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Off-road enthusiasts are losing access to a huge swath of the Mojave Desert after a federal judge ordered the closure of thousands of miles of vehicle routes, capping a legal fight over what motorized recreation is doing to a shrinking desert tortoise population.
The Data Behind the Ruling
The case leans heavily on decades of field research from Kristin Berry, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who has tracked desert tortoise populations in the region since the 1970s. Her long-term monitoring plots show declines of up to 96% over that span. Environmental groups used that data to argue that off-road vehicle traffic is degrading burrows, vegetation, and soil structure the tortoises depend on, and a federal judge ultimately agreed the harm was significant enough to justify shutting down the routes rather than imposing lighter restrictions.
What Off-Roaders Are Losing
No firm date has been set for when every affected route will actually close, but the order covers a large network of trails that have been used for organized rides and casual trail riding for decades. For a lot of desert recreation groups, this isn’t just about one weekend trip getting rerouted. Losing thousands of miles of connected trail means losing the loops and long-distance routes that make the Mojave a destination in the first place, not just a patchwork of disconnected riding areas.
Pushback From the Off-Road Community
Ben Burr, executive director of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for motorized recreation access on public land, has pushed back on the ruling, arguing it goes further than necessary to address the tortoise decline. The Blue Ribbon Coalition has spent years fighting closures like this one, and this case is likely to become another data point in the broader argument over how much motorized access should be sacrificed to protect a threatened species.
A Fight That Isn’t Over
Disputes over balancing off-road recreation against desert tortoise protection have simmered in the Mojave for years, and this ruling doesn’t end that fight so much as it shifts the terrain. Expect continued legal and legislative pressure from off-road advocacy groups even as the closures move forward under the judge’s order, while land managers work out how the broader access plan for the region will look once the dust settles.
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