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P A G E 2
Heber Dunes SVRA General Plan
By Kirk Shea, State Park Superintendent II
On December 1, 2011 the OHMVR Commission voted unanimously to approve the Heber
Dunes SVRA General Plan (GP) and Environmental Impact Report (EIR). While this sounds like a
relatively easy task to perform, drafting the GP and EIR required tens of thousands of hours from
District staff, Division staff, AECOM and other private vendors. The journey was not always smooth.
Why does a park need a GP or EIR? Why should we take the time to embark on such a
lengthy, and expensive, journey? Besides being required by law, these documents assess the park in
its current condition and provide broad direction on how the park should be managed. Should
camping be allowed? What about Special Events? How
do we work with SDG&E and their three 500 kV
electrical towers? Rather than address each issue in a
vacuum, the GP gives management a consistent direction
on which decisions would best protect the park’s
resources and provide outstanding recreational
opportunities for its visitors.
OWSVRA District staff, OHMVR Division staff, OHMVR Commissioners, AECOM staff, and members
of the general public took a tour of Heber Dunes SVRA prior to approval of the Heber General Plan.
In 2007, the GP for Heber Dunes SVRA, Ocotillo Wells SVRA and Truckhaven were started
as a single project. Due to a variety of factors, these three General Plans were broken into three
separate projects. It wasn’t until 2009 that the real work began on the plan for Heber Dunes.
B L O W S A N D R E A D E R
V O L U M E 7 I S S U E 4
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