August 3, 1998

THE WAYWARD WEST

By Dustin Solberg
High Country News, Paonia, CO


Vast tracts of inholdings in the Mojave National Preserve in California are for sale - and its National Park Service caretakers can only watch the new neighbors move in (HCN, 4/14/97). Newcomers could mean 100 houses and a golf course. Just across the state line in Nevada, a county wants to build a major airport. Because the legislation that created the preserve four years ago ruled out restricting private-land owners within the park, the 2,200 people who own 12 percent of the park can sell to anyone they please.