The TrailMaster Blog
Happy Halloween and Happy 19th Birthday to the California Desert Protection Act!
On October 31, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed into law The California Desert Protection Act, which “upgraded” Death Valley and Joshua Tree from national monuments to national parks, added 69 wilderness areas and created Mojave National Preserve.
As a Boy Scout and later as a college student, I remember hiking in Death Valley National Monument, Joshua Tree National Monument and the East Mojave National Scenic Area. Today these vast desert lands are under even stricter stewardship by the National Park Service, but this greater protection hasn’t taken any of the fun out of hiking these parklands.
What I’ve noticed as a hiker over the last 20 years in the desert parks is easier access to trailheads with better graded dirt roads; improved trailheads with better parking, picnic tables, restrooms and the like; better signage (particularly because hiking routes often go through washes or cross-country and don’t necessarily follow the usual footpaths).
The bill, boosted by California’s outspoken Senator Barbara Boxer, passed, but at the last minute anti-park legislators succeeded in altering Mojave’s status from a park to preserve, thus retaining certain forms of hunting, grazing and mining activity.
OK, so we didn’t get a Mojave National Park, but we got Mojave National Preserve, one of my favorite places to hike: the world’s largest Joshua tree forest, the amazing Kelso Dunes, Hole-in-the-Wall…
Happy Birthday and Happy Trails.