WHERE IS THIS?
1. Saddle Peak Hills Wilderness Area
2. Grass Valley Wilderness Area
3 - Rodman Mountains Wilderness Area
Take your best guess and check your answer against other readers, in our interactive photo quiz:
http://www6.ca.blm.gov/forms/polls/issue144/wa/index.php

PROFILE: Steve Anderson
Steve Anderson is the new field office manager for BLM's Redding office. He is currently the assistant district manager in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Read more in this week's News.bytes Profile:
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/newsbytes/profiles/anderson-redding.html

Related: "Anderson named as BLM's Redding manager" (BLM California news release, 2/11/04)
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2004/02/nr/NCnews33_anderson_redding_mgr.html

LAND USE PLANNING/RECREATION ISSUES

"Major milestone for road" (Marysville Appeal-Democrat, 02/05/2004)
"The Hammonton Road case reached a major milestone...when a Yuba County judge ordered that a final map of the controversial road be recorded." The dispute involves claims of public right to access BLM-managed areas of the Yuba Goldfields, versus claims by a company with permit to mine gravel in the area.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/2004/02/05/community/comm1.txt

"Public meetings set for King Range Plan review" (BLM California news release, 2/10/2004)
Meetings will be held in five Northern California locations in February and early March to provide public comment opportunities on a draft management plan and environmental impact statement (EIS) for the King Range National Conservation Area (NCA).
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2004/02/nr/NCnews34_King_Range_public_meetings.html

"Shooting range proposal draws support, opposition" (Redding Record-Searchlight, 02/05/2004)
"Close to 200 target shooters and worried neighbors fired off questions to land planners...about a controversial gun range....And by the way the meeting was going, the comments might have rolled in all night long had the Bureau of Land Management not capped it at two hours."
http://www.redding.com/news/stories/20040205lo017.shtml

"Inland forest called state's most threatened" (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 02/05/2004)
"An Inland national forest and some desert dunes popular with off-roaders are named on an environmental group's annual list of the state's 10 most-threatened wild places....The Algodones Dunes, run by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, was included on the list for the first time."
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_wild05.5a23b.html

"Off-roading gets official push" (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2/7/2004)
Commissioner of state off-roading division says recreation officials must pay more attention to need for off-roading areas. "About 500,000 off-road enthusiasts crowded the deserts in Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern and Imperial counties over the last Thanksgiving weekend, giving a portent of the swelling interest." California supplies 'abundant land for golf courses, tennis courts, soccer fields and baseball diamonds but not enough for 'off-highway vehicles, the most exciting sport,' he says. The impact on public land is going to be tremendous in the next 10-15 years..."
http://www.pe.com/localnews/corona/stories/PE_News_Local_croad08.a42e9.html

CEMEX

"City buys Cemex property" (The Santa Clarita Signal, 02/07/2004)
"The Santa Clarita City Council unanimously voted behind closed doors...to buy 493 acres of land where a massive mining project in Soledad Canyon is proposed....the city now owns the surface rights to the land. However, the federal Bureau of Land Management, which issued two 10-year permits to Mexican cement giant Cemex in 1989 to mine 78 million tons of sand and gravel over the next 20 years, owns the mineral rights on the property."
http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=4099

Related: "City buys land at center of mining dispute" (Antelope Valley Press, 02/10/2004)
http://www.avpress.com/n/tusty2.hts

Related: "What lies beneath" (The Santa Clarita Signal, 2/11/2004)
"Officials confirmed Tuesday that the city's new property in Soledad Canyon had been offered to their archrival, Cemex."
http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=4121

Related: "Cemex-Transit Mixed Soledad Canyon sand and gravel project, Los Angeles County, CA" (BLM California Issue Updates)
(Note: the "Issue Update Database" is hosted on the Department of Interior's secure Web server - see note under "Selected Upcoming Events" below.)
https://doi1.ios.doi.gov/newsbytes.nsf/siteurl/89137561?OpenDocument

HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS

"Push to reclaim mining pit begins" (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 02/05/2004)
"Joshua Tree: Supporters want to prevent the federal government-owned site from becoming a landfill."
http://www.pe.com/localnews/desertpass/stories/PE_News_Local_joshua05.59e8f.html

Related: "Group tries new tactic in landfill fight" (Palm Springs Desert Sun, 02/05/2004)
Old laws call for acreage to go to Joshua Tree National Park.
http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/local/20040205004520.shtml

"What's mine is theirs: Crews work to restore historic desert site" (Bakersfield Californian, 02/09/2004)
"The Ruth Mine Camp near here hasn't been in full swing since the 1940s, but current claim owner...didn't want to just see it continue to waste away. So he contacted the Bureau of Land Management's Adopt-A-Cabin program to help him clean up the 11 buildings at the century-old mine."
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/4509068p-4551084c.html

"More tough talk about October fires" (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 02/04/2004)
A governor's panel looks at what worked and what didn't, during last fall's southern California wildfires. Technology helped, says BLM fire management officer: "During the Grand Prix Fire, [he]...used a palm-sized computer and a digital camera coupled with a global positioning device to create and transmit vital fire perimeter information from a helicopter. 'I'd ask the pilot to skirt the fire's edge, with one skid in the black (burned areas) and one skid in the green,' [he] said...."
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203%257E21481%257E1936098,00.html

"Horse lovers find wild ones at auction" (Los Angeles Daily News, 02/07/2004)
"The loyal character of a wild horse has created what some at the federal Bureau of Land Management endearingly call mustang fanatics -- those rare equine lovers who can always make room for one more in their stables. There was no shortage of mustang lovers Saturday at the agency's wild horse auction...."
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20954%257E1942946,00.html

"Mojave Desert plant considered for protection" (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2/11/2004)
"Federal wildlife officials said Tuesday they will consider placing a Mojave Desert herb on the nation's endangered species list, a move that could further complicate the expansion of the Army's tank training center." BLM-managed lands have been part of the discussions of the proposed Fort Irwin expansion.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardino/stories/PE_News_Local_plant11.5706c.html

"IMC now Searles Valley Minerals, Inc." (Ridgecrest Daily Independent, 2/11/2004)
Financial changes at company that leases mineral rights from BLM.
http://www.ridgecrestca.com/articles/2004/02/08/news/local_news/news02.txt

"Slender false brome' doesn't look (or sound) like much, but let it loose and see the destruction" (San Mateo County Times, 02/07/2004)
"[T]he perennial bunch grass is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but has become rampant in neighboring Oregon." The grass "drives out native species, can't be eaten by animals and is hard to eradicate....The U.S. Forest Service, [BLM], U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and several other state and federal agencies in Oregon have teamed up to control the spread of false brome. Groups in California are taking their lead."
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87%257E11268%257E1941731,00.html

NATIONAL AND/OR DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR ITEMS

"BLM extends time on commercial recreation permits" (BLM national news release, 02/06/2004)
The BLM is amending its regulations on Special Recreation Permits and Recreation Use Permits to provide better customer service to the public, reduce administrative paperwork, and provide consistent law enforcement at fee sites on BLM-managed public lands.
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2004/pr040206_recreation.htm

"Secretary Norton to testify on President’s FY 2005 budget for Interior Department" (Department of Interior news release, 2/11/2002)
Interior Secretary Gale Norton will testify at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 12 at 10 a. m. She will discuss major initiatives in the largest presidential request in the department's history, including strategies to develop stronger conservation partnerships with states, tribes, local communities, and citizens to develop healthy lands, thriving communities and dynamic economies.
http://www.doi.gov/news/040211a