Beatty says off-road race road reclamation lacking

Some Beatty residents and officials are unhappy, as has often been the case in the past, with the road reclamation efforts following off-road races in August 2020 and January 2021. Now, they are pleading for something to be done about it.

Complaints of incomplete or improper reclamation after off-road races over the years have focused on a variety of problems. Sometimes racers have dug ruts so deep as to leave the roads unusable, even to average off-road vehicles. At least one area has been worn down to rough, uneven bedrock. Such high berms have been built up on the sides of some of the narrow dirt roads that it is difficult or impossible to find a place to turn around.

In the board’s Jan. 15 meeting, board chair Randy Reed commented on an area where “they just put poof dirt over big rocks,” saying that this resulted in the wreck of a couple of motorcycles using the route later.

To address this problem, the Beatty Town Advisory Board has sent a letter to the Bureau of Land Management’s Tonopah Field Office expressing displeasure with road conditions following the races and asking for more accountability for organizers of such events. The letter was copied to other government officials on the county, state, and federal level.

“On January 8, 2021,” the letter, addressed to BLM Field Manager Perry Wickam, begins, “two town representatives along with representatives from your office completed a drive of the permitted Best in the Desert (BITD) 2020 Vegas to Reno route after being notified that BITD had completed its restoration work. The reclamation and or restoration work was found to be lacking and incomplete.”

The letter also complains of damage caused by the other race.

“It came to our attention that Legacy Racing Association held the 4WP Desert Showdown event starting in Pahrump on January 7, 2021, taking place through January 10, 2021. We know this event did not take place in the Battle Mountain District but it still must be mentioned because it caused a lot of damage to routes that are used in our Pahrump through Amargosa to Beatty interconnecting route which goes all the way to Goldfield. This latest racing event permitted by the BLM Southern Nevada District out of Pahrump has put the continuity of our routes in very poor condition and there has been no discernible reclamation or repair done since it took place. The damage and lack of repairs of this route and the routes in and around Beatty by these permitted events will have a negative economic impact on Beatty and other communities in Nye and Esmeralda counties.”

The letter states, that “Eco-tourism and outdoor recreation are our primary industries and support our hospitality and service-based businesses,” and that this makes the condition of the public lands in the area “critical to our economic vitality.”

Event organizers generally come before the Beatty advisory board to request approval as part of the permitting process, and this approval has generally been granted, always with insistence that proper reclamation be performed. Now, however, the letter indicates that the town has had enough of promises unfulfilled.

“At this time, the Beatty Town Advisory Board cannot and will not support the issuance of any additional permits to any entity or agency requesting our endorsement of their use of our public lands for high-speed, high power competitive events. The Bureau of Land Management must establish a clear process with a mechanism of accountability for all applicants, such as a bond.”

It acknowledges that the town must rely on the BLM, as the permitting agency, to hold permit applicants to their promises, and insists, “There must be something more than their promise to ensure they are accountable for the destruction they cause to our public lands.”

Richard Stephens is a freelance reporter living in Beatty.