Current Recreational Use
Environmental protection groups (notably the Center for Biological Diversity) and off-highway vehicle advocacy groups (notably the American Sand Association) have filed numerous petitions and lawsuits to either restrict or re-open vehicular access to the dunes. Most of the dunes located north of State Route 78 are off-limits to vehicular traffic due to designation as the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness. The federal government protected these 25,818 acres (104.48 km2) in the early 1980s and closed them to vehicles as part of the 1994 California Desert Protection Act (Public Law 103-433). Much of the area south of this road remains open for off-highway vehicle use, though a lawsuit in 2000 closed over 49,000 acres (200 km2) to vehicular access, leaving about 40% of the recreation area open to vehicles. The site's large sand dunes are a preferred terrain for many off-road vehicle owners. Motorcycles, sandrails, ATVs, and 4-wheel-drive vehicles are commonly driven across the dunes. Open camping is permitted, and on major winter holidays, as many as 150,000 people can visit in a single weekend. These recreationalists bring an economic boom during the cooler months to the nearby towns of Brawley, California, Yuma, Arizona and El Centro, California.
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Holiday Weekend Traffic On The Dunes From Off-Roaders - Presidents Day Weekend.
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Drag Racing Spectators In The San Haze At The Dunes - Presidents Day Weekend.
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Barrier at the US-Mexican border through the dunes.
Read more about this topic: Algodones Dunes
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