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Please help prevent off-road vehicle mayhem from destroying crucial habitat for Peninsular bighorn sheep and other rare desert dwellers. California's Department of Parks and Recreation is now reviewing proposals for three off-road events in the next three months and further land acquisitions in the unique, precious area known as Desert Cahuilla. Speak up to support the need for conservation of the Desert Cahuilla area and to oppose turning it into an off-roading playground.

The rugged Desert Cahuilla area, east of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Imperial County, California, is home to many rare desert plants and animals, including protected Peninsular bighorn sheep. The landscape boasts spectacular scenery with colorful badlands-type mud hills, secluded washes and rare geological features, dark skies, and quiet amid densely populated Southern California. Long ago, some of the land lay in and adjacent to Lake Cahuilla, so prehistoric fish traps and sacred cleared circles also dot the terrain along the ancient lake's shoreline.

Desert Cahuilla is at a crossroads. Private land parcels, known as the Freeman properties, were acquired by the Department of Parks and Recreation in 2006, and further acquisitions are proposed. But rather than protect the unique values of this special place, the off-road division of the agency is now planning to use the area for large-scale off-road events. Cahuilla's many rare resources make it stunningly unsuitable for off-roading. In the past, off-road vehicles have trespassed on these formerly private lands, riding roughshod across sensitive areas, causing erosion in the mud formations and archaeological sites, generally destroying mud hills that took eons to form, and burning and vandalizing rare palm oases. Now that this area is in public hands, we must insist that these precious resources be preserved, not destroyed.

Click here to find out more and take action.

If you have trouble following the link, go to http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26380.

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Sample letter:
Subject: No Off-road Vehicle Events in Desert Cahuilla
To: Victoria Harris, Project Manager, TRA Environmental Sciences, Inc; Kathy Dolinar, State Parks Department, Ocotillo Wells District Superintendent; Daphne C. Green, Deputy Director, California Off-highway Motor Vehicular Recreation Commission; Ruth Coleman, Director, California State Parks.

Please deny all permits for any off-road vehicle events in Desert Cahuilla area, including the Truckhaven Challenge, the Desert Trails, and the Desert Safari that have been proposed to occur in 2009. The Desert Cahuilla area needs to be conserved to protect all its rare resources and should not be turned into an off-roading playground.

No off-road events should be permitted in this fragile place. Nor should the Department acquire more state lands in the Desert Cahuilla area unless it is committed to providing comprehensive resource protection and to annexing all of the Desert Cahuilla lands into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

I urge you, please, to manage the Desert Cahuilla area for the highest level of resource protection to ensure the preservation of the rare and irreplaceable plants, animals, and archaeological resources that occur in this area. This special place not only provides a refuge for wildlife, but also for humans who are seeking quiet recreation opportunities in a densely populated area.
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Please take action by January 10, 2009.

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