October 18, 2003
By Rachel Odell and Mike Cronin
The Bulletin

Bureau of Land Management officials have proposed banning motorized use of the Badlands, a desert area about 20 miles east of Bend.

The closure would ban trucks, all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and cars from any of the roughly 50 miles of roads that currently run through the approximately 32,000¬acre area, according to Greg Curry, outdoor recreation planner for the BLM.

However, only about 23 miles of roads would be affected because the rest of the road system is already closed to motorized use, he said.
Predictably, local environmental and pro-motorized-use groups stand on opposite sides of the issue.

"This is a great idea," said Bill Marlett, executive director of the Bend-based Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA). "It gives people some assurance that wilderness values" ‹ such as old-growth juniper ‹ "and wildlife habitats" ‹ such as winter ranges for mule deer and elk ‹ "will be protected for future generations."

Joani Dufourd, land-use director for the Central Oregon Motorcycle and ATV (all-terrain vehicle) Club, said she was disappointed by the proposal.

"I don't see that it has any validity," she said. "There's actually no reason to close the Badlands except for political reasons to satisfy ONDA. I find it unacceptable."

Dufourd, who rides dirt bikes, said a conversation with Marlett about six months ago gave her the impression the proposal to ban motorized vehicles from the Badlands is based more on emotion than on scientific evidence.

"I've dealt with land-use issues for the last 20 years, nationally and internationally," she said. "And I always meet with this philosophical attitude that you have to close something to protect it. The people who use motorized vehicles are looking for the same kind of outdoor experience as campers and hikers. We're not looking to tear up the land."

Keeping motorized vehicles out of the Badlands could cut down on vandalism, litter and other environmental impacts in the popular area, Curry said.

The proposal is part of a larger management plan for nearly 400,000 acres managed by the BLM. Known as the Upper Deschutes Resource Management Plan, the document covers transportation, wildlife, recreation and other categories agency officials must plan for. The management plan will serve as a guideline for BLM officials.

The agency is seeking public comment on the draft plan. Comments are due by Jan. 15 and should be sent to Prineville BLM, Draft UDRMP, 3050 NE Third St., Prineville, OR 97754, or Upper_Deschutes_RMP@or.blm.gov.

Currently BLM officials are mandated to manage the Badlands as a "wilderness study area." That means officials are required to maintain the pristine characteristics that could someday lead to a congressional decision to create a wilderness area at the Badlands.

"We are not supposed to be doing things or authorizing things that would prevent Congress from making a decision on whether or not to make it a wilderness area," Curry said.

He said BLM officials struggle to keep drivers on designated routes within the Badlands.

As more people drive through the fragile, high desert environment without staying on the roads, the potential for environmental impacts increases, he said.

"Because the Badlands is so close to Bend, it gets a lot of use," he said. "With greater numbers, we get greater impacts."

Marlett said the proposal also makes sense because there are too few federal agency staff members to effectively monitor the area.

"Given BLM's meager ability to be everywhere all the time, (designating) a place to be protected from motorized vehicles makes their life a whole lot easier," he said.

Though Marlett understands a ban wouldn't eliminate damage to the Badlands, he believes it would reduce incidents such as trash-dumping,
tree-cutting, squatting ‹ even cooking methamphetamine.

Still, those such as Pam Falcioni, who enjoys riding and driving a variety of off-road vehicles in the surrounding area's public lands, feel the proposal is not the correct response to what's actually occurring in the Badlands.

"Closure isn't management," said the 40-year-old Bend resident. "It's like having a house that's run down and burning it, or shutting it down as an option. It's not. That's crazy. Fixing it and making sure the problem doesn't occur again ‹ that's the proper response."

More broadly, officials also have proposed limiting all motorized use on BLM land to designated trails or routes, according to the management plan. That represents a significant shift from the status quo, said Robert Towne, field manager for the Prineville district of the BLM.

Currently, a large percentage of the 400,000-acre planning area is considered open to motorized use, meaning people can drive off of roads and trails."Unfettered use of lands has a consequence," Towne said. "We think the opportunity for motorized recreation will be better because there will be managed trail systems."

Curry, the BLM planner, said unmanaged driving over the landscape can cause erosion and disturb wildlife.

Moreover, he said, it creates a web of interconnected trails that in some areas is so dense it leads to conflicts among different people on the trail.

"The intent is to create large unfragmented blocks of land where disturbance to wildlife is less and there is year-round use," he said.
Marlett said even with the proposal, motorized-vehicle users still have access to hundreds of miles of routes on BLM land and Fort Rock land of the Deschutes National Forest.

"So, when you step back and look at what remains open, those folks are not being asked to sacrifice that much," he said.

That argument carries little weight for Dufourd.

Motorcycle and four-wheeler sales are expanding at an increasingly rapid rate, she said. That means, she said, more and more family members of different generations are enjoying public lands together.
"There's no reason that (the Badlands) needs to be totally closed," she said.