By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
 The Johnson Valley area contains a unique mix of open desert, dry lake beds and formidable rock-crawling formations and hosts the famous King of the Hammers race, which will continue unhampered. |
The U.S. House of Representatives included a provision within the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 to include the word “National” within the title “Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area.”
Johnson Valley is the nation’s first federal OHV area and the word addition will acknowledge the land’s national significance. The SEMA-supported legislation follows last December’s success when Congress passed a law ending a six-year clash between the military and OHV users over access to thousands of acres of Southern California desert.
More than 96,000 acres will continue to be maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as an OHV recreation area, with other lands being transferred to the adjoining Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base for military training needs. The area contains a unique mix of open desert, dry lake beds and formidable rock-crawling formations and hosts the famous King of the Hammers race, which will continue unhampered.
For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.