On March 15, 2007, the United States Department of the Interior's Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) issued an order in what has become known locally as the White Swan case. In its decision, the IBLA "Affirmed in Part; Reversed in Part" the cessation order issued by the Ridgecrest Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). While we are still reviewing the seventeen page ruling in case IBLA 2004-204, below is the concluding paragraph summaryizing the IBLA's "Order".
If you're looking hoping for a repeat of recent spring blooms in Death Valley, I'm sorry to say that it won't be this year. It takes big, late winter rains to launch the flowers, and this year the heart of Death Valley has received but a quarter inch of rain this year. There's no magic number that I know of when it comes to how much rain will result in a bloom, but something tells me it's got to be more than a quarter of an inch.
However, the least I can do is leave you with a look at one of Death Valley's famous Spring bloom from last year.
Of particular concern is the recent introduction of Senate Bill S. 493 by Senator Barbara Boxer, which seeks to remove critical motorized access from and additional 2.4 million acres of public lands, including hundreds of popular backcountry destinations.