Dunes big business for Valley By MARC SCHANZ, Staff Writer
Thursday, June 10, 2004 3:12 PM PDT
HOLTVILLE Sand is big business, according to representatives of a well-known off-road recreation organization, and Imperial County stands to benefit if the local business community gets involved.
A large crowd of Imperial Valley business owners, leaders and members of the public turned out to the Barbara Worth Golf Resort here Thursday night to celebrate the work of the El Centro Chamber of Commerce and hear the keynote speech of American Sand Association vice chairman Bob Mason.
Mason gave an overview of the organization's efforts in promoting off-highway vehicle recreation as well as motorized access to public lands such as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area.
While praising the "unique natural resource that is the Imperial Sand Dunes," Mason talked up the economic benefit from the growing OHV tourism industry.
Mason praised local leaders in the El Centro, Brawley and Yuma chambers of commerce as well as local elected officials, with whom he had worked in lobbying for dunes access.
"You have to show everyone that you don't take the (sand dunes) for granted," Mason said.
Mason highlighted what the dollar benefits are to the Imperial Valley as well as Yuma County from tourism to the dunes, which attract more than 1.4 million visitors each year, he said.
Estimates show that OHV tourism has been a boon to the local economy, accounting for nearly $19 million in El Centro's coffers and around $43 million in Brawley's, Mason said.
"Think of all the second mortgages that are being used to buy boats, cabins and even buggies and equipment," Mason said. "You can capitalize on that."
Mason's speech came less than a week after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a petition brought by the ASA to remove the Peirson's milk-vetch the plant that spurred a round of temporary closures of 49,000 acres of BLM land in 2000 from the federal endangered species list.
The ASA is organizing a protest rally at the Fish and Wildlife Service's Carlsbad office Friday to push for reforms to the Endangered Species Act that the organization claims is hurting recreational access.
"We formed the ASA four years ago to fight unnecessary closures brought about by bad science," Mason said.
The El Centro chamber also saluted its outgoing officers and president.
Outgoing chamber president Bill Blair thanked all the staff and board members of the chamber for helping him during his 2003-2004 term and praised the unprecedented growth in El Centro during his presidency.
"The down side of passing the gavel is I won't have a front seat any more," Blair said of the expansion of business and retail in the El Centro area. "But I'll be working on the sidelines."
Blair passed the ceremonial gavel to 2004-2005 president-elect Frank Popejoy, who thanked everyone and talked about challenges to the community over the next year.
"I want to speak my mind here for a minute, and say that I agree with our county (Board of Supervisors), when it comes to moving more water out of the Valley," Popejoy said.
"What we should be doing is transferring the people and the jobs here instead. We need to take a stand," he added to a round of applause.
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