The United States Marine Corps and Federal Aviation Administration hope to designate a permanent Special Use Airspace over the grounds currently used as part of the Marine base at Twentynine Palms. However, the SUA includes Johnson Valley and the zone used for off-roading and King of the Hammers.

While the USMC states the Johnson Valley Shared Use Area won’t be impacted by the proposal, the OHV community is worried limiting the airspace overhead to the military would severely hinder civilian use. Examples of the latter include media drones and helicopters, aircraft to evacuate the injured, maintenance flights, and local aviators who use Johnson Valley as a safe air route. If the plan passes, civil pilots of any kind must be approved by the Marines or FAA to fly within that airspace.

Spanning 189,700 acres, Johnson Valley is federal land split between public use and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. The Marines and off-raders clashed in the early 2010s as the base gradually looked to expand its grounds, a situation that was resolved for the most part with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. While the bill transferred 107,000 acres of land to the military, it also created the Shared Use Area jointly operated by the Bureau of Land Management and USMC.

Under the current arrangement, the Shared Use Area is open for civilians for most of the year save for brief closures whenever the Marines were training.

A Special Use Airspace is defined by the FAA as zones in which certain activities like military actions can take place. There are multiple types of SUAs such as Restricted Areas, Military Operations Areas, and so on.

“The purpose of this Proposed Action is to provide permanent SUA above and adjacent to the Combat Center to support current and future training activities 365 days per year,” explains the USMC’s project website. “The Proposed Action is needed to increase safety while adequately supporting the training operations conducted in accordance with Marine Corps Order 3502.6, Marine Corps Force Generation Process; USMC Force Design 2030 (March 2020, with annual updates); and Combat Center Order 3500.16A, Service Level Training Exercise Order (May 14, 2020).

“[…] There would be no change to the public’s access to the Johnson Valley Shared Use Area (also known as the Means Lake Training Area). As a ‘shared use’ area, the area will continue to be managed to accommodate both military training needs and public recreational access. Military training is authorized for up to two, non-consecutive, 30-day periods annually, ensuring the area is primarily available for public recreation.”

Two maps were pitched by the Marines, both of which also include converting the Turtle Low and CAX military operations areas into SUA territory. The second designates Dale Skyranch Airport as an Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace for air traffic controllers to work during military ops, but removes ATCAA assignment from Johnson Valley.

OHV and public lands advocacy groups like BlueRibbon Coalition noted the first plan is the strictest whereas the second is slightly better, albeit still limiting for civilian flights. Their preferred option is to maintain the status quo or at least to implement safeguards that would allow military activities to proceed without interfering with off-roading.

Said safeguards according to BlueRibbon Coalition include exemptions from needing Marine approval for medical and emergency aircraft, the ability for KOH organizers to fly media drones and helicopters for race coverage and chase crews, a flight floor requiement of no lower than 1,500 feet, and avoiding turning the SUA into a buffer zone around the OHV area. The coalition also stipulated any actions involving the airspace should follow the guidelines written in the 2014 NDAA.

“This is not what Congress intended when it preserved part of Johnson Valley as a designated OHV area,” reads a statement from BlueRibbon. “Shared use was already a compromise. Taking control of the skies is not balance, it is a back door land grab that undermines the agreement made with the OHV community and threatens the future of one of the most important public land recreation areas in the nation.”

The 2026 King of the Hammers will take place from January 22 to February 7.