyon, added to the state park as part of the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. The general plan amendment will be the primary management document for the park and will provide guidelines for future development, but it will not provide specific designs or locations of facilities. Under the California Desert Protection Act, Last Chance Canyon was shifted from the management of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to the state park system. Under an agreement with the state parks, the BLM BLM n abbr (US) (= Bureau of Land Management) → les domaines will continue to manage mining claims in the area. State park ownership brings some differences from the way the land was handled by the BLM. State parks forbid collecting of rocks and minerals, ban shooting or hunting, and forbid grazing grazing, n See irregular feeding. grazing 1. actions of herbivorous animals eating growing pasture or cereal crop. 2. area of pasture or cereal crop to be used as standing feed. See also pasture. cattle.. About 25 miles north of Mojave on Highway 14, Red Rock Canyon was made a state park in 1968 because of its spectacular, time-weathered sandstone cliffs. Since the 1920s, the cliffs have provided backdrops for countless movies and television shows, usually westerns and science-fiction, from ``Bonanza'' to ``Jurassic Park.'' The Last Chance Canyon area of the park is to the east, in the arid El Paso Mountains The El Paso Mountains are located in central southern California in the United States. The range lies in a southwest-northeasterly direction east of Highway 14, and north of the Rand Mountains and Randsburg Red Rock Road. between Highway 14 and Red Rock-Randsburg Road and south of Black Mountain. ``It is probably the most scenic 20,000 acres in the state,'' Brown said. Last Chance Canyon's colorful geology resulted from a mixture of differing sediments and volcanic rock strata, federal officials said. The strata have been exposed through uplifting along the El Paso El Paso (ĕl pă`sō), city (1990 pop. 515,342), seat of El Paso co., extreme W Tex., on the Rio Grande opposite Juárez, Mex.; inc. 1873. Fault, which created the El Paso range. The Last Chance Canyon area is considered significant archeologically because of the large number and diversity of sites, from remnants of ancient American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. encampments to deposits of prehistoric fossils. Lancaster photographer Lee Bergthold, an Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. instructor who for years has backpacked through the deserts and mountains of California and Nevada, said he would like to see Last Chance Canyon left alone. ``I hope they leave it the way it is,'' Bergthold said. ``They should leave the outback for those who want to explore on their own.'' Off-road vehicle enthusiasts also want to make sure they can continue to use the land. Off-roaders feel they are squeezed out of using public lands in the state. The Red Rock Canyon Park Committee of the Sierra Club Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club , on the other hand, is concerned about off-road vehicles tearing up the park, particularly the dry washes that carry water during storms. ``It might look like a wasteland, but it's not,'' said Stan Haye, who co- chairs the committee with his wife Jeanie. ``There's a lot of riparian riparian adj. referring to the banks of a river or stream. (See: riparian rights) growth. Those plants are used to having a flood every 40 years or so. Getting beaten down by vehicles is another thing.'' It will probably take about a year for park staffers to prepare the general plan amendment for consideration by the state Parks and Recreation Commission. The parks department will accept public comment on the general plan amendment virtually up to the last minute. ``I look at this (the general plan amendment) as a template,'' Jeanie Haye said. ``What's within gets filled out later. I think a lot of people think this general plan dots all the i's and crosses all the t's, but it doesn't.'' Red Rock Canyon was established as a state park in 1968 and it is the first state park in Kern County. CAPTION(S): map Map: Red Rock Canyon State Park |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion