A publication of
Bureau of Land Management in California
A publication of
Bureau of Land Management in California
Issue
110 - 5/28/2003
This week in News.bytes:
- Imperial Sand Dunes: plan to reopen section
- Wildfire season: Bracing for a bad one
- Wildlife Trivia Question of the Week: Mammalian
- Photo Album: "Cadastral Survey"
- Land Use Planning:
- West Mojave route planning: reaction
- Fort Ord: input needed
- Wild horse and burro adoptions
- Headlines and Highlights, including:
- Bizz Johnson trail shuttle
- Horseshoe Ranch proposal protests
- Hearst may split land with public
- Government report on Adventure Pass
- Deaths mar release to wild of bighorn sheep
- Selected Upcoming Events, including:
- Monument Advisory Committee meeting
-
Oil and Gas Lease Sale
|
IMPERIAL
SAND DUNES RECREATION AREA PLAN |
 WILDLIFE
TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK: "What era
is known as "The Age of Mammals"?(a) Precambrian (b) Paleozoic (c) Mesozoic (d) Cenozoic (See answer near the end of this issue of News.bytes) |
The BLM is responsible
for the surveys of all federally-managed lands within California.  Cadastral
surveying remains the oldest BLM program and is the process of defining
land ownership descriptions for title transfer - by establishing and monumenting
on the ground their record locations. A legal requirement since 1785, these
surveys form the framework for all land title (public and private) for the
United States. |
 |
Related:
"Geographic Services" (BLM California Web pages) This BLM branch recently changed its name from "Cadastral Survey," but it still surveys public lands - with the help of new and updated tools. http://www.ca.blm.gov/pa/cadastral/index.html |
|
Related:
"Cadastral Multimedia" (BLM National Web site)
|
WILD HORSES AND BURROS  "Wild
horses and burros up for adoption in Folsom" (BLM California news
release, 05/27/2003)They once grazed on the wide-open ranges of the West, but now, a more domestic life awaits a group of wild horses and burros when the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements offers them for public adoption in Folsom. http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2003/05/nr/NCnews69_folsomadoption_june03/Conv.htm "Don't try this at
home..." (BLM California Web page) Kiger Mustangs in Sacramento
this weekend |
HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS "Bizz Johnson trail shuttle service begins" (BLM California news release, 05/23/2003) Monthly weekend bus shuttle service for the Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail begins for the summer season Saturday, June 7. The service provides ways for hikers, joggers and mountain bikers to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the Susan River Canyon and surrounding forest without arranging vehicle shuttles or back-tracking. http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2003/05/nr/NCnews68_shuttle_03/Conv.htm "Deaths mar release of bighorn sheep; Just 1 of 5 freed animals still alive; timing criticized" (Palm Springs Desert Sun, 05/26/2003) "In August, wildlife officials released five endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep ... into the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs [in area of BLM-managed national monument]. The sheep were expected to join a nearby herd that had dwindled to 28 rams and just four ewes." Instead, two ate nonnative poisonous oleander, another died of dehydration and its lamb also died. Critic says spring release would have given better chance for survival. http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories/local/1053913946.shtml "Hearst may split land with public" (San Luis Obispo Tribune, 05/24/2003) "The public could wind up owning a small chunk of the scenic coastal Hearst Ranch. The Tribune has learned that the conservation package being developed by the Hearst Corp. and American Land Conservancy includes selling off to public agencies more than 60 percent of the ranch's coastal strip, 1,840 acres that lie west of Highway 1....Hearst and his conservation partners aren't saying which public agencies or private non-profit conservation groups could take ownership of those coastal stretches. But some agencies...[including BLM] have been stakeholders in the discussions." http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/5937057.htm Related: "Piedras Blancas Light Station" (BLM California Web site) Some of the lands mentioned in the story above surround Piedras Blancas Light Station. The station was turned over to BLM management in 2001, after the U.S. Coast Guard replaced old mechanisms with technology. The BLM is initiating restoration and stabilization projects. http://www.piedrasblancas.gov/ "Forest proposal would reduce species protection" (Associated Press, in Redding Record-Searchlight, 05/24/2003) "Federal forest managers would no longer have to survey for dozens of sensitive plant and animal species before logging under proposed changes to the Northwest Forest Plan announced Friday. The changes, prompted by a timber industry lawsuit, would increase logging on federal land in parts of the Northwest by about 60 percent per year and save the government about $18 million annually, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management officials said." http://redding.com/top_stories/state/20030524topstate048.shtml "Government report concludes Adventure Pass funds well spent" (Pasadena Star News, 05/26/2003) Adventure Pass is "part of a larger national effort called the Fee Demonstration Program in which several federal agencies, including the Forest Service, the [BLM] and the Fish and Wildlife Service, were allowed to charge fees to bring in more money to bolster their declining budgets." Government Accounting Office report "focused on the Forest Service because its fees have been the most controversial" and concluded Forest Service "does not keep accurate records of what it costs to administer the fee program that includes the Adventure Pass, though the money appears to be well spent." http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~22097~1416875,00.html |
|
ANSWER TO WILDLIFE TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
"What era is known as 'The Age of Mammals?'" (d) Cenozoic (1.6 to 65 million years ago) |
 ...
and speaking of mammals, one mammal now in the news (see story above) is
the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep - called that, because they exist
only in the Peninsular ranges of the San Jacinto Mountains to central Baja
California Mexico. These are hot, dry, rocky areas with few plants - and
very steep slopes. Learn more about these animals in the BLM California
Wildlife Database.(Note: the Wildlife Database is hosted on the Department of Interior's secure Web server - see note under "Selected Upcoming Events" below) https://doi1.ios.doi.gov/blmcawildlife.nsf/siteurl/53765164?OpenDocument |
SELECTED UPCOMING EVENTS
06/03/2003 - Fort Ord planning workshop
Marian
https://doi1.ios.doi.gov/blmEvents.nsf/siteurl/88203708?OpenDocument
06/04/2003 - Oil and Gas Lease Sale
Bakersfield
https://doi1.ios.doi.gov/blmEvents.nsf/siteurl/944839?OpenDocument
06/04/2003 - Fort Ord planning workshop
Salinas
https://doi1.ios.doi.gov/blmEvents.nsf/siteurl/61157702?OpenDocument
06/07/2003 - Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Advisory
Committee meeting
Palm Desert
https://doi1.ios.doi.gov/blmEvents.nsf/siteurl/54369421?OpenDocument
--------------------
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News.bytes published by
Bureau of Land Management
California State Office
2800 Cottage Way, Suite W-1834
Sacramento, Ca 95825
(916) 978-4600
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BLM
announces plans to reopen a section of Imperial Sand Dunes to off-road
vehicles. Almost 50,000 acres were closed November 2000 to protect Peirson's
milk-vetch plant, a threatened species unique to the dunes. Re-opening
could come as soon as peak off-road season in the dunes, usually early
November.
"In
woodlands from the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California to
the high desert of Santa Fe, N.M., hundreds of thousands of acres of ponderosa
and pinyon pine, the most prevalent trees of the arid West, are dead or
dying, weakened first by a lack of moisture and then by burrowing insects....Computer
modeling...predicts that fire will spread at twice the normal rate among
the weakened trees." Also: "Dead timber in Southern California
and an increase in lightning in Northern California will likely contribute
to an above average season there."