S.B. County suing federal government to get road

By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise


San Bernardino County officials this week agreed to sue the federal government to gain control of a 42-mile stretch of mostly dirt road that cuts through undeveloped public land between Barstow and the San Bernardino Mountains.

The county's 6-year-old effort to wrest legal rights to Camp Rock Road from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has raised concerns among some environmentalists, who say they fear county control could put wildlife at risk.

Camp Rock Road, a public-access route to a large section of open desert southeast of Barstow, crosses territory that is designated as critical habitat for the desert tortoise, a species threatened with extinction. It also skirts two wilderness areas in the Newberry and Rodman mountains south of Interstate 40.

"If the county were to pave the road or increase traffic on the road, it would be a detriment to desert wildlife, including the desert tortoise," said Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, a wildlife advocacy group.

San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt said the county has no plans to pave or otherwise improve the road, which he said is used principally by recreationists and miners. The county already maintains it.

"We just seek to keep it open for the various uses, as it has been many years," Mitzelfelt said. "We have an obligation as a county to keep it as a county road."

He added that the county is also in court to fight road closures on public land in the Mojave National Preserve.

San Bernardino County submitted an application to the BLM in 2003 to take over Camp Rock Road, but the bureau has not acted, according to a county petition filed in U.S. District Court.The suit asks the court to order the BLM to process the county's application.

Alan Stein, a BLM deputy district manager, said the agency has not acted because of unresolved disputes about a statute that allows counties to take over federal rights-of-way.

Heidi McIntosh, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said environmental groups are concerned because counties are not obligated to protect wildlife while the BLM must adhere to the Endangered Species Act and other laws.

Mitzelfelt said the road could not be improved without extensive environmental reviews.

County sues to ensure Camp Rock Road access

By ABBY SEWELL, staff writer
Desert Dispatch

San Bernardino County is suing the federal government in hopes of establishing its right of way on a road crossing federal land between Lucerne Valley and Daggett.

The county is seeking to officially establish its ownership of Camp Rock Road, a county-maintained road that covers about 42 miles between Lucerne Valley and Daggett and crosses federal land, according to press release from county First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt’s office.

“The road supports numerous industries, such as ranching, mining, filming and recreation, and it’s a road a lot of people use to get back and forth between Lucerne and Johnson Valley and the greater Barstow area,” Mitzelfelt said Wednesday. “... Our position is that in order to maintain our roads and keep them open, we need to be able to show we have the right of way for a variety of reasons.”

In April 2003 the county filed an application with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for a “recordable disclaimer,” which would establish its right of way on the road and give the county a legal record of its ownership. The application was never processed, and the county is now asking for a court order that would force the BLM to process it in a timely manner, Mitzelfelt said Wednesday.

“Either issue the disclaimer or don’t issue the disclaimer, and tell us why,” he said.

The county’s application showed that it has been maintaining the road since before 1976, allowing the county to claim right of way under an 1866 mining law, Mitzelfelt said. The law was repealed in 1976, but existing right of ways were allowed to stand, according to the county release.

Alan Stein, deputy district manager of resources for the BLM’s California Desert District, said the BLM had been waiting to see how court cases involving right of ways established under the old mining law played out in other states before taking up San Bernardino County’s application.

In the meantime, he said, the county continues to use and maintain the road, and in the BLM’s maps, the road shows up as being owned by the county.

“It’s not that we tried to close Camp Rock Road — we didn’t, and we didn’t try to change the use on Camp Rock Road,” Stein said. “It’s a legal issue, and the county is interested in, and has been interested in, maintaining access.”

The county filed its motion asking for a court order in the United States District Court in Riverside on Jan. 14 under the authority of board Chairman Gary Ovitt, and the board ratified the action at its regular meeting Tuesday, Mitzelfelt said.