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E-mail StoryLocals call arsenic reports alarmist
| Wednesday, Apr 26 2006 11:24 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Apr 26 2006 11:23 PM
Local off-roaders on Wednesday couldn’t recall any cases of arsenic poisoning to fellow bikers riding in the Randsburg area in the Mojave Desert.
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The off-roaders added, however, that the Ridgecrest Bureau of Land Management has a penchant for closing off-road areas without sufficient justification.
A BLM spokesperson told The Press-Enterprise that the agency might close off-road areas near Randsburg and conduct air quality tests in those regions to determine arsenic levels.
Dick Taylor, president of the Kern Off-Highway Vehicle Association, said that environmentalists blamed off-roaders several years ago for the declining desert tortoise population in the northern Mojave.
Taylor said scientists discovered that the decline was due to ravens eating tortoise eggs and tortoises developing a respiratory disease.
“I would be reluctant to go along with BLM’s assertions without verification (of dangerous arsenic levels in those areas),” Taylor said.
Jack Patenson, a 45-year-old Bakersfield resident who regularly rides in the Mojave Desert, said BLM is quick to close off-road areas and then not reopen them even after proof that the the initial closure was unjustified.
As for dangers to people hiking or riding in the Randsburg area, Patenson said, “I’ve never heard of anyone becoming ill.”