Recreation Guidebook Celebrates the Desert’s Diverse Public Lands
In April, the California Desert Field Office released a 50-page field guide and accompanying map that offers guidelines for enjoying the diversity of recreational opportunities in the desert and draws attention to some of the issues facing these fragile public lands. Variety and Adventure in the California Desert: A Guide to Responsible Recreation offers a look at how the residents and visitors to the California Desert are using public lands more than a decade after the passage of the California Desert Protection Act. Rather than keeping people from enjoying the desert, the California Desert Protection Act has reserved spaces of beauty, tranquility, and recreational opportunities that might have been lost otherwise. The field guide highlights some of the activities visitors can enjoy in the desert, offers suggestions on how residents can pursue their favorite outdoor activities without harming the land, and identifies some future challenges for public lands.
Through a series of personal profiles, NPCA’s new guide, illustrates the variety of recreational pursuits available to desert public lands users and offers guidelines on how to enjoy these activities responsibly. From hiking and backpacking to caving to hunting and fishing to OHV/off-roading, desert public lands offer users a variety of outdoor pursuits. And the book offers guidance on how to enjoy the region’s public lands in a respectful manner that ensures these places are available for generations of visitors to enjoy.
Although the public lands and outdoor pursuits enjoyed on them bring enormous benefit to the region, information about the desert was lacking, in part because of funding shortfalls. As noted in the field guide, public land managers and recreational planners are hampered by limited funding and unable to get the word out about the variety of desert recreation opportunities available. Funding shortfalls are also noticeably leading to a decline in visitor services especially in the desert’s national parks where too few law enforcement and interpretive rangers leave visitors with little confidence that pursuing their recreational adventures can be done safely. Furthermore, with many recreational facilities at public sites in the desert at maximum capacity on weekends, limited funding prevents adequate staffing levels to enforce regulations or educate visitors about responsible recreation.
The report makes several conclusions related to the need for regional recreation planning and additional funding. As urban centers continue to grow, resources must be properly allocated and conserved by the integrated planning of all land management agencies on a regional level. Ongoing investment in all these treasured places is critical.
