Sawtooth canyon

[Shazaam]

I did a search here and could find nothing on this, so I'll ask. The area south of Slash X cafe, known as sawtooth canyon has reacently gone through a transformation with all the concrete pads and cabanas and gravel roads and fences and signs and, and, and. So, while riding into it today I was stopped by the "camp host" to be told that no ohv"s are allowed in that area at all anymore. In my nicest, most delicate manner I could muster, I got in a heated argument with this guy about why. The best he could come up with is that the old folks dont like the noise and the dust, and told me that there is 11K acres out there for you to go ride. My question is this, where do the funds to make such a campground in an already established OHV area come from and why are we not allowed to enter? Is this what I pay my green sticker fees towards?

Amazing they can put a "camp ground" in an OHV area, but if I try to go ride my scooter down at the KOA in Yorba Linda, they all get pissed. Someone please enlighten me on this, learn me somethin, please.

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[Bro_Gill]

Shaz- One thing you need to understand is that the boundries of the OHV area, while they are surrounding open OHV area, there are still some private land owners in there who still control their land. If the owner of the private land doesn't want you riding yoru OHV on it, that is their right. About 20% of the land inside the Stoddard area is actually private land, the owners have never prevented folks from riding across it, so every assumes it is all BLM land. It isn't. While you may have ridden there for years, now the owner is asking you not to. Respect their wishes, or you might create a bad environment with him complaining to the BLM and they decide that a buffer is neede dto keep riders away from the private land in question. I also want to point out that I remember prerunning the area in the early 1980s and one of our regular deals was breakfast at the Denny's in Apple Valley one of the mornings we were camped out there. We would ride dirt bikes all the way from the college parking lot to there to eat. The open area is not bearly as large as it used to be and if you push some of the land owners buttons, it may get even smaller. Get a map from the BLM office across the street from the college so you can see where the actual boundries for the open area are. I think the area you are talking about isn't even included.

[Perfect Race]

So is it a private campground or one you can go camp at? We used to go out there and camp and hit parties there 20 years ago.

[OldStroppeTeam]

I am pretty sure Sawtooth Canyon is BLM development.. I know there is a BLM kiosk at the highway which usually indicates it is a BLM location and it has all therules for that area posted. It's probably just the Camp Host is being a little unreasonable.

The BLM map suggestion is a VERY GOOD idea, then talk to the folks at the office about their volunteer helpers !

[Vtr_Racing]

If its private property dont get into a beef with the guy. I dont know if it is right where your talking about.

[Wayne_Nosala]

Looked into this a bit

Sawtooth is outside the boundary of Stoddard open area

But,
It appears there are legal WEMO routes up to the entrance of that canyon,
Not having been there, Im not sure exactly were this campground was put

Appears there is a utility road that goes into the canyon that did not make it into WEMO

One would assume there is a gate there, But OHVs should be allowed to at the least stage,
Unload and legally proceed to the ORDs or other legal areas of interest

The jeepers seem happy with the whole thing http://www.myjeeprocks.com/forums/sh...mote-Campsites

Here is the WEMO map

[ryan650]

Wayne,

The campground is west of Highway 247 at the end of the green road labeled "under ground" where all the orange trails overlap the green roads right above the word "Stoddard" on your image. I was just there last weekend and the road leading to the campground from Highway 247 is closed to OHV. The sign says street licensed vehicles only, no OHV travel allowed. There are no OHVs allowed to travel on roads within the campground either. This makes the campground infeasible for OHV staging (e.g. green sticker/red sticker vehicles). There is no gate on the road that I saw, there may be one at the entrance to the campground but I didn't notice, I was too busy asking the camp host "WTF?" I was fairly distraught at seeing what the BLM had done, I've been staging and camping there for 30 years and was there last October and never saw anything about this conversion to a campground.

I looked into things a little more when I got home and it appears that they BLM tiered off of a 1993 Environmental Assessment (EA) to satisfy their NEPA. I work in the environmental field for a government agency and relying on such an old document is a bit iffy, at least in my world. Therefore I have contacted John Kavanaugh at the Barstow BLM office and requested a copy of the EA. Their scoping announcement was posted on 4/21/2010 and does not mention restricting OHV. http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/new...h_scoping.html

The whole thing seems pretty poorly done as far as public noticing and using current data for preparing the EA. I'm fine with them installing a campground but restricting OHV is absurd in this area. I plan to challenge their NEPA if possible. We really can't stand to lose anymore land for OHV.

[Wayne_Nosala]

I was just there last weekend and the road leading to the campground from Highway 247 is closed to OHV.

That is Total Bull S++t, Those green routes are LEGAL OHV routes, I have been looking into this, I have had a
couple of people really bend my ear on it and it was brought up on another message board yesterday.

Im told one of the reasons for buttoning up the area is it was a hot spot for rave parties and local mischief

Well, welcome to modern society, some of its is ugly, But us responsible OHV people should not have to
belly up and pay the price via closure.

I defenetly will be looking into this further

Wayne

[coilover88]

Typical, unacceptable, opaque, sneaky, AND what Wayne said!

[coilover88]

The following will take you to a May 6th BLM press release.

http://cal4wheel.com/latest-news/681...ampground.html