[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 61 (Tuesday, March 30, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16597-16599]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-6998]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CA-660-04-2822]


Notice of Emergency Temporary Closure of Public Lands to 
Motorized Vehicles and Certain Other Uses in San Diego County, CA, 
Under Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Restoration

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Emergency temporary closure to motorized and mechanized vehicle 
use and certain other uses on public lands administered by the Bureau 
of Land Management (BLM), Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, 
California.

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SUMMARY: The BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office is temporarily 
closing portions of public lands to motorized and mechanized vehicle 
use, and prohibiting or restricting certain other uses, in the South 
Coast Resource Area in San Diego County, California. This closure is 
needed to protect public health and safety, cultural and natural 
resources, and stabilization treatments as recommended in the 
Department of the Interior's Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and 
Rehabilitation (BAER)

[[Page 16598]]

Plan for the Otay fire in San Diego County.

DATES: This closure is in effect from March 30, 2004, until October 30, 
2004. The closure may be lifted sooner if BLM determines that road 
repairs, revegetation, and stabilization efforts have reduced safety 
hazards and if treatments result in successful regrowth of desired 
vegetation.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the closure and a map of the closed areas can be 
obtained at the BLM, Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, 690 West 
Garnet Avenue, North Palm Springs, CA 92258, telephone (760) 251-4800; 
BLM, California State Office, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W-1834, 
Sacramento, CA 95825, telephone (916) 978-4600. BLM will also announce 
the closure through local media outlets, by posting this notice with a 
map of the closed areas at key locations that provide access to the 
closure areas.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg Hill, Bureau of Land Management, 
phone (760) 251-4800 or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The public lands affected by the Otay Fire 
and addressed in the BAER Plan are closed to all motorized and 
mechanized vehicle use (i.e. including trucks, sport utility vehicles, 
all-terrain vehicles, cars, motorcycles, mountain bikes, etc.), except 
for authorized access to private lands, or other authorized use, fire, 
law enforcement, and emergency activities. The authorities for this 
closure and restriction order are 43 CFR 8364.1 and 9268.3(d).
    The following paragraphs explain the background for BLM's 
management of the closed lands, and the reasons for the closures and 
restriction.
    These closures and restrictions apply to BLM-managed public lands 
within the boundary of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge (Jamul 
Mountains), and the public lands south of State Highway 94 to the US-
Mexico border, east of Otay Lakes Road, and west of Marron Valley Road. 
These lands are part of the Otay/Kuchamaa Cooperative Management Area, 
as described under the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program 
(MSCP). The lands are managed to protect the wilderness values of the 
Otay Mountain Wilderness, habitat for several threatened and endangered 
plant and animal species, cultural resources, and public open space. 
These public lands are managed under the 1994 South Coast Resource 
Management Plan (RMP). Under the San Diego County Management Area of 
the South Coast RMP, motorized vehicle use is limited to existing 
routes of travel. The Otay Mountain Wilderness and the Cedar Canyon 
ACEC are closed to motorized vehicle use under existing legislation and 
the South Coast RMP. This closure and restriction order applies to 
approximately 21,924 acres of public lands affected by the Otay Fire of 
October 2003.
    The Otay Mountain Truck Trail, Minnewawa Truck Trail, and portions 
of Marron Valley Road provide access to public lands on and around Otay 
Mountain and Marron Valley. Most of Marron Valley is owned by the San 
Diego Water Department and is not open to the public. Motorized and 
mechanized vehicle use is not permitted in the Otay Mountain 
Wilderness. This temporary closure affects all sections of the Otay 
Mountain Truck Trail and Minnewawa Truck Trail on public lands, and the 
section of Marron Valley Road on public lands south of the intersection 
with the Otay Mountain Truck Trail. All routes, spurs, trails or ways 
on public lands connecting to these roads, within the area described 
above, are also closed.
    These lands and roads are temporarily closed to vehicles under the 
BAER Plan/Environmental Assessment and Decision Record dated November 
15, 2003, to protect public health and safety from rockslides and slope 
failures due to loss of vegetation and falling trees in the areas 
affected by fire, and to allow for post-fire road reconstruction and 
maintenance. Vehicle use in the Otay Mountain Wilderness is prohibited, 
but the threat from illegal vehicle use may increase due to lack of 
vegetation and other physical barriers that previously blocked access. 
There is also the increased potential for the introduction of invasive/
non-native plants in burned areas from motorized and mechanized 
vehicles, and the potential for collection or looting of cultural and 
historical artifacts now revealed due to loss of vegetation. The 
``White Cross'' road is also closed to prevent access to sensitive 
Border Patrol operational areas along the US-Mexico border.
    Sycamore Canyon and surrounding lands, including the Clark Ranch, 
were purchased between 1999 and 2001 as BLM additions to the San Diego 
MSCP preserve system. Sycamore Canyon contains riparian vegetation, 
including oaks and Tecate cypress. The mouth of Sycamore Canyon is 
relatively flat and exposed due to loss of vegetation from the Otay 
Fire. This area contains several recorded cultural sites and is planned 
for emergency reseeding to control invasive species and re-establish 
native plant species. These lands are closed to all motorized and 
mechanized vehicle use, except as authorized, to prevent driving off 
road and affecting exposed cultural resources, vegetation treatments 
and seedings, and to control erosion and distribution of non-native 
plant seeds on vehicle tires. The vehicle closure is also intended to 
limit impacts to surviving and recovering Quino checkerspot butterfly 
larvae, host plants, and nectar sources. These public lands are within 
designated Critical Habitat for the federally listed Quino checkerspot 
butterfly (QCB). Sycamore Canyon is within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
(FWS) designated Dulzura Occurrence Complex for QCB. Direct impacts to 
QCB habitat, specifically impacts to regrowth of host plants and nectar 
sources, could occur from uncontrolled use of off-road vehicles.

Closure Order

Section 1. Closed Lands

    Public lands in the following described tracts are closed to 
motorized and mechanized vehicles:

Township 17 South, Range 1 East, SBBM;
Township 17 South, Range 2 East, SBBM;
Township 18 South, Range 1 East, SBBM;
Township 18 South, Range 2 East, SBBM.

Section 2. Prohibited Acts and Restrictions

    The following prohibitions and restrictions apply on the lands 
described for the duration of the emergency closure:
    a. You must not travel on foot or horseback except on existing 
roads.
    b. You must not camp, build campfires, or set ground fires.
    c. You must not engage in target shooting.
    d. You may hunt consistent with California Department of Fish and 
Game regulations.

Section 3. Exceptions to Closure and Restriction Order

    These closures and restrictions do not apply to authorized law 
enforcement, fire suppression, and/or resource management and recovery 
activities, or to access to private property by the property owners or 
persons with appropriate authorization. Nothing in this closure is 
intended to affect legal hunting as consistent with California 
Department of Fish and Game regulations.

Section 4. Penalties

    Under section 303(a) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1733(a)) and 43 CFR 8360.0-7, if you violate these 
closures or restrictions on public lands within the boundaries 
established, you may be tried before a United States Magistrate

[[Page 16599]]

and fined no more than $1,000 or imprisoned for no more than 12 months, 
or both. Such violations may also be subject to the enhanced fines 
provided for by 18 U.S.C. 3571.

Section 5. Conditions for Ending Closures and Restrictions

    Soil stabilization, revegetation, road repairs, and treatments to 
control invasive species will be considered successful, and the area 
may be returned to pre-closure travel designations and opened sooner 
than October 30, 2004, if and when the following occur:
    a. All culverts, road safety signs, and safety mirrors are repaired 
or replaced on the Otay Mountain and Minnewawa Truck Trails on Otay 
Mountain.
    b. All fencing and gates have been replaced.
    c. Slopes and soils above the Otay Mountain and Minnewawa Truck 
Trails show signs of stabilization and have not experienced slope 
failure through at least one winter season and at least two major rain 
events.
    d. Regrowth of vegetation has sufficiently obscured cultural sites 
previously exposed by fires.
    e. Seeding treatments on 250 acres in Sycamore Canyon have resulted 
in at least 30% regeneration of native species, or have been deemed 
unsuccessful after at least one full growing season.

Bruce Shaffer,
Acting Palm Springs-South Coast Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 04-6998 Filed 3-29-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P