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DO NOT pick up and move desert tortoise. They will evacuate their bladder when scared and possibly die of dehydration shortly afterwards.

Excerpt about handling desert tortoise...

Don't Touch!
If you see a tortoise in the wild, it is important not to pick it up. Like a young child who may wet his pants when afraid, a tortoise will "void" its bladder if frightened. This could have life-threatening consequences for the animal if it is not able to replenish its water supply. Handling wild tortoises is illegal under the Endangered Species Act. The only reason for picking one up is when the tortoise is on or near a road and is in imminent danger of being struck by a vehicle. If you must move one, grasp it firmly with two hands, keep it just a few feet above the ground, and move it off the road about 50 feet in the same direction in which it was headed. Then place it gently back on the ground (preferably in the shade).

From this link...
https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/tortoise.htm
 
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This just in... We've upped our commitment to supporting Tread Lightly!

Tread Lightly! is now our Official Outdoor Ethics Sponsor!


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geez... I have never seen people treat areas like they treat Azusa OHV...
gosh this stuff pisses me off...
Keep doing things like this, and we will keep losing areas to travel...
 
Has anyone ever been there? Is that a sediment pond with no out flow or a river/dam?
 
Has anyone ever been there? Is that a sediment pond with no out flow or a river/dam?

it is about 20 min from me. It is behind a series of dams along the San Gabriel River. Many years, even with drought much of it is under water. It is an official OHV park, and is pretty much a free for all and is the local hang out for mud boggers. This video pretty much sums up a typical weekend

 
geez... I have never seen people treat areas like they treat Azusa OHV...
gosh this stuff pisses me off...
Keep doing things like this, and we will keep losing areas to travel...
Except this was for a permitted photo shoot. It's also Azusa Canyons, where a lot worse than this has been going on for many many many years. They can muck it up as much as they want, and a rain returns it to normal. Every so often the water district removes excess silt that accumulates from the mountain range above after storms.

There's a ranger station that charges for access at the only entrance, and a staff that oversees activities.

My first time there was 1978 and it was exactly like this, and the video that Cris posted just above, and nothing's changed in 30 years.

I used to go a lot in the early 90's, but I got annoyed with the types of people that were starting to become regulars there, and stopped going. And I consider the place a cesspool. And you know what happens when you close access to cesspools? All the shite can't get in and spreads to all the nice places. Pretty sure this place is safe from closure for many more decades ahead, even though it's well within the massive government land grab known as the San Gabriel National Monument.
 
They can muck it up as much as they want, and a rain returns it to normal. Every so often the water district removes excess silt that accumulates from the mountain range above after storms.

There's a ranger station that charges for access at the only entrance, and a staff that oversees activities.
Thanks for being the voice of reason here. :thumbsup

It's sad that it's become commonplace for folks to immediately assume there is abuse and jump right to blind bashing. Beating people over the head who have done nothing wrong is definitely not the way to win people over and educate the masses. I'm shocked and disappointed that it happened so quickly here, and with so many well-known responsible folks in the video.
 
Thanks for being the voice of reason here. :thumbsup


It's sad that it's become commonplace for folks to immediately assume there is abuse and jump right to blind bashing. Beating people over the head who have done nothing wrong is definitely not the way to win people over and educate the masses. I'm shocked and disappointed that it happened so quickly here, and with so many well-known responsible folks in the video.


PERCEPTION IS REALITY (to someone)

Although its an "allowed area" what people see is destruction caused by those dang offroaders. "those trucks should be illegal, offroading should be illegal, they are destroying the earth, they are ruining the habitat of the tufted sea-squirt"

When you PROMOTE this type of activity, the HUGE number of "uneducated" people with their brand new overland rigs think this is ok anywhere, mark my words, the days of driving in the Mojave are numbered! It will become paved, have drinking fountains, curbs and picnic tables. (think joshua tree)

So yes, I KNOW there is abuse.
 
There's just not enough of telling the folks that see things like that to "Educate Yourself, then STFU"
 
Thanks for being the voice of reason here. :thumbsup

It's sad that it's become commonplace for folks to immediately assume there is abuse and jump right to blind bashing. Beating people over the head who have done nothing wrong is definitely not the way to win people over and educate the masses. I'm shocked and disappointed that it happened so quickly here, and with so many well-known responsible folks in the video.

It goes well beyond the "off roading" in the video. The filmmaker admits to driving an improperly balanced trailer, on no sleep, with no tags while his wife and child are in the vehicle. Turns at speed in top heavy vehicles (doughnuts), unsafe winching practices. Plenty of poor choices in this video.

PERCEPTION IS REALITY (to someone)

Although its an "allowed area" what people see is destruction caused by those dang offroaders. "those trucks should be illegal, offroading should be illegal, they are destroying the earth, they are ruining the habitat of the tufted sea-squirt"

When you PROMOTE this type of activity, the HUGE number of "uneducated" people with their brand new overland rigs think this is ok anywhere, mark my words, the days of driving in the Mojave are numbered! It will become paved, have drinking fountains, curbs and picnic tables. (think joshua tree)

So yes, I KNOW there is abuse.

And there's this. Folks who don't have access to a "sealed" area like this will seek out what's local to them and try to emulate the behaviors.
 
Too much, "Yall hold my beer and watch this" followed by throwing said beer can down when done. Back to Tread Lightly, a very worthy effort and I am happy to see more visibility of responsible land use.
 
geez... I have never seen people treat areas like they treat Azusa OHV...
gosh this stuff pisses me off...
Keep doing things like this, and we will keep losing areas to travel...
What an interesting character. I would so like to do a rhinoscopy on this guy... Bro.
 
Bring this topic back to the top.

If you’re not Treading Lightly in 2021, and requiring those in your group to do so as well, you’re doing it wrong!

:tread
 
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