On January 23, 2026, a federal court ordered the closure of more than 2,200 miles of designated OHV routes across the Western Mojave Desert — cutting off many of the historic access routes that have connected visitors to Historic Randsburg for generations.
While the court's decision focused on environmental concerns, no economic impact study was presented to evaluate how closing these routes would affect local businesses, tourism, jobs, or one of California's most historic mining towns. The surrounding desert communities were left out of the analysis entirely.
For more than 130 years, Randsburg has welcomed visitors from across California and around the world. Today, its businesses depend on responsible outdoor recreation and heritage tourism. The loss of legal access threatens the livelihoods of business owners, employees, and residents who had no role in the litigation but are now bearing its consequences.
Protecting sensitive natural resources and protecting historic communities should not be mutually exclusive. Both can — and should — be accomplished through thoughtful planning and balanced public policy.
We are asking federal, state, and local leaders to:
<ul>
<li>Recognize the economic impacts the WEMO closures have had on Historic Randsburg and neighboring communities</li>
<li>Restore legal ingress and egress routes that reconnect Historic Randsburg to the surrounding designated trail system while the WEMO process continues</li>
<li>Bring stakeholders together — local governments, businesses, recreation organizations, conservation interests, and land managers — to develop solutions that protect both desert resources and California's historic communities</li>
<li>Ensure future public land decisions evaluate economic impacts on rural communities before access is restricted</li>
</ul>
Historic Randsburg deserves to be heard. Please take two minutes to send your message to the officials who can help protect this historic California town.
Every voice matters. Together, we can ensure Randsburg's future is not decided without the people, businesses, and community that call it home.&nbsp;

Save Historic Randsburg — Protect a California Landmark

I am writing about a gap in the process behind the January 2026 WEMO route closures — one that should concern anyone who cares about sound public policy, regardless of how they feel about off-highway recreation.

The decision closed more than 2,200 miles of designated routes across the Western Mojave. The environmental questions received extensive analysis over many years of litigation. But there appears to have been no corresponding analysis of the economic consequences — no study of what the closures would mean for Historic Randsburg, for the businesses of Ridgecrest and California City, or for the jobs and tax base of the surrounding region. The communities most affected had no meaningful voice in the outcome.

Good governance requires weighing all the consequences of a decision, not just some of them. When access restrictions can determine whether a 130-year-old town's economy survives, that impact deserves to be studied, understood, and considered — before the restriction takes effect, not after the damage is done.

This is a fixable problem. Interim ingress and egress routes can reconnect Randsburg to the designated trail system while the broader WEMO process continues, and future decisions can be made with complete information.

I respectfully ask you to:
1. Support efforts to restore legal ingress and egress routes that reconnect Historic Randsburg to the surrounding designated trail system while the WEMO process continues.
2. Ensure that any future public land decisions include a comprehensive economic impact analysis evaluating the effects on Historic Randsburg and other affected desert communities.
3. Support a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process that protects sensitive natural resources while preserving Historic Randsburg, its economy, and responsible public access to our public lands.


Balanced decisions require complete information. Thank you for working to ensure rural communities are counted.

California Off Road Vehicle Association

I care deeply about protecting the desert tortoise and preserving the Mojave Desert for future generations. I also believe conservation should be balanced with the needs of the communities that have coexisted with these public lands for generations.

The January 2026 court decision closing more than 2,200 miles of designated routes throughout the Western Mojave has had unintended consequences that extend far beyond recreation. It has severely impacted Historic Randsburg, a California mining town that has welcomed visitors for more than 130 years and whose economy depends heavily on tourism and responsible outdoor recreation.

What concerns me most is that there appears to have been no meaningful economic analysis of how these closures would affect Randsburg's businesses, employees, residents, or the surrounding communities. Decisions of this magnitude should consider not only environmental impacts, but also the real-world consequences for the people whose livelihoods depend on continued public access.

Historic Randsburg is more than an OHV destination. It is a living piece of California history. Its restaurants, stores, lodging, museums, and small businesses rely on visitors who come to experience the town and responsibly enjoy the surrounding public lands. Restricting legal access without fully evaluating the economic consequences places the future of this historic community at risk.

I believe we can protect sensitive wildlife habitat while also protecting Historic Randsburg. Responsible recreation, designated routes, education, monitoring, and adaptive management have demonstrated that conservation and public access can work together. A collaborative approach involving land managers, wildlife agencies, local governments, scientists, business owners, residents, and recreation organizations offers a far better path forward than policies that unintentionally threaten the survival of an entire community.

I respectfully ask you to:
1. Support efforts to restore legal ingress and egress routes that reconnect Historic Randsburg to the surrounding designated trail system while the WEMO process continues.
2. Ensure that any future public land decisions include a comprehensive economic impact analysis evaluating the effects on Historic Randsburg and other affected desert communities.
3. Support a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process that protects sensitive natural resources while preserving Historic Randsburg, its economy, and responsible public access to our public lands.


California should not have to choose between protecting wildlife and protecting historic communities. We can — and should — do both.

Thank you for your consideration and for your commitment to finding balanced solutions that protect both our natural heritage and the people whose lives and livelihoods depend upon it.

Protect Historic Randsburg: Address the Economic Impacts of the WEMO Route Closures

I am writing about the economic harm the January 2026 WEMO route closures are causing to Historic Randsburg and the desert communities that surround it.

Randsburg's general store, saloon, restaurants, shops, and lodging have served visitors for generations. Those businesses — and the families they employ — depend on people who travel through the surrounding public lands to reach the town. The closure of more than 2,200 miles of designated routes has cut off many of the access corridors those visitors have used for decades, and the effects ripple outward: travelers to the Western Mojave buy fuel, food, parts, and groceries in Ridgecrest, California City, Johannesburg, and Bakersfield.

To my knowledge, no economic impact study was presented before these closures took effect. No one evaluated what losing this access would mean for the small business owners, employees, and residents who had no role in the litigation but are now bearing its consequences. These are not wealthy communities with diversified economies — recreation and heritage tourism are their lifeblood.

I don't believe anyone intended to put a 130-year-old town's survival at risk. But that is the practical effect, and it deserves attention and action from the officials who represent these communities.

I respectfully ask you to:
1. Support efforts to restore legal ingress and egress routes that reconnect Historic Randsburg to the surrounding designated trail system while the WEMO process continues.
2. Ensure that any future public land decisions include a comprehensive economic impact analysis evaluating the effects on Historic Randsburg and other affected desert communities.
3. Support a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process that protects sensitive natural resources while preserving Historic Randsburg, its economy, and responsible public access to our public lands.


Rural communities should not be an afterthought in public land decisions. Thank you for standing up for them.

Randsburg's small businesses need your help after the WEMO closures

Randsburg is one of California's last living gold mining towns. Founded in 1896 in the original Rand Mining District, it has survived boom, bust, fire, and 130 years of desert hardship. Families visit to walk the same streets miners walked over a century ago — and its museums, shops, and restaurants keep that history alive as a working community, not a museum behind glass.

The January 2026 court decision closing more than 2,200 miles of Western Mojave routes has cut off many of the historic access routes that connect visitors to the town. Randsburg's roughly 45 residents and its small businesses depend on those visitors. Without them, one of the most authentic pieces of California history still standing faces a genuinely uncertain future.

What troubles me is that this consequence appears never to have been weighed. No meaningful economic analysis evaluated what restricting access would mean for the town, its businesses, or the surrounding communities before the closures took effect. Protecting the desert tortoise is a goal I support — but protecting sensitive natural resources and protecting historic communities should not be mutually exclusive. Thoughtful planning can accomplish both.

Once a historic town dies, it does not come back. Randsburg deserves a seat at the table before decisions that determine its survival are finalized.

I respectfully ask you to:
1. Support efforts to restore legal ingress and egress routes that reconnect Historic Randsburg to the surrounding designated trail system while the WEMO process continues.
2. Ensure that any future public land decisions include a comprehensive economic impact analysis evaluating the effects on Historic Randsburg and other affected desert communities.
3. Support a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process that protects sensitive natural resources while preserving Historic Randsburg, its economy, and responsible public access to our public lands.


Thank you for helping preserve California's living history for future generations.

Historic Randsburg's future should not be decided without its community

Public land decisions should evaluate impacts on the communities they affect

I support protecting the desert tortoise and the health of the Mojave Desert. I am writing because I believe the January 2026 WEMO closures, as implemented, do not serve that goal well — and they are placing Historic Randsburg's future at risk in the process.

Closing more than 2,200 miles of designated routes without evaluating the economic consequences has severed the access that connects visitors to a 130-year-old community whose businesses depend on heritage tourism and responsible recreation. Meanwhile, experience across California's public lands shows that designated routes, education, monitoring, and adaptive management allow conservation and public access to succeed together. Blanket closures, by contrast, can push use into unmanaged areas and erode the local goodwill that conservation ultimately depends on.

The better path is collaborative: land managers, wildlife agencies, local governments, scientists, business owners, residents, and recreation organizations working together on solutions that genuinely protect sensitive habitat while keeping Randsburg connected to the trail system and the visitors who sustain it. The off-road and outdoor recreation community is ready to be a partner in that work.

I respectfully ask you to:
1. Support efforts to restore legal ingress and egress routes that reconnect Historic Randsburg to the surrounding designated trail system while the WEMO process continues.
2. Ensure that any future public land decisions include a comprehensive economic impact analysis evaluating the effects on Historic Randsburg and other affected desert communities.
3. Support a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process that protects sensitive natural resources while preserving Historic Randsburg, its economy, and responsible public access to our public lands.


California should not have to choose between protecting wildlife and protecting historic communities. We can — and should — do both.

We can protect the desert tortoise and Historic Randsburg