Supervisor's plan would tighten land acquisition

By DUANE W. GANG
Riverside Press Enterprise

A San Bernardino County supervisor is proposing a policy aimed at limiting the ability of conservation groups to buy land through back-tax sales.

The new policy, up for a vote today, is an attempt to keep property on the county's tax rolls and prevent nonprofit organizations from transferring the land to the federal government.

The federal government owns vast stretches of the county and pays no property taxes.

"Land conservancies have been acquiring large amounts of private land in San Bernardino County, only to transfer the land to the federal government, thereby removing the property from county tax rolls and in some cases closing off access to public lands," Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, the policy's architect, said in a statement.

"Our county has lost 735,807 acres of tax base and ranches since 2000 to conservancy acquisitions for parks, wilderness inholdings and habitat mitigation."

The new policy would give the county, and individual supervisors, a greater say in what groups can buy land and where. It would make it more difficult to transfer the land to the federal government.

But local land conservancy groups say the new policy would severely limit their mission -- acquiring land to help national parks and other wilderness areas.

Much of the land the organizations seek is in remote and often mountainous areas, places difficult to develop, said Shelton Douthit, a consultant who works with nonprofits in acquiring land through back-tax sales.

"None of them have any economic viability. If they did, the prior owner would have kept them," Douthit said. "We do it because we believe there is a national purpose: To see these national jewels protected. This defeats that."

Under current state tax law -- known as Chapter 8 sales -- nonprofit organizations can buy residential or vacant property that has been in tax default for at least five years. They can purchase the land at a greatly reduced price before it goes to a public auction.

Mitzelfelt, who did not respond for a request for an interview, said in his statement that he wants the land returned to viable residential or other economic uses and not turned over to the federal government or closed off to the public.

The federal government is barred from buying land through Chapter 8 sales.

Nothing in the proposal would prevent a nonprofit from bidding on property during a normal public auction, meaning a higher price would have to be paid, he said.

"If we are going to lose properties in perpetuity from our tax rolls and possibly lose public or private access, I want to at least make sure the county receives the market value of the property," Mitzelfelt said.

The new policy, among its details, would:
Allow the treasurer-tax collector to approve a sale of residential land to a nonprofit for conservation when that is the "only possible beneficial use."

Allow the approval of all sales of vacant, buildable land less than 20,000 square feet in size to nonprofits that agree to dedicate the land for public use. The land would have to be "totally surrounded" by other property already dedicated for public use.

For property larger than 20,000 square feet, or land not totally surrounded, the treasurer-tax collector would refer the application to the supervisor whose district includes the property.
That supervisor would have the power to approve or deny the sale.

The Riverside Land Conservancy has acquired land near the Mojave National Preserve, a 1.6 million-acre area run by the National Park Service.

Gail Egenes, the conservancy's administrative director, said the new policy is vague, making it hard to weigh in on it. She expressed concern about an individual supervisor being able to decide whether the nonprofit organizations can acquire land.

"It leaves a lot open to interpretation, especially when the decision-making lies with one individual," Egenes said. "We certainly feel (buying land at Chapter 8 sales) is an effective and good way to make the best use of some of these very remote and undevelopable areas."

Mitzelfelt wants more options for land

Conservation groups are buying up land in the 1st District

Victor Valley Daily Press
RYAN ORR Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO — A policy proposed by Brad Mitzelfelt would give supervisors more sway over conservation groups that are buying county land.

Land conservancies have been acquiring large amounts of private land in San Bernardino County, especially in the 1st District.

"Our county has lost 735,807 acres of tax base and ranches since 2000 to conservancy acquisitions for parks, wilderness in holdings and habitat mitigation," said Mitzelfelt, San Bernardino County 1st District supervisor.

The Riverside Land Conservancy, a non-profit organization, has been buying tax-defaulted properties in the Mojave Preserve. The group can acquire the property before it is sold at auction in what is called "chapter 8 sales."

The process is often used to offer land at below-market price because the organization has to pay only the taxes owed on the property and an administrative fee.

The proposed policy that Mitzelfelt came up with is intended to return such tax-defaulted properties to viable residential and other economic uses, and to maintain the properties on the tax rolls of the county whenever possible to help pay for public services.

"Citizens in this county have a right to enjoy the desert as much as the animals in this county," Mitzelfelt said.

He said that he is optimistic that the other supervisors will support the policy.

I-40 bridge work speeds along

A dozen bridges demolished, replaced in 14 months

San Bernardino Sun
Andrew Silva, Staff Writer

Twenty-eight days.

A contractor working for Caltrans tore down a bridge and erected a new one on Interstate 40 in less than a month.

And that was only one of 12 bridges demolished and replaced in 14 months on the southern edge of the Mojave National Preserve.

"It's pretty amazing," said John Diskin, chief engineer for Skanska USA, the contractor that did the accelerated work.

The final bit of work is scheduled to be completed this week.

In March 2006, Caltrans engineers discovered the 12 bridges - six in each direction of the divided interstate - were failing along a 17-mile stretch between Kelbaker and Essex roads.

While planning and building road projects usually moves along like a snail with stomach cramps, the state can blaze through a project if it's an emergency.

"When it's a dire situation, the state has the ability to go around normal avenues to get a project done sooner," said Traci Peterson, a spokeswoman for Caltrans.

This time the state required some innovative construction techniques, including the first-ever use of precast bridge abutments, installed on the Marble Wash Bridge about 80 miles east of Barstow.

And all 12 bridges used precast and prestressed girders, dramatically cutting down on the construction time.

On the dozen bridges, built in the early 1970s, the steel rods that secured the bridge decks to the pillars had sheared and the concrete was eroding.

Traffic was reduced to one lane on each bridge and the speed limit was lowered to 45 mph.
After the bridges were temporarily shored up, traffic in both directions was diverted onto the westbound side, and Skanska started demolishing the six eastbound bridges, one a day.

The $35 million project basically became an assembly-line operation, with crews working on all the bridges at once, moving from one to the next as each step was finished.

"We put together a tight schedule and kept to it," Diskin said. "Everybody, including the subcontractors, just bought into the project. It was just one of those things that really clicked."

It took only four months to complete the six eastbound bridges. Then the crews switched to the westbound side.

The precast girders, assembled by Pomeroy Corp. in Perris, meant crews didn't have to build them in place.

The real innovation was bringing in already completed abutments, the beefy ends of the bridge that support the whole thing. Each weighed roughly 180,000 pounds.

It took only a few hours using a 500-ton crane to lift the abutments off flatbed trailers and drop them in place.

That compares to several weeks to set up forms, create the steel mesh of rebar and then pour the concrete and let it set.

Diskin said next time, he'd prefer the abutments perhaps be in two parts, which could then be joined.

"They were definitely big chunks of concrete," he said.

The Marble Wash bridge was demolished in a little more than a day on March 30 and opened to traffic April 26.

"This is an amazing accomplishment when you consider the size of this structure and its remote location," Hector Davila, Caltrans deputy director of construction, said in a written statement.

It's even more impressive if you consider the crews took Sundays off. That means the bridge was actually built in 24 working days.

Mojave town recaptures one-room school house history

San Bernardino County Sun
Trevor Summons, Correspondent

Out in the middle of the Mojave Desert, Goffs is one of those dusty, almost forgotten places where people gathered in years gone by to try their luck with the harsh terrain.

It was the railroad coming through that gave some of their workers the idea of a school, and in 1914 the present structure was built on an acre of land to cater to the children of the employees of the Santa Fe Railroad.

Jo Ann and her husband Dennis bought the schoolhouse and surrounding area back in 1990, and have spent the past 17 years turning it into an interesting look at history.

The schoolhouse itself is a sanctuary to daily life almost a century ago, when a dozen or so children would be sitting at their desks under the control of a single teacher. The first of these was Clara Rippeto. The last ones, when the school closed in 1937, were Anna and Daniel Stern. By then, two teachers were employed to teach the first through eighth grades in the single room.

In the following years, the building was at one time used as a cafeteria by World War II troops in the area, but then it gradually fell into disrepair. It was in 1982 that Dennis Casebier passed through the area. He was saddened by what he saw and said that being convinced that it would eventually completely disappear; he took several photos of the dilapidated scene.

A couple called Jim and Bertha Wold bought the place soon after this and began to restore it before they put it on the market in 1990. It seemed prophetic that the Casebiers should then become the owners of the site, and their important work began.

Today, the schoolhouse contains many of the artifacts that were so familiar to the original occupants, and there is an atmosphere of caring and vibrancy that must have been totally absent when Casebier took his pictures.

The name of Goffs is cause for some speculation. It was one of the alphabet towns preceded by Fenner and followed by Homer. These towns were planned to stretch east of Amboy by Southern Pacific Railroad who were in deadly competition with Santa Fe.

Almost certainly it was named after a particular man, and in the records, there is one called Isaac Goff, who was a railroad locator for A&P, a subsidiary of Santa Fe Railroad, who eventually pushed the line through to the Pacific Ocean.

The present scene is shown as it was intended but there were other uses for the building. It was occasionally used for dances, and back in 1928, during one such event, a shot was fired from a Colt .45 and a man was killed. The victim, Leo Sweeney died at the scene and a suspected perpetrator, Doug Craig was charged with murder. The charge was eventually dismissed and Craig went free.

This was not the only piece of violence in the remote desert area. There is one grizzly artifact on the back wall of the schoolhouse.

In 1908, one Joseph "Hootch" Simpson was hung in Death Valley County by an angry citizenry, tired of his ways. The Press tore out to witness the scene but Hootch had already been cut down.
Nonetheless, in pursuit of a hot story the press persuaded those in attendance to re-hang Hootch so they could get photos. One of these is in the case with the actual noose that sent Hootch to the hereafter.

For the regular youngsters 412 in all who passed their days at the schoolhouse, no doubt there were some happy times away from the heat and dust of the desert, and a lot of evidence to that fact has been gathered by the enthusiastic owners of the site.

Goffs Schoolhouse is opened by appointment and you can find more information at (760) 733-4848 or on the Web site: www.mdhca.org.

Utah fighting the laws of the land

The state is helping pay for legal challenges to federal jurisdiction, much of it, critics say, without oversight.

By Julie Cart, Times Staff Writer
LA Times

RECAPTURE CANYON, UTAH — It's a small gesture of defiance — a narrow metal bridge that allows off-road vehicles illegal access to this archeologically rich canyon. But the modest structure, built by San Juan County officials on U.S. government land, is a symbol of the widespread local resistance to federal authority across much of southern Utah's magnificent countryside.

Historically, people in the rural West have challenged federal jurisdiction, claiming ownership over rights of way, livestock management and water use. But nowhere is the modern-day defiance more determined, better organized or more well-funded than in Utah, where millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent fighting federal authority, and where the state government is helping to pay the tab, much of it, critics say, without oversight.

For the last decade the Utah Legislature and two state agencies have been funneling money to southern Utah counties to bankroll legal challenges to federal jurisdiction. Most recently, a state representative persuaded the Legislature to provide $100,000 to help finance a lawsuit by ranchers and two counties seeking to expand cattle grazing in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Grand Staircase is one of a dozen parks and monuments that draw tens of millions of visitors to the region every year to take in the spectacular high desert and red-rock canyons that have awed travelers since John Wesley Powell voyaged down the Green and Colorado rivers in 1869.
Settlers, on the other hand, have been famously indifferent to the scenery. "A hell of a place to lose a cow," is how 19th century homesteader Ebenezer Bryce is said to have described the labyrinthine landscape now known as Bryce Canyon National Park.

"This is a beautiful and unique land," said Bill Smart, retired editor of Salt Lake City's Deseret News. "It's distressing that we can't all be more appreciative of the values that other people see here. To me it's very disappointing that our own people can't see what we have."

In southern Utah, where the U.S. controls nearly 90% of the land in some counties, many residents feel they are permanent tenants on land their ancestors pioneered. The resentment hardens whenever the Washington, D.C., landlord imposes restrictions on ranching, mining, energy development and motorized recreation.

"Who gets to control the land is the great American story," said Karl Jacoby, associate professor of history at Brown University. "In part it is about economics, but a lot of it is about identity and who we are as a people."

Officials of one county have written a bill pending in Congress that orders the sale of federal land, with the proceeds given to the county. Other Utah counties have said they will follow suit. And officials from the two counties surrounding Grand Staircase have lobbied in Washington to dramatically reduce the 2-million-acre national monument.

Elected officials have flouted federal authority by bulldozing roads in the Grand Staircase monument and Capitol Reef National Park, and by tearing down signs banning off-road vehicles in Canyonlands National Park. A handful of counties have developed transportation plans that declare roads open that federal land managers have closed.

Selma Sierra, Utah director of the federal Bureau of Land Management, insisted that the agency's relationship with counties was good. "The BLM manages a substantial amount of land in this state. Yes, those lands belong to everyone in the country, but the decisions we make affect those individuals more so than anywhere else."

But federal officials say increases in motorized recreation and scarring of the landscape from energy exploration are threatening unique historic and cultural treasures and damaging wildlife habitat.

A recent BLM archeological assessment of 3rd century Anasazi ruins and cliff dwellings in Recapture Canyon found evidence of looting and off-road vehicle damage. According to the assessment, the new, county-built bridge "can be expected to hasten and increase indirect impacts to cultural resources here."

"It's quite common in Utah to hear people say, 'The federal government should give the land back to the state.' But the state never owned it," said Daniel McCool, director of the American West Center at the University of Utah.

McCool said rebellious county commissioners no longer represented the demographic of the American West. "There is a new rural resident," he said. "They didn't move here to ranch and raise cattle. They moved here for the amenities value of the public lands. That's what's driving the economy now. Today, the single largest nongovernmental components of Utah's economy are tourism and recreation. Mining, grazing and agriculture are about 3% to 4% of the economy."

According to an economic analysis commissioned by the National Parks Conservation Assn., national parks generate at least $4 for state and local economies for every dollar in the parks' budgets. Zion National Park, in southwest Utah, had 2.5 million visitors last year and provided nearly $100 million in annual recreational benefits to the surrounding county, the study said.

Grand Staircase was responsible for "substantial" economic growth, higher employment and increased personal income in two surrounding counties, according to a 2004 study by the Sonoran Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Tucson.

But Utah Lt. Gov. Gary R. Herbert said in an interview that the state had endured an "erosion of rights."

"We're not going to sit back anymore, we're going to be proactive, we are going to protect our rights," he said.

State Rep. Mike Noel, a Republican from the southern community of Kanab, said: It gets down to "sovereignty and autonomy. It's Western independence. We own the water, we have the right to graze, the minerals are still available, and the roads belong to us. By dang, we are not going to give them up."

Noel is part of a self-styled "cowboy caucus" in the Legislature that has helped direct hundreds of thousands of state dollars to counties bickering with the federal government.

In addition, the Constitutional Defense Council, established to protect state and county interests on federal land, has paid out more than $10 million, much of it to assist southern counties in legal battles against the BLM and the National Park Service.

The 2-year-old Public Lands Policy Coordination Office last year offered each county in Utah $10,000 to fight for rights of way across federal land and is funding a $1-million study on the economic impact of large federal holdings in the state.

Critics say taxpayer money should not be used to fight these legal battles and argue that there is little accounting of how much money is spent by the Constitutional Defense Council and public lands office. A 2004 state legislative audit of the Constitutional Defense Council concluded that it provided inadequate financial detail about its operations and recommended that it issue regular financial statements.

Even one of the guiding lights behind the creation of the Constitutional Defense Council said he couldn't trace how its money was spent. "There are no records, no agenda, no minutes," said Mark Walsh, executive director of the Utah-based Western Counties Alliance, who wrote some of the language that established the council. "It's a little confounding to me that you've got millions going into that office, but no one knows how it's spent or on what projects."

This month, a federal judge ruled that two southern Utah counties illegally used public funds to pay costs in a grazing lawsuit brought by local ranchers against the BLM.

Bob Keiter, a University of Utah law professor and public lands scholar, suspects Utahans are largely unaware that the state is helping bankroll the counties' legal fights.

"The question is whether or not the citizens of the state realize the degree to which they are subsidizing litigation that cuts across their interests," said Keiter, director of the Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment.

Rural interests continue to dominate the state legislative process in a manner that is out of proportion to their representation, Keiter said.

They also have influence with the Bush administration. In 2003, the administration agreed to withdraw 2.6 million acres in Utah from wilderness protection, and recently the BLM reinstated leases that could lead to extensive coal mining in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Man Injured In Accidental Shooting - Mojave National Preserve (CA)

from Blogged In The Desert

On April 7th, rangers received a 911 hang-up call from the Hole in the Wall campground, requesting an ambulance.

As rangers and EMS personnel were responding, a campground host called and reported that a man had suffered a broken leg and that he was being taken by a private vehicle to meet the ambulance.

When contact was made, medics determined that the man – Joseph Mountjoy, 22 – had been shot in the leg.

Ranger Wayne Dingman followed the ambulance to the hospital. Through interviews with Mountjoy and his friends, Dingman determined that Mountjoy had been out hiking, that he’d had a.22 caliber semi-automatic pistol with him, and that he’d been shooting at targets with the gun and other weapons.

After returning to his vehicle, Mountjoy attempted to unload the .22. When a round failed to eject and the slide fell forward, the weapon discharged, hitting Mountjoy in the leg above his knee. He underwent surgery at the hospital to remove the bullet.

Mountjoy, who was scheduled to attend a local police academy in May, was cited for possession of a loaded weapon and illegal target shooting.

[Submitted by Kirk Gebicke, Supervisory Park Ranger]

Wilderness bill raises storm

Big Bear Lake officials say it would hurt fire-suppression efforts

San Bernardino Sun
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer

BIG BEAR LAKE - Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Hilda Solis want to have a 6,000-plus acre patch of forest on Sugarloaf Mountain declared wilderness area.

But city, fire and water officials are fighting that effort, concerned that such a designation would thwart firefighting and forest-thinning efforts and quell the possible future expansion of a water- treatment plant near the proposed wilderness area.

The proposal by Boxer, D-Calif., and Solis, is part of their California Wild Heritage Act of 2007, introduced Feb. 6 in the House of Representatives. It aims to designate 2.4 million acres of wilderness and segments of wild and scenic rivers throughout the state and calls for, among other things, 6,336 acres of designated wilderness land on Sugarloaf Mountain and about 17,920 acres in the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

"From a fire-suppression standpoint, fire suppression efforts will be limited," said John Morley, chief of the Big Bear Lake Fire Department. "Generally, the (fire) equipment isn't allowed in a wilderness area. You're not supposed to take dozers in there. You're not supposed to take engines in there, and you're not allowed to take chain saws in there."

Approval to access a wilderness area during a wildland fire is possible, but it generally has to be approved by federal officials in Washington, Morley said.

"When you have a fire going on and are trying to get approvals from someone outside this area, I don't think it's in the best interest of public safety," Morley said.

In a prepared statement Friday, Boxer said, "Under my wilderness bill, federal officials have been given full authority to act in every way they deem necessary to prevent and extinguish fires.

"Most Californians want to see these God-given wilderness areas protected for future generations. But if this community is so united against this potential designation, I certainly will take that into account as the bill moves forward."

According to Section 102(d) of the proposed legislation, the agriculture secretary may take appropriate measures to control and prevent fire through federal, state or local agencies and jurisdictions. Such measures include the use of mechanized and motorized equipment for fire suppression, including aircraft for fire retardant and water drops.

Early last week, the Big Bear Lake City Council approved a resolution opposing the designation of the wilderness area, and will send it to Boxer's and Solis' offices, city planner Sandra Molina said.
"We'll also send it to other representatives in the Senate and (House), and we're also going to be asking the local boards to join us in opposing the designations," she said.

In 1964, Congress enacted the Wilderness Act to protect designated federal lands from being encroached upon by humans and to retain their "primeval character and influence." The act prohibits, with certain exceptions, commercial enterprises and permanent roads from being built on the land.

In the last six years, the San Bernardino Mountains have been vexed with drought and a bark-beetle infestation that have combined to destroy more than 1million trees. In October 2003, the Old Fire cut an eastward path across the mountains from Waterman Canyon to Highland, destroying hundreds of homes.

The threat of fire still weighs heavily on the minds of those living both in the mountain communities and the valleys below.

"We don't want some overlay of that land that's going to inhibit the ability for people to go and do fuels work," Morley said. "I think clearly that everybody who lives in this valley is here for a reason, and we enjoy the environment, but I think sometimes things can be done to the environment that can pose a danger to citizens in this valley, and that's what we're concerned about."

State sues San Bernardino County over global warming

Victorville Daily Press
by Ryan Cox

SAN BERNARDINO — Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed a lawsuit Friday against the county of San Bernardino’s recently-updated general plan because it did not properly address global warming.

The lawsuit came just two days after a similar lawsuit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the San Bernardino Audubon Society and the Sierra Club.

Brown filed the lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act on the basis that San Bernardino County failed to evaluate and disclose the impending impacts of the plan on climate change and air quality.

"This is a tremendously important action by the attorney general," said Adam Keats, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt questioned the value of the state suing the county.

"If this is true, I would suggest that the state of California should be helping local governments build infrastructure and protect citizens from crime instead of suing us over what is at best a federal environmental issue," Mitzelfelt said Friday. "In my opinion the attorney general’s comments were adequately addressed in the General Plan update."

During the plan’s development, the attorney general along with the conservation groups had submitted comments that urged the county to analyze greenhouse gases and climate change in its blueprint for the future.

According to a press release sent out by the Center for Biological Diversity, the county chose to ignore the comments.

Mike Zischke, an attorney that specializes in the Environmental Quality Act and is working with county counsel, said the county’s position is solid and they will defend the General Plan.

9th Circuit to decide 'Mojave Desert Cross' fate

OneNewsNow.com
Ed Thomas

The National Legal Foundation and its attorneys are awaiting a decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals following Monday's hearing on a case challenging the right of a World War I memorial cross to remain on public land in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

In the case of Buono v. Kempthorne, the National Legal Foundation (NLF) is fighting the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in an effort to save the Mojave Desert Cross. The large, white memorial cross has been located on Sunrise Rock in the Mojave National Preserve near the California-Nevada border since 1934, when it was given and erected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Attorney Joe Infranco is with Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which argued an amicus brief for NLF at Monday's hearing. He says one of the last acts of Bill Clinton's presidency was his executive order authorizing the establishment of the land the cross stood on as a federal preserve.

"The ink was barely dry, and a local ACLU affiliate was filing a lawsuit," Infranco notes. The lawsuit challenging the monument's constitutionality alleged that its placement on federal land in the Mojave Desert violated the First Amendment's guarantee of separation of church and state and that the memorial cross should therefore be removed.

Supporters of the Mojave Desert Cross hoped to reach a settlement of the suit with the Department of Defense's transfer of the memorial land to private ownership in 2004. However, the ACLU claimed before the 9th Circuit that the property transfer was invalid -- a point ADF helped dispute in this week's appeals court hearing.

Such transfers already have legal precedent in several federal court cases, the ADF attorney notes. He says a number of federal appellate courts have already held that government property may be transferred to private ownership to prevent challenges based on the Establishment Clause, which, he notes "is that part of the First Amendment that is cited as the basis for the so-called separation of church and state." Although the jurisdictional circumstances were different, ADF recently helped defend a similar land transfer to save San Diego's Mount Soledad Cross in California.

Based on the precedents cited in the amicus brief, Infranco says ADF and the other cross supporters in Buono v. Kempthorne are hoping their argument that the transfer of the WWI memorial cross to private ownership was legal will prevail.

Surreal Mojave Cross video

S.B. County errs on desert preservation

OPINION

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin [Ontario, CA]

Despite creation of the Mojave National Preserve years ago to protect desert lands, the war of public conservation vs. private interests goes on. And it is being waged quietly by the county Board of Supervisors, as it selfishly tries to keep tax-defaulted lands on the tax rolls rather than see them acquired for public use.

We think land conservencies have a vital role to play without extra hurdles being thrown in.
Under state law, public entities, namely nonprofit land conservancies, can apply to redeem tax-defaulted properties before they are sold at public auction, and then give the land to a federal preserve - for the benefit of everyone.

But choosing to see such land acquisitions as unforgivable giveaways that cut into the county's tax base rather than gifts for the greater good, the county has blocked the indirect transfer of 90 parcels, amounting to at least 2,500 acres, from private hands to park status.

The stonewalling began three years ago under then-Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus and his chief of staff, Brad Mitzelfelt, and continues with Mitzelfelt now supervisor for the 1st District.
Frequently, the parcels in question are remote, miles away from any road or infrastructure.

But even so, Mitzelfelt said that years ago, he and Postmus became concerned that conservancies were snatching up land that might have a "higher use," meaning apparently that they might have a higher economic significance to the county.

While Mitzelfelt said his office remains skeptical that handing off land to the federal government is a better choice than keeping it in private hands, such a dim view of how parklands serve the public does not serve desert constituents well.

Mitzelfelt said he ultimately hopes to see direct land sales to conservancies largely eliminated. Conservancies still would be able to buy the land at public auction, he said, but they would have to outbid others for the privilege.

But such land grabs, though ostensibly to augment the county purse, fail to take into account the greater good of desert conservation and holding the land in a public trust for all to enjoy.

The aim of giving conservancies dibs on the property isn't to give the land trusts a break.

It is to benefit average citizens by ensuring their access to lands that, by all rights, should become part of the public's holdings via the national preserve.

Profile of County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt

Hesperia Star
By PETER DAY Star Editor

While his clean-shaven, bespectacled predecessor, Bill Postmus, looks like a political-candidate poster child, the bearded, unassuming Brad Mitzelfelt comes off more like a college professor, or perhaps a park ranger.

Although the two share ideological similarities, their styles differ. Mitzelfelt, who for more than six years served as Postmus’ chief of staff, isn’t really interested in the chess game of politics.

“Politics isn’t what gets me up in the morning. Policy is,” said Mitzelfelt, who last November was appointed to complete Postmus’ two remaining years as supervisor of the county’s first district. “I see politics as a means to an end. It’s not an end to itself.”

Already in his first few months, Mitzelfelt, who lives in Wrightwood, has several accomplishments under his belt. The most notable is his request of $500,000 to help purchase equipment for a new aerospace mechanics-training program at the Southern California Logistics Agency (formerly George Air Force Base). Victor Valley College, the county, the city of Victorville and a non-profit consortium spearhead the program. Last month, the Board of Supervisors approved Mitzelfelt’s proposal.

“I’m very excited about it.”

During a recent Hesperia Chamber of Commerce Coffee Club gathering, Mitzelfelt outlined other priorities. They include cracking down on gangs, tracking sex offenders and protecting consumers from identity theft. He also believes it’s time the county be more aggressive with illegal dumping and make more headway with freeway congestion and transportation issues.

“I take things issue by issue. I look at each issue and how it will benefit my constituents.”
Recent gang sweeps are helping the Victor Valley get a handle on the gang problem, but that highlights a shortage of jail space.

“We are the No. 1 county for sending people to prison,” Mitzelfelt said. “That’s kind of good and kind of bad. We’ve got a big problem [in jail overcrowding]. We just don’t have nearly the capacity that we need.”

Regarding transportation, he cited rising costs of freeway construction as a huge obstacle. “Costs have gone through the roof,” he said.

But he agrees with regional economics and politics guru John Husing that “logistics is the job engine for our economy.” Local jobs keep tax money at home and families in one place. The SCLA program should help do that by providing a number of jobs paying $48,000 to $75,000 a year.

“Young people can work here.”

Later, during a one-on-one interview with the Hesperia Star, Mitzelfelt credited a new county ordinance that puts more teeth into fighting illegal dumping. Perpetrators can be fined as much as $10,000, and tipsters are encouraged to contact authorities.

“Illegal dumping is a huge problem in the High Desert. We’re not going to put up with it anymore.”
Mitzelfelt also is working with the Bureau of Land Management to solve land management issues.

Several years ago after former President Bill Clinton tried to shut down cattle grazing in the High Desert the county took away “dumping cards,” which allowed BLM workers to discard refuse at area landfills. Recently the cards were given back, and he is hoping to meet with representatives of the agency on a quarterly basis.

“I do want to improve our relationship with the BLM.”

By improving the relationship with BLM, the county also can help solve illegal off-roading issues. Many BLM-maintained areas are OK for off-roaders, for instance.

“There’s a lot we can do together with BLM.”

Newly-revised, larger restaurant grading cards are also a help to local businesses and consumers, according to Mitzelfelt.

“The new ones are being phased in. They contain more information. An ‘A’ letter in a window is good for business.”

The son of physician-turned-orchestra-conductor H. Vincent Mitzelfelt, Mitzelfelt grew up in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles. He was a talented distance runner who ran three miles in around 15 minutes and a mile under 4 minutes 30 seconds.

“I like to fish, mountain bike and run.”

He studied piano under Pasadena-based master pianist Surajeet Chatterji, who currently teaches classes at Hesperia High School, and owns two pianos. Saying he plays at an intermediate level, Mitzelfelt says Mozart’s “Rondo alla Turca” is favorite classical piece.

“It’s the hardest thing I know, so it’s my favorite.”

Mitzelfelt is a Marine Corps combat veteran of Desert Storm and Desert Shield. He served as a combat correspondent, a position which earned him several awards.

In July, Mitzelfelt is planning on getting married to his fiance.

“It’s a big year for me.”

While Mitzelfelt brings a different leadership style, he believes Postmus has tremendous strengths.
“He is a very talented political strategist. He’s a talented leader. He’s also good with budgets and managing people.”

Moreover, it appears Postmus is enjoying his new position.

“He’s modernizing that department. He really has a job he enjoys.”

Although Mitzelfelt doesn’t prefer the political part of his job, he recently entered fresh political waters when he held a fundraiser to kick off his 2008 election campaign. Attracting 300 supporters, he raised $165,000.

“It was a great success. I have no doubt I’ll have the funds to get the message out. I’ve done this before. I know how to win campaigns.”

Wildlife service accepts comments on raven assessment

Desert Dispatch [Barstow, CA]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a draft environmental assessment suggesting ways to reduce raven predation on the desert tortoise and other animals found in the deserts of Southern California.

Raven populations increased more than 700 percent in some areas of the California desert between 1969 and 2004, according to a Fish and Wildlife Service press release.

Alternatives for raven management include lethal and non-lethal techniques. To view the assessment online, go to www.fws.gov/ventura. Copies are also available at public libraries in the desert or by calling (805) 644-1766.

The Fish and Wildlife Service will accept public comments until May 7. Written comments should be submitted to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Raven Management Environmental Assessment, c/o Judy Hohman, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003.

Comments can also be e-mailed to FW8draftravenea@fws.gov with "Raven Management" in the subject line.

Food vendor needed at Kelso Depot

Desert Dispatch [Barstow, CA]

The National Park Service is accepting proposals for food concessions at the Kelso Depot Visitor Center at the Mojave National Preserve. The concession contract will run for 10 years.

The park is looking for a private concession operator to serve meals at the 1920s-era lunch counter, which was rebuilt as part of a renovation project.

For more information about making a concession proposal, go to http://www.concessions.nps.gov/Prospectus.cfm or call Kim Gagliolo, the concession management analyst, at (510) 817-1368.

County runs afoul of desert preservation

OPINION
Land conservancies have a vital role to play without extra hurdles being thrown in.

San Bernardino Sun [San Bernardino, CA]

Despite creation of the Mojave National Preserve years ago to protect desert lands, the war of public conservation vs. private interests goes on. And it is being waged quietly by the county Board of Supervisors, as it selfishly tries to keep tax-defaulted lands on the tax rolls rather than see them acquired for public use.

Under state law, public entities, namely nonprofit land conservancies, can apply to redeem tax-defaulted properties before they are sold at public auction, and then give the land to a federal preserve - for the benefit of everyone.

But choosing to see such land acquisitions as unforgivable giveaways that cut into the county's tax base rather than gifts for the greater good, the county has blocked the indirect transfer of 90 parcels, amounting to at least 2,500 acres, from private hands to park status.

The stonewalling began three years ago under then-Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus and his chief of staff, Brad Mitzelfelt, and continues with Mitzelfelt now supervisor for the 1st District.

Frequently, the parcels in question are remote, miles away from any road or infrastructure. But even so, Mitzelfelt said that years ago, he and Postmus became concerned that conservancies were snatching up land that might have a "higher use," meaning apparently that they might have a higher economic significance to the county.

While Mitzelfelt said his office remains skeptical that handing off land to the federal government is a better choice than keeping it in private hands, such a dim view of how parklands serve the public does not serve desert constituents well.

Mitzelfelt said he ultimately hopes to see direct land sales to conservancies largely eliminated. Conservancies still would be able to buy the land at public auction, he said, but they would have to outbid others for the privilege.

But such land grabs, though ostensibly to augment the county purse, fail to take into account the greater good of desert conservation and holding the land in a public trust for all to enjoy.

The aim of giving conservancies dibs on the property isn't to give the land trusts a break. It is to benefit average citizens by ensuring their access to lands that, by all rights, should become part of the public's holdings via the national preserve.

Size, demands of 1st District requires a 'super-dupervisor'

First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt listens to several of his constituents during a meeting at the Hesperia district office. He now sits as supervisor of the county's largest geographic district.

By RYAN ORR Staff Writer
Victorville Daily Press

There are 109,000 residents spread over the 17,000 square miles that make up the unincorporated 1st District. When they have a problem there is one man they turn to, their supervisor.

The size of the district puts any 1st District supervisor at a disadvantage having to cover almost six times the amount of land than of the other four districts combined.

The 1st District, which encompasses the entire Victor Valley, could fit the state of Rhode Island in it 11 times. It is the largest district in the nation and makes up 84 percent of San Bernardino County, the largest county in the contiguous United States.

Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt has put more than 12,000 miles on his county car since his appointment to the position in January.

He said he has been to almost all of the 48 communities in the district.

"It's an enormous challenge because of the geographical issue," said Michael Stevens, who worked as the Victor Valley field representative for former 1st District Supervisor Marsha Turoci, who served from 1988 to 1996. "Obviously, everyone can't have an audience with the supervisor,"

Stevens said he spent 70 percent of his time just educating people on what county government does. "We heard a lot of angry constituents saying, 'I'm a voter, fix this, fix that,' " said Stevens. He said many of those problems should have been dealt with by one of the cities, or sometimes the state. He also emphasized the importance of having a good staff that communicates with residents. Robert Eland, district director for Mitzelfelt, said his office fields about 150 calls a month from 1st District citizens and that they usually resolve problems within two days.

"It's a challenge for any supervisor because of the diversity of the population," said Bob Hunter, Victorville city councilman who worked for former 1st District Supervisor Bill Postmus.

"We've had such an influx of people looking for urban living and then we have the residents who want to keep it rural," said Hunter, who is considering running for supervisor in 2008.

Robert T. Older served as 1st District supervisor from 1980 to 1982 but was recalled because his "high-density" policies conflicted with the "balanced-growth" policies of the desert communities.

Residents in rural areas now are fighting the same battles.

Kathy Arch of Oak Hills wrote an e-mail to Mitzelfelt and said she just wanted to discuss a mobile home park that is proposed across the street from her rural home.

"Mr. Mitzelfelt, while handing me your business card, you assured me you would return my call if I left a message at your office. I have left two messages with no responses," the letter states.

Skip Bond of Oak Hills said that when Kathy Davis was supervisor from 1996 to 2000, she didn't pay any attention to their community.

"We just never heard from her up here," he said.

Since the first county supervisors meeting was held, the 1st District has not had one supervisor that has served more than two terms.

"I'd say the district just needs a good supervisor who can handle the job," said Mitzelfelt, who gave a speech at the Red Cross Economic Summit in Victorville on Thursday.

"It doesn't matter who's in that seat, the question is can they do it for long," said Stevens. "They are just so tired from going from one end of the district to the other. Anyone who wants to run, you better put your personal life on hold."

Stevens proposed to break up the 1st District into three separate districts but said that it fell on deaf ears.

The districts are based on population. The 1st District has an estimated 433,000 residents that make up 22 percent of the county's population. The 4th District has 19 percent of population but is less than one percent of the size of the 1st District.

Another solution is taking the Victor Valley, and most of the 1st District, and creating a separate county.

The drive for what would be called Mojave County started in 1988 and made it on to the ballot. High Desert residents approved the secession by more than 60 percent, but because it only received 30 percent of the voters from "down below," the measure was defeated.

"I think it will come up again in the next couple of years," said Hunter. "I think it would be a good thing."

He said they would have to work something out with the Legislature that would only allow prospective residents of the new county to vote for it.

"They don't understand the purpose of us wanting our own county," Hunter said of the population outside of the 1st District.

Stevens and Hunter agree that the district should not be formed based on population.

"The 5th District is the smallest one, yet they have the same clout as us," said Stevens. "Obviously, we have more county issues, more county miles and more county- maintained roads."

County scraps dumping ban

Move allows land agency to use trash facilities

Jeff Horwitz, Staff Writer
San Bernardino Sun [Bernardino, CA]

After a seven-year feud over land rights in the desert, San Bernardino County is scrapping a punitive policy denying the Bureau of Land Management access to county dumps.

In 2000, the county revoked the BLM's privilege to dump trash at county facilities in retaliation for the agency's decision to settle a lawsuit over desert tortoise habitat at the expense of a small group of local ranchers. The BLM's move infuriated then-1st District Supervisor Bill Postmus and his chief of staff Brad Mitzelfelt, who believed the agency had an obligation to stand up for the ranchers.

On Tuesday, Mitzelfelt, 10 weeks into an appointment to his former boss' seat, said that it was time to junk the disagreement.

"I think we made our point," Mitzelfelt said. Because of the county's prohibition, Mitzelfelt said, the BLM had been forced to either pay for dumping privileges or enlist volunteer groups to dump their trash for them.

Stephen Razo, spokesman for the BLM's Desert District, said the BLM's access to the dump would be a benefit to county taxpayers.

"We do a lot of volunteer cleanups out in the desert, picking up refuse on public land," he said.

The decision had been made at a meeting between BLM staff and Mitzelfelt last week, he said, which had been "very positive."

Mitzelfelt, who has sometimes sparred with the federal government over preserving and expanding recreational and commercial access to public lands, said he hoped to see the county and the BLM work more closely together in the future.

Endangered Species Act changes in the works

Officials are considering changing enforcement of the 1973 law to protect animals, a leaked draft reveals.

By Janet Wilson and Julie Cart, Times Staff Writers
Los Angeles Times

Bush administration officials said Tuesday that they were reviewing proposed changes to the way the 34-year-old Endangered Species Act is enforced, a move that critics say would weaken the law in ways that a Republican majority in Congress was unable to do.

A draft of suggested changes, which was leaked Tuesday, would reduce protection for wildlife habitat and transfer some authority over vulnerable species to states.

Acting under orders from Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who has long fought for changes in the law, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall said he had asked his senior field staff to evaluate proposals in the draft by policy advisors in the Departments of Interior and Commerce, which oversee almost 1,300 imperiled species.

"What we're attempting to do is to update our implementation of the existing law," said Hall, who said any changes would not need to be approved by Congress and would be signed by Kempthorne or a representative.

"The act is written or not written by Congress, but we have the responsibility to implement the law through regulations and policies. We're trying to bring consistency and clarity. That has been a significant problem from one area of the country to another," Hall said.

Hall made his comments after environmental groups and the online journal Salon.com published a draft version of the proposals Tuesday. He said that the version was "a beginning point" circulated internally to eight senior Fish and Wildlife staff in early February, and that it had changed a great deal since. He refused to make public the current version, saying he wanted his staff to be free from "outside interference" while they evaluated possible changes.

He and a Wildlife Service spokesman said that if any of the ideas were formally proposed, they would be posted online and there would be an opportunity for public comment.

"It's sort of a work in progress," spokesman Chris Tollefson said. "Nothing is proposed at this point; we're still working through this."

Contending that the act penalized property owners and made the cost of public works projects prohibitive, House Republicans in particular have been trying to make changes since 1995.

Last year, the House and Senate failed to agree on changes that proponents said could have helped speed approvals for dams, housing developments, highways and other projects where protected species live. Changes in the act could have a significant effect in California, which has the second-highest number of endangered species in the nation after Hawaii.

Congressional staffers said Tuesday that they were studying the draft and could not immediately comment. Senate environment and public works chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) issued a brief statement, saying: "I will vigorously oppose any weakening of the Endangered Species Act, which has saved the American bald eagle, and which is now playing a role in saving the polar bear."

Environmental groups said the draft changes would cripple the law.

"Taken together, this proposal would fundamentally gut the purpose and the intent of the Endangered Species Act. Fewer species would be protected, the standards intended to help them survive and recover would be fundamentally weakened, and very likely more species will go extinct," said Jan Hasselman, an attorney with Earthjustice.

Since Bush became president, 57 species have been declared endangered, usually as a result of lawsuits — fewer than any president since the law was signed by President Nixon in 1973.

Damien Schiff, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation representing landowners and developers battling endangered species restrictions, said of the draft: "It's certainly not a gutting of the Endangered Species Act. It is at most an incremental change that might provide moderate or small benefits to the regulated community."

He said that under the version made public, plans for dams to provide electricity and irrigation for farming could proceed with less hindrance even if endangered or threatened species were present. He said that in an extreme case, it was possible a species could become extinct, but only if it was determined that a greater public value such as providing water or power was being served.

The draft contains language from Kempthorne's proposed 1998 legislation and from a controversial bill by former Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), both of which died in Congress. Kempthorne could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Tollefson said of the proposals: "The initial work was done before Mr. Kempthorne took office, but really the impetus happened when he came. He has … had a special interest in the Endangered Species Act for a long time, and he asked [Fish and Wildlife chief] Dale [Hall] to figure out a way to take a look at the act and figure out what we could do."

County to fund Pioneertown water improvements

On March 27, 2007, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors adopted the following resolution (Item 24 on the consent calendar) to seek a loan from the State of California to bring the Pioneertown water system into compliance with state water regulations. - Editor

FY 2006/07 SUBMITTAL OF LOAN APPLICATION PACKAGE AND DESIGNATION OF REPRESENTATIVE FOR SAFE DRINKING WATER STATE REVOLVING FUND (SDWSRF) LOAN PROGRAM, COUNTY SERVICE AREA 70, IMPROVEMENT ZONE W-4 (PIONEERTOWN)

RECOMMENDATION: Acting as the governing body of County Service Area 70, Improvement Zone W-4 (Pioneertown):

1. Adopt Resolution No. 07-______, authorizing submission of a loan application to the State of California, Department of Health Services (DHS) - the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SDWSRF), in the amount of $1,460,480, for the purpose of funding the construction of water improvements that will bring the Pioneertown water system into compliance with the DHS requirements.

2. Authorize the Director of the Special Districts Department, or his designee, to apply for and execute all necessary documents, agreements and amendments for the purposes of securing these loan funds.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Special Districts Department, Water and Sanitation Division manages, operates and maintains water facilities in County Service Area 70, Improvement Zone W-4 (CSA 70 W-4) that provide water service to the residents of this area.

The water system encompasses approximately 640 acres, serves 126-metered connections, includes 9 domestic water wells (6 of which are active), maintains 310,000 gallons of storage, and distributes water to its customers through 4.4 miles of distribution piping.

CSA 70 W-4 extracts water from a declining aquifer resulting in system deficiencies in both water quality and quantity. Currently, the water supply experiences contaminant levels near or above the maximum contaminant levels for uranium, arsenic and iron content. As the water level in the aquifer continues to decline, it is anticipated that water quality will also continue to degrade.

Customers in CSA 70 W-4 are notified annually that CSA 70 W-4 cannot consistently provide water that meets the DHS standards and are advised to use bottled water or treat their water for consumption.

The main goal of the SDWSRF loan program is to provide necessary financing for small water systems to make improvements that will bring the systems into compliance with the DHS requirements.

The proposed project to correct the system deficiencies includes an interconnection to the neighboring High Desert Water District (HDWD) for water supply, and HDWD has indicated informally that they consent to sell water to CSA 70 W-4.

Delivery of the water to CSA 70 W-4 requires the construction of approximately 3.5 miles of 8-inch diameter waterline and a booster station to get the HDWD water to CSA 70 W-4’s existing water storage reservoirs. The proposed off-site pipeline will connect to the existing CSA 70 W-4 water distribution system for delivery to customers and the storage reservoirs.

The cost to purchase water supply from the HDWD and the additional operations and maintenance costs for the new facilities will result in a substantial increase in user fees.

Approval of these recommendations will adopt a resolution authorizing the submission of a SDWSRF loan application to the DHS for the purpose of constructing water improvements that will bring the CSA 70 W-4 water system into compliance with DHS requirements, and authorize the Director of the Special Districts Department, or his designee, to apply for and execute all necessary documents, agreements and amendments for the purposes of securing these loan funds.

REVIEW BY OTHERS: This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (L. Thomas Krahelski, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5436 and Dawn M. Messer, Deputy County Counsel, 387-8900) on March 7, 2007; and by the County Administrative Office (Wayne Thies, Administrative Analyst, 387-5409) on March 16, 2007.

FINANCIAL IMPACT: The loan proposal requests $1,460,480 in funding through the SDWSRF loan program. If approved, it is anticipated that funding would be received toward the end of the current fiscal year and the budgetary provisions for the loan would be included within the 2007/08 CSA 70 W-4 budget. A loan covenant will be prepared for future Board approval, in conjunction with the acceptance of the loan, and will address the user rates to cover the debt service on the loan.

SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT(S): Third

County stonewalling conservation efforts

Policy prefers private ownership to keep desert land on tax rolls

San Bernardino Sun [San Bernardino, CA]
Jeff Horwitz, Staff Writer

For three years, San Bernardino County has quietly blocked nonprofit land conservancies from acquiring tax-defaulted desert land and giving it to federal preserves.

Under state law, nonprofits and public entities can apply to redeem defaulted properties before they are sold at public auction. Instead of being considered by the board, however, the status of 90 parcels accounting for at least 2,500 acres remains pending.

The de-facto policy was established around three years ago at the request of then-1st District Supervisor Bill Postmus and his chief of staff and successor, Brad Mitzelfelt. Although the Mojave Preserve is an asset to his district, Mitzelfelt said, it doesn't make sense to help conservancies expand it by removing property from county tax rolls.

"Private property ownership, in really the most desirable parts of the desert, is a public benefit," he said. "Once we lose it, we'll never get it back."

Conservancies' representatives, however, said that the former owners' default on taxes demonstrates that the property has little monetary value.

"Our position is that this is a really positive thing for the county," said Sheldon Douthit, who handles land acquisition for the Mojave Desert Land Trust and the Wilderness Land Trust. "We're doing this at the request of the federal government."

Gail Egenes, an administrative director of the Riverside Land Conservancy, said she was surprised that the county would be concerned with the disposition of the 44 parcels her group wants to purchase.

"From a conservation standpoint, these are valuable properties, but that's really the extent of their value," she said.

Frequently, the parcels are remote - miles from any road or infrastructure. Among the most accessible are properties in the desert mining town of Leastalk, an early 20th-century mining town that has been abandoned.

Normally, the county's treasurer-tax collector would review the conservancies' intentions for the land and then send the groups' requests to the board.

"They put it on the agenda or they don't put it on the agenda," Treasurer-Tax Collector Dick Larsen said of the board. "We're just the administrators on this."

But Mitzelfelt said that he and Postmus became concerned a few years ago that the conservancies were sometimes buying up land they believed had a "higher use," whether residential or economic.

Although the Chapter 8 sales would make sense if the land was going to build a school or church, Mitzelfelt said, his office is skeptical that indirectly passing the land to the federal government would do constituents any good. Postmus and he intended to write a new policy restricting the sales but never reached a final draft, he said.

San Bernardino County's 1st District has long had an uneasy relationship with the federal agencies that own more than 8 million acres of its territory, suing over road access and other land-use issues. In 2001, the county excoriated the Bureau of Land Management's decision to remove ranchers from its Mojave Desert lands as part of a plan to protect desert tortoises.

Egenes said her organization simply hoped to convince the county that the land has no practical value.

"You're looking at mountain sides and hilltops," she said. "If these don't go through, an opportunity to place land in conservation where it can be managed appropriately is lost."

Ultimately, Mitzelfelt said, he hopes to see the direct sales to conservancies largely eliminated. "I just believe that there's room in the Mojave National Preserve for private-property ownership," he said.

The conservancies would still be able to buy the land at public auction, he said, assuming they could out-muscle public bidders.

"If we're going to lose the tax base, we might as well get the best price," he said.

Sentencing For Attempted Carjacking/Kidnapping

National Park News
Mojave National Preserve

On the morning of December 31, 2006, James Morris, 19, who’d been in an argument with a friend and had been left behind along Kelbaker Road, saw a motor home parked about a half mile away. He walked over and knocked on the door.

When the motor home’s driver opened the door, Morris asked if he and his three companions had broken down. When the driver told him that they were okay and just taking a break, Morris pulled a gun on the driver in an attempt to carjack the RV.

The driver began struggling with Morris for control of the gun; with the assistance of his three passengers, he was eventually able to get it away from Morris. The driver then pulled the trigger on the gun in an attempt to shoot Morris, but the gun proved to be empty.

The struggle continued until the RV’s four occupants subdued Morris. They continued to beat him until they could tie him up with their belts. They then held Morris until CHP and sheriff’s department officers arrived on scene and arrested him.

On March 9th, Morris was convicted in state court and sentenced to nine years in prison, plus four years of parole.