Citizens concerned about expansion plans of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center will meet to explore the issues and consider options from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20 at Wonder Valley Community Church, 82575 Amboy Road at Kuhn’s Road. It is the intention to organize a committee to address the expansion and its potential impacts on east Basin communities. Anyone interested in taking part is invited. For more information, call 367-7608.
The Combat Center has begun the environmental study process for the expansion, where it will compare possible combinations and alternatives to meet its expansion objectives. The study areas include over 300,000 acres of federal land and more than 70,000 acres of private lands, including to the west, south, and east of the current base boundaries. In Wonder Valley, the potential expansion lands include everything north of Poleline Road.The eastern study area extends all the way east to the Old Woman Mountains and north up to National Trails Highway, including Amboy Road, Amboy Crater, Bristol Dry Lake and several mining and farming enterprises.
The National Wilderness Areas are not included in the study zones.
“There are many questions to be answered,”said Chris Carraher, a Wonder Valley resident and one of the organizers of the meeting. “The people in Wonder Valley could be severely impacted by the expansion plans.”
An on-line discussion group about the Base expansion can be found here.
MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley, Twentynine Palms.
