Today, Sunday April 10, about one hundred trail users descended upon Sunol Regional Wilderness Park in the Bay Area’s East Bay Regional Parks district. But this was no ordinary group of trail users. Among the multi-use advocates were about 40 mountain bikers, 30 hikers and 30 equestrians, all riding together as a diverse group.
This was a kick-off event for the 2011 California Trails and Greenways Conference, a California State Parks hosted event bringing land managers, planners, trail advocates and trail users together. The theme of this year’s conference is “Engaging Youth and Diversity.”
Today’s ride was a clear demonstration that multi-use principles can work. Cyclists, Hikers and Equestrians can share trails successfully when there is mutual respect from each group. One of the cyclists, a CORBA friend in a CORBA jersey, even swapped “vehicles” with an equestrian (pictured). Events like this bring the trail user community together and everyone wins.
The day started with a fire-road climb to Camp Ohlene, where lunch was served. For the return trip the trail chosen was a very narrow singletrack with some exposure, that is normally closed to bikes and equestrians. It was about six-miles each way, with 1400′ of elevation change. Even on narrow singletrack trails like this, everyone can peacefully co-exist no matter how they choose to experience our open spaces.
CORBA board members Danusia Bennet-Taber and Steve Messer, and CORBA Advisor and founding Director Jim Hasenauer are among the conference attendees, along with representatives from mountain bike advocacy groups from as far away as San Diego and Arcata. It’s a great opportunity to network with trail advocates and land managers and learn from each other, working towards our common goals.
Over the coming days there will be multiple presentaitons on best-practices for trail design, trail maintenance and management. Among the presenters are CORBA founder Kurt Loheit, a nationally-recognized trailbuilding guru, Nat and Rachel Lopes of Hilride, representatives from California State Parks, California Department of Transportation, the Alliance for Biking and Walking, and numerous land managers, trailbuilding experts, advocates and volunteer program coordinators from around the state.
The conference gets underway on Monday, April 11 with a series of day-long concurrent workshops. Over the following days there are over 80 concurrent sessions covering topics as broad and diverse as California’s trails.
CORBA board member Steve Messer will be at the 
State Parks Programatic EIR Public Hearing
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010This Saturday, November 13, California State Parks will be hosting the final public hearing on their Draft Programatic EIR.
Bicycle access to trails in the Santa Monica Mountains and many other areas will be directly affected by the final version of this document, so it is important to ensure that mountain bikers are fully engaged in this process. CORBA and IMBA representatives will be attending, and we urge everyone who would like to see more trails opened for bicycles in State Parks to attend and make comments.
What is a Programatic EIR? This is an effort to streamline the process of converting trails from one designation, such as hiker-only, to another designation, such as multi-use. This is good for mountain biking. According to IMBA:
California State Park’s Director Ruth Coleman has embraced a statewide Programatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) that will improve the process to convert trails to shared-use status. “This will lay the groundwork for the efficient conversion of trails that IMBA California and clubs have been requesting for some time,” says IMBA California’s Tom Ward. This bodes well for efforts to open Bill’s Trail in Marin, as well as numerous trails in Santa Cruz and Humboldt counties, Mt Diablo State Park, Folsom State Recreation Area, Donor Lake State Park, various Sonoma County parks and miles of trails in the Los Angeles basin. According to Ward, park managers have often shown support for improved mountain bike access — but each time they attempt implementation they are threatened with lawsuits from opposing forces. “The intent of PEIR is to curtail the legal challenges to each trail conversion project,” says Ward. He adds, “This is a major milestone for IMBA’s efforts to increase mountain bike access in state parks.”
The meeting will take place from:
1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Saturday, November 13
Lake Activities Building,Lake Perris State Recreation Area,
17801 Lake Perris Drive,
Perris, CA 92571 [map].
The Notice of Preparation for the draft PEIR can be found at http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=980. Public comments are being accepted through November 30. Comments on the PEIR may be submitted in person at the workshops, or by either mail to:
Environmental Coordinator – Trails PEIR
1 Capitol Mall, Suite 410
Sacramento, CA 95814
Or by email to: ceqansc@parks.ca.gov
(Note: In the Subject Line, write: ‘Trails PEIR’)
Comments can also be submitted by Fax to: (916) 445-8883; Please address faxes to: Environmental Coordinator – Trails PEIR
We’ll have more details and a more thorough report after Saturday’s presentation and hearing.
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Tags: Advocacy, Public Comments, public hearings, Santa Monica Mountains, State Parks, Topanga
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