Due to numerous comments and concerns expressed by the public at the BLM August '92 public meetings to review the inventory or routes to be considered for designation as "open", "limited" or "closed" to motorized vehicle use, the BLM is extending their public comment period to 12/11/92. In addition they have called together a Motor vehicle Access Technical Review Team. Elden Hughes from the Angeles Chapter Sierra Club serves on that committee and you can contact him for further info or call Molly Brady at 714-697-5230 at the Riverside BLM office. Kaiser Steel Resources is moving ahead to build an 11,000 acre Eagle Mountain Landfill at the site of the huge Kaiser Steel iron ore pit mine. The Riverside County. Planning Commission turned the proposal down in June but the proposal now goes before the County Board of Supervisors. The huge pit mine/landfill site is located just south of Joshua Tree N.M. between I-10 and hiway 62. The operation is planned to receive 20,000 tons of trash daily, pre-sorted for recyclable materials, from So. California. That area now generates about 85,000 tons of trash daily. Trash would arrive daily in sealed containers on 4 to 6 Southern pacific trains and 100 trucks. The dump is expected to receive trash from So. California for about 115 years.

Range of Light Group Formed in Eastern Sierra

On August 1, 1992, the Toiyabe Chapter ExCom created the Range of Light Group in the Eastern Sierra. This group encompasses the Counties of Inyo and Mono in California and Fish Lake Valley in Nevada. an area that contains many of the peaks on the DPS and SPS lists. The group leads outings and hosts social events, and has the primary conservation responsibility for this area, along with the Eastern Sierra Committee, an arm of the Regional Conservation Committee. DPS members who have conservation concerns in the group's area or who are interested in group activities should contact the regional group at P.O. Box 2083, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 (my box for now). When you are in the Mammoth or Bishop areas check out the local papers for announcements of activities. Those who want to be on the mailing list should contact me, especially those who live in the group's area but who are still members of the Angeles Chapter. The Conservation Chair is Terry Crawford, (619) 924-2568. Owen Maloy Secretary Pro-Tern, Range of Light Group, Toiyabe Chapter By the way, the DPS is well-regarded up here. I suggest that the DPS publish a notice in the Toiyabe Chapter newsletter (Toiyabe Trails, P.O. Box 8096, Reno, NV 89507) telling how to subscribe to the Sage. The people in Las Vegas in particular are enthusiastic peakbaggers. A complementary copy of the Sage should be sent to the Chapter (same address). NOTE ON DOING PLEASANT POINT The folks at Cerro Gordo mine are unhappy about people parking at the saddle just above their mine, which is private property. Apparently there has been a lawsuit filed against them. 150 feet north of the saddle the road forks. By taking the left (lower road) of this fork after 0.1 miles there is a chain across the road. This chain is not locked and one can drive down this road, either .75 miles to a junction with the foot trail (Route B) in the peaks guide, or all the way to the start of Route C in the guide. -- John McCully

Page Index	Prev	Page 9	Next	Issue Index