U.S. Closes Off-Roading Canyon to Vehicles
An area next to Death Valley National Park popular with off-road enthusiasts has been closed indefinitely to motorized vehicles by the federal Bureau of Land Management as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by environmentalists.
The agency has ordered Surprise Canyon in the Panamint Mountains closed to vehicles until it develops a plan for protecting the Panamint alligator lizard and various rare birds. The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, which sued the BLM, hopes the closure becomes permanent.
The canyon’s riparian habitat has been harmed by “soil erosion and stream bed alterations caused by off-highway vehicle use,†the BLM said in the Federal Register.
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