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NEWS: INYO COUNTY BULLDOZES THROUGH DEATH VALLEY WILDERNESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- March 16, 2004

Contact: Bryn Jones, California Wilderness Coalition, (909) 205-6004
Daniel Patterson, Center for Biological Diversity, (520) 623-5252

County maintenance crew illegally blades through a protected wilderness area in the southeast 'Greenwater' section of Death Valley National Park, undoing 10 years of natural recovery [Pictures Available].

Death Valley National Park, Calif. - Last Thursday, March 11th, National Park Service staff discovered that an Inyo County road maintenance crew had graded a closed route through federally protected wilderness inside Death Valley National Park. The county did not provide the agency with any advance notice of the action.

The grader illegally bladed through an overgrown roadbed closed by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994, creating a cut-off between two existing open routes- Gold Valley Road and Greenwater Valley Road. County employees ignored and pushed past a boulder barrier, visible "road closed" sign and installed a 'Lost Section Road' sign marking the freshly bladed road. Federal law prohibits road building and mechanized vehicle use within congressionally designated wilderness areas.

"The county's illegal road work carved a scar across protected desert wilderness." explained Bryn Jones, Desert Program Director for the California Wilderness Coalition, "This pristine land had been permanently set aside for future generations."

The county's road crew may have violated the Endangered Species Act as well, as the damaged area supports a known population of the threatened desert tortoise.

"While the bulldozing of wilderness habitat can't be undone, Inyo County must work cooperatively with Death Valley National Park to fully restore the damage and ensure that this kind of intrusion into protected park lands never happens again," said Daniel Patterson, desert ecologist for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Founded in 1976, the California Wilderness Coalition defends the pristine landscapes that make California unique, provide a home to our wildlife, and preserve a place for spiritual renewal.