Closed Sand Dune Areas
North Algodones Sand Dunes
Dunes North of Hwy 78 are closed to vehicles
Location: 26 miles east of Brawley, California (Southeastern
California)
The North Algodones Dunes Wilderness is located between the Mammoth Wash
“open” area and the State Highway 78.
Managed By: Bureau of Land Management
Size: 32,240 acres (50 square miles)
Date of Closure: 1994 - California
Desert Protection Act
Type of Closure: Permanent
Reason for Closure:
- Wilderness Designation, California
Desert Protection Act 1994
- California Protection Act
In 1994, Congress enacted the California Protection Act (CPA), that among
other things, designated 69 separate tracts of land totaling 3,667,020 acres
in the southern California Desert as wilderness and placed them under the
jurisdiction of the BLM and the U.S. FWS. These lands are to be preserved in
a natural state and access is generally limited to non-motorized,
non-mechanized means. The Act also established the Death Valley and Joshua
Tree National Parks, and established the Mojave National Preserve.
Other information:
The Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area (ISDRA) encompasses
approximately 159,000 acres of which 32,000 acres is designated as the North
Algodones Dunes Wilderness.
Wilderness?
Wilderness
Act of September 3, 1964's definition of "wilderness."
See 43 U.S.C.
1782(a).
That act, in relevant part, defines "wilderness" as an area
of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence,
without permanent improvements or human habitation, . . . which (1) generally
appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the
imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding
opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation;
(3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size to make
practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and
(4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific,
educational, scenic, or historical value.
Maybe Senator Feinstein's definition of "imprint
of man's work substantially unnoticeable" is different that the rest
of us. When the Wilderness Act is abused like this, it dilutes the meaning of
"Wilderness".
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