To: SeachRE who wrote (345461 ) 1/21/2003 11:47:38 AM From: Skywatcher Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 769670 Bush still making SURE he destroys everything that is left in the wilderness of AMERICA....it's jackboot environmentalism from the White Boyz Bush Opens Way for Counties and States to Claim Wilderness Roads Policy could allow vehicles into vast areas of wilderness, some in national parks. Critics fear harm by miners, off-roaders and others.latimes.com By Julie Cart, Times Staff Writer MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE -- From most perspectives, this windblown landscape is the definition of off the beaten path. Sandy hummocks give way to flinty mountain ranges and a seemingly impassable expanse that is home to herds of bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and a universe of heat-loving plants. But others see the preserve's 1.6 million acres of creosote bushes and ribbed desert washes and envision thousands of miles of roads. Ditto for Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks, along with wilderness areas in the Sierra Nevada and along California's rugged northern coast. That vision — of unfettered motorized access to remote country that has for decades been the province of wild animals and a few hardy backpacking humans — is a lot closer to reality thanks to a Bush administration policy quietly adopted earlier this month. Bowing to long-standing pressure from several Western states and counties, the Interior Department's new policy gives local decision-makers the opportunity to lay claim to tens of thousands of miles of rights of way across federal land. Ultimately, it will be up to the Interior Department to determine the validity of the claims. Enacted through a rules change, the new policy has the potential to open millions of acres of land in national parks and federally designated wilderness areas to motorized transportation. By providing access to isolated holdings, it could also open remote country to drilling for oil and gas and other commercial development.