Sherri's Turn

Reprinted from February 2014 because I still wonder: Am I the only one who feels this way? Disclaimer: I have no clue if the multi-year planning process spoken of when this article originally appeared is still in process. Whether it is or isn't, my opinions still stand.

I used to love camping at Ocotillo Wells. My first trip there was in 1974. We went a mile back on a road near Pole Line Road. It was a treacherous challenge and getting over and through the last sandy rutted portion of the road to get to our favorite spot was the start of the weekend off road adventure.

Once out there we rarely saw anyone else camping because it took such great effort to get there. Sometimes a lot of shoveling and pushing and pulling was involved to actually make it through the challenge. This was wilderness and it was wonderful. I almost cringe when I utter the word “wilderness” now. It’s become a fearful word in this day and age because it generally means untouched, protected, off limits to humans with motorized vehicles.

But the true sense of wilderness according to the World English Dictionary is “a wild, uninhabited, and uncultivated region” and that was Ocotillo Wells in the 1970’s. That was a huge part of the fun of being there.

That is not the Ocotillo Wells of today and definitely not what is proposed for the off road park over the next 30 years.

Which leads me to another gripe. When this article first ran in 2014 there was an ongoing process designed to put forth a General Plan that would determine what goes on in the park for the next 30 years. This plan had been in the works for nearly five years and was only half done. Though it was my understanding the second half wasn’t supposed to take as long as the first half.

“Its a big job planning for 30 years,” I was told by someone involved in the General Plan process. And that’s another gripe of mine. Why does it have to be a 30 year plan? Apparently once this plan is in place then over the next 30 years the only things that can be done at the park are things that are already approved, planned or suggested in this 30 year plan. And if in 10 years a really great idea comes along for the park that is not in the plan, well it can’t be done, because it wasn’t in the plan.

Am I the only one that this does not make sense to? Why do government institutions have to do things like this? Do you suppose private enterprises set up guidelines for themselves that cause them to determine in 2014 what they will do from here on out until 2044 and they can’t change their mind when 2024 comes along and they realize there are some opportunities or challenges they couldn’t foresee in 2014?

And why do we spend five to eight years to write out a 30 year plan? Why not make it a 10 year plan, or a five year plan, so it doesn’t have to take eight years to create the plan?

I took part in this planning process several times throughout the five years it had been ongoing. In the beginning I was excited about it. I am no longer excited about it.

To take part in the off road sport, all we need is some dirt. But the State Parks program is determined to make this far more than some available dirt to do our off roading. And in doing so they are getting input from anyone who is deemed to have some sort of interest in this park. That includes environmentalists who don’t even like the sport of off roading. They can give input that will most surely limit the off roading that is done in the park. And when you examine the 260+ areas of consideration they came up with in the General Plan there are definitely some that suggest closing some areas to off roading.

I am concerned that there are off road enthusiasts who are new to the sport who may take part in the planning process and get excited about all the opportunities being offered for RV parks, day-use areas, more interpretive programs, signage and other things that cost plenty of money that really aren’t necessary to the overall enjoyment of the sport and take away from that “getting away from it all, wilderness off road experience” that this sport originally was.

I am concerned that there are longtime off road enthusiasts who take a look at the same opportunities and get excited about them without realizing that we could take the same amount of money to pay all the employees it takes to manage all these programs and to buy all the supplies and equipment to build the infrastructure, and actually buy more land. Right there now are large parcels of land available south of Highway 78 that could be purchased with off road money to increase the size of the park. Many years ago there was a stellar Off Road Pals program in place at Ocotillo Wells for under privileged kids and that program has gone by the wayside as the politically correct interpretive program has grown by leaps and bounds.

My gripe is and has always been since this era was introduced to the park, that right next door to our 85,000 acres is the Anza

Borrego Desert State Park with nearly 3/4 of a million acres of land that is off limits to off road vehicles, but has all the opporunities a person could want to learn about plants and animals and stars and planets and bugs. Why are we duplicating the effort?

My fear is that people taking part in this planning process will get all excited about all the offerings available without really thinking through what this park is all about and why off roading is so exciting in the first place.

Its the getting away from it all in the dirt experience, not off roading in Central Park as one wise person noted. My concern is that the people promoting the planning process and running the park are driven by job protection and job promotion. The more new programs, the more work, the more employees needed. We could do with a lot more land and a lot fewer programs and people.

You see the picture. It doesn’t say “Most of my best memories come from some old dirt road with hundreds of informational signs, a radio station broadcasting about the weather, the flora, the fauna, the stars, the rules and regulations; a discovery center, a star gazing ampitheater and an interpretive program and plans for millions of dollars to be spent on improvements.”

It says “Most of my best memories come from some old dirt road.” Period.

It seems to be a difficult concept to understand.