SDORC

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Lost Lizard Fun Run
November 8, 2025
Click here for details!

Is your favorite off-road area near San Diego open?

Corral Canyon in Cleveland National Forest is open.
Ocotillo Wells is open for riding and camping.
All BLM areas are open for riding and camping.

It is always a good idea to check with the appropriate agency prior to heading out:
Corral Canyon: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/cleveland/recreation/ohv/recarea/?recid=78497&actid=68
Ocotillo Wells: https://ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1217
BLM El Centro Field Office: https://www.blm.gov/office/el-centro-field-office

SDORC submitted strong comments criticizing the BLM’s Grand View Travel Management Plan in Idaho. The plan proposed to close hundreds of miles of trail and with the help of our comments (and many others) the BLM reversed its plan and is going back to the drawing board. From the BLM: “Due to a large volume of public comments regarding Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) use and demand for access, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Boise District is cancelling the Grand View Travel Management Plan Environmental Assessment to reassess information and validate route inventory.” To read SDORC’s comments, click here“

President’s Message

September Update

Ormat, Geothermal and Ocotillo Wells
I was recently invited to the desert to meet with staff from Ormat Technologies and look at a geothermal power plant. These people are seriously looking at developing a geothermal facility close to the Salton Sea Airport. The people we met with (as well as staff from State Parks and the BLM) are in charge of obtaining permits for the project. While there are some ugly geothermal facilities near the south end of the Salton Sea, this facility would be much more modern and better looking. An important part is that they are planning on placing 10 wells near the facility. Some of you might recall the proposed geothermal project along Pole Line Rd by Icelandic America about 17 years ago. That project proposed drilling 25 wells. The Ormat project would have half the wells outside the park and half inside. The proposed project site is a couple miles from the open area of Ocotillo Wells and about 1/2 mile from the closest legal route. I don’t think this project will have a negative effect on OHV, but we will keep a close eye on it.
The BLM is holding an auction for geothermal leases in Imperial County. There are a bunch of square miles up for lease, but only one in Ocotillo Wells. That one touches Highway 86 and is about midway between S22 and Highway 78. There is no telling if it will ever become developed, but we will for sure keep watching it.

Hungry Valley
Hungry Valley SVRA has two actions going right now. They are updating the General Plan as well as creating a Soil Conservation Plan. We just learned about these two projects, so we will have details next month. Speaking of next month, I plan on going on a long motorcycle ride for most of September, so I may not get a column out until October.

Flat-tail horned lizards
I am heading out to the desert soon to watch BLM staff count flat-tail horned lizards. This is a species of concern and environmentalists have tried five times to get this lizard on the endangered species list. What keeps them off is an agreement by 11 agencies that manage land in Imperial County. They all work together to provide enough protection for the lizard to justify keeping it unlisted. I predict the environmentalists will try again to list it and I would like to be more knowledgeable about it in case I need to testify before the Fish and Wildlife Commission. The best way to keep the lizards off the list is to manage effectively (including counting) as a regular part of managing our public land.

Sand Sports Super Show and Off Road Expo
The big Sand Sports Super Show is back at Costa Mesa with hundreds of great vendors ready to show you all things off-road. If you love off-roading and show specials, you should make the trip to Orange County Events Center September 19-21. Click here for details.
Two weeks later (Oct 4 and 5) at the same venue will be Off Road Expo, the big show which will be aimed more toward dirt and four wheel drive vehicles. Again, there will be hundreds of vendors with great show specials for all thing off road. Click here for details.

RZR
Our friends from Premier Legal Center, A.P.C. are looking for Polaris RZR owners. They are looking for (1) California Polaris RZR owners who (2) received a “Stop Ride” recall notice in the past 5 years (3) were unable to use their vehicle for at least 30 days and (4) did not receive financial compensation from Polaris. Our investigation reveals that Polaris routinely pays California consumers subject to such a notice who call in to complain because of the California Lemon Law, but takes no action to compensate consumers who do not affirmatively call and complain. If this describes your RZR ownership, please call 619-235-0137 and see if they can help you.

Safety summit
The next State Parks sponsored Safety Summit is scheduled for September 3, with an OHV commission meeting to be held in the same place the next day. It is going to be in Redding California and we plan to attend.

Chuckwalla National Monument and CalWild
Calwild (formerly the California Wilderness Coalition) sent an email recently stating that they, with some Native American Tribes and other environmental groups, have intervened in the lawsuit to overturn the Chuckwalla National Monument on the side of the government. I don’t honestly know what they can bring to the table, but it adds some complexity to the lawsuit. At the end of President Biden’s term, he made the Chuckwalla National Monument. It is 624,000 acres in northern Imperial and eastern Riverside Counties. The monument and the lawsuit shouldn’t have much effect on off-road vehicle use, but we will keep an eye on it. The proclamation states that all routes will remain open until a management plan is created. That will likely take 10 plus years and will probably not close any currently open routes.

Ed Stovin, President
San Diego Off-Road Coalition

August Update

OW Checkerboard Land Ownership
There was a recent court ruling that I find fascinating. It doesn’t affect off-road vehicle use directly, but does affect public land use. Much of the west has land ownership in a checkerboard arrangement. This came from an 1800’s incentive that the US government gave railroads to get them to expand into the west. The railroad land grants gave the railroad every other square mile in exchange for expanding. This has led to land management headaches in modern times as agencies and private owners struggle to manage their land effectively. See the picture above of the east side of ocotillo Wells. This lawsuit has to do with corner crossings. You can see that one mile squares touch at their corners. This lawsuit looks at whether someone legally walking in one square can legally step into another diagonal square.

From MeatEater, Inc, “A three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corner crossing on federal land does not violate federal law. The ruling marks the most significant victory to date for public land advocates who say that crossing from one block of public land to another should be legal. “Put simply, we found any enclosure that effectively prevents access to public land for lawful use is an unlawful enclosure that is a proscribed violation of federal law,” the judges said in their decision. “A barrier to access, even a civil trespass action, becomes an abatable federal nuisance in the checkerboard when its effect is to enclose public lands by completely preventing access for a lawful purpose,” the 10th Circuit judges wrote in this case.

“The controlling principle is that checkerboard landowners cannot maintain a barrier that has the effect of fully enclosing public lands and preventing complete access for a lawful purpose,” the court continued. “When a landowner denies checkerboard access, he imposes a proscribable nuisance under federal law.”

The suit was brought by a private land owner who operates a hunting business and their land borders on BLM land.

Public Land Selloff
Last month we wrote about a legislative provision in the Big Beautiful Bill that would direct the federal government to sell millions of acres of BLM and National Forest land. After strong pushback from both the recreation and environmental communities, this provision was removed. BLM land is regularly transferred or leased, but never at the scale this bill’s provision would have done. We are happy that Senator Lee from Utah listened to the people and allowed this to be removed.

Oceano Dunes
From the American Motorcycle Association. “The California Supreme Court declined to hear a petition from the California Coastal Commission (CCC) seeking to ban off-highway vehicles (OHVs) at Oceano Dunes. The decision reaffirms a previous ruling by the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, which found that the CCC’s attempt to prohibit OHV use contradicted the Local Coastal Plan (LCP).
The ruling supports the decision addressing four lawsuits, including three by Friends of Oceano Dunes and one by EcoLogic Partners that argued that the CCC exceeded its authority by attempting to amend a 42-year-old permit to ban OHV recreation, contrary to the LCP. The Court also ruled in favor of Friends’ argument that the Commission failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), because it failed to do a proper traffic impact analysis when it decided to close Pier Avenue as a vehicle access point to the beach.
Jim Suty, president of the group, said shutting the dunes down would devastate the local economy, which sees over $500 million a year in economic benefit from visitors. The organization’s Board of Directors remains committed to pursuing all legal avenues to protect beach driving, camping and OHV recreation at Oceano Dunes, a tradition that has persisted for a century.”

Lost Lizard
Online registration for the 20th Lost Lizard Fun Run is now open. We are looking at having seven checkpoints this year and playing seven card stud. Our theme will be “Old School” this year. I plan to bring my 1971 Husqvarna 400CR and may ride around on it. If you have or know of some interesting vintage off-road equipment, running or not, please bring it out to the event. Let us know ahead of time and we will save you some space inside of our base camp. Click here to get your registration and T shirt.

Ed Stovin, President
San Diego Off-Road Coalition

Read past President’s Messages