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Rim of the Valley Study Comments

Friday, October 29th, 2010

As we reported back in August, the National Park Service has been holding public hearings on the Rim of the Valley Special Resource Study.  The public meetings have provided an opportunity for many to voice their support and/or concerns for the concept study.  Until midnight tonight, you can email your comments to the National Park Service.

Rim of the Valley Study Area Map

Rim of the Valley Study Area

The Rim of the Valley is comprised of the open spaces that surround the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi and Conejo valleys. This area spans both Los Angeles and Ventury County, and a bevy of land managers from different agencies. CORBA fully supports the prospect of having these various land managers come together under the direction of the National Park Service, with the goal of permanently protecting this vital ecological and recreational resource.

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Posted in Advocacy, Angeles National Forest, Conejo Valley, Default, Environment, Los Angeles, National, Palos Verdes, San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains, Trail Access, Verdugo Mountains | Comments Closed

Ventura County Star Report on COSCA Trailwork Day

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

From the Ventura County Star (with a few additions)

About 175 people volunteered on Saturday to help create a new trail in Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks as part of the 20th annual Conejo Open Space Trail Work Day.

The new section, which runs eight-tenths of a mile, connects the Santa Rosa Trail in Wildwood Park with the Baseline Trail in Santa Rosa Valley, also known as the Lower Santa Rosa Trail.

For Will Donley and his son, Blake, it was the third consecutive year they took part in Trail Work Day.

“My son is in Cub Scouts, so we come out and do it as a community service project,” said Donley.

“We had to lift rocks and make a path,” said Blake, a member of Cub Scout Pack 3712. “It was fun.”

“It’s the first time we volunteered and we enjoyed it. It was a great family project,” said Alik Shulman of Thousand Oaks, who came with his 11-year-old daughter, Daniela.

Trail Work Day was organized by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, the Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Conejo Open Space Foundation, which raises funds for and maintains open space and multiuse trails in the Conejo Valley. Also participating were frequent trailwork volunteers from CORBA, the Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association, and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council.

The new trail is part of a network of 112 miles of trails within the COSCA area and is a shared-use trail available to hikers, cyclists and equestrians.

“It went from a section that was pockmarked with big boulders to a nice, fairly even tread surface,” said Mark Langton, a volunteer with COSF.

After a morning of hard work, volunteers were rewarded with a free barbecue lunch at Botanic Garden on Gainsborough Road.

Julie Penry, a 32-year-old attorney who moved to Thousand Oaks from Oregon two months ago, said she has enjoyed exploring the local trails since coming to the area and wanted to give back.

“I use them, so I should help to keep them up,” she said. “It was a blast and I got to meet a lot of people, too, which is great for someone new to town.”

Kristin Foord, the manager of COSCA, said they couldn’t have created the new section of trail without the help of the volunteers.

“There’s no way we could have done that with our five rangers. It would have taken a month to finish it, and so we really appreciate that everybody came out today,” she said. “People have been asking us to provide that connection for a long time and I think it will be a popular trail.”

View our photo gallery of trailwork and the finished trail.

Posted in Conejo Valley, Trail Crew | 5 Comments »

CORBA Adopted Trail Damaged by Water Spill

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

by Danusia Bennett-Taber 

COSCA Los Robles West Potrero trailhead. The spill-induced rut is much worse a little further up the trail.

 

A power outage at a local water facility caused substantial damage to our COSCA (Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency) adopted trail – Los Robles West / Potrero trailhead section. On Saturday August 21st hundreds of gallons of water poured down this trail  opening huge ruts and even damaging the parking lot. 

COSCA is trying to find the responsible party so they can repair this damage. Until that happens, be aware of this damage and ride safely. 

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Posted in Adopted trail reports, Conejo Valley, CORBA News, Trail Hazards | Comments Closed

Rim of the Valley Corridor Public Meetings – Mountain Bikers Needed!

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Rim of the Valley Study Area

Rim of the Valley Study Area

The National Park Service is in the initial stages of conducting a “special resource study” of the area known as the “Rim of the Valley Corridor.” This is the area that generally includes the mountains encircling the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi and Conejo Valleys of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in southern California.

On May 7 2008, P.L. 110-229, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 received final approval. Within that legislation the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to complete a special resource study of the Rim of the Valley Corridor. Specifically, this is a study to determine how to manage this special resource for environmental and recreational purposes.

It is vitally important that mountain bikers are represented at these public hearings to ensure that we are included in the planning process. There are some individuals and groups who would rather see mountain bikers banned from trails in the study areas. We want to ensure multi-use designations throughout the trail systems. The study corridor covers numerous land managers’ and agencies’ jurisdictions, complicating the process. We want to ensure access and trail connectivity for mountain bikers throughout the corridor.

Visit http://www.nps.gov/pwro/rimofthevalley/ to learn more.

Meetings are scheduled:

Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 7-9 p.m.

Mason Recreation Center

10500 Mason Ave.

Chatsworth, CA 91311

Wednesday, September 15, 2010***

2-4 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Los Angeles River Center and Gardens

570 W. Avenue 26

Los Angeles, CA 90065

Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 7-9 p.m.

George A. Caravalho Santa Clarita Sports Complex-Activities Center Building

20880 Centre Pointe Parkway

Santa Clarita, CA 91350

Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 7-9 p.m.

Conejo Recreation and Parks District

Community Room

403 W. Hillcrest Dr.

Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

Monday, October 4, 2010, 7-9 p.m.

King Gillette Ranch

26800 West Mulholland Highway

Calabasas, CA 91302

Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 7-9 p.m.***

Northeast Valley City Hall

7747 Foothill Blvd.

Tujunga, CA 91042

Wednesday, October 6, 2010, 7-9 p.m.

Charles S. Farnsworth Park

Davies Building

568 East Mount Curve Ave.

Altadena, CA 91001

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Posted in Advocacy, Angeles National Forest, Conejo Valley, Los Angeles, Santa Monica Mountains, Trail Access, Verdugo Mountains | Comments Closed

New Thousand Oaks bike path will create a shortcut under 23 freeway

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

From the Thousand Oaks Acorn

A new 1.2-mile bike path in Thousand Oaks is slowly taking shape.

The contractor has until March 2011 to finish the $1 million Conejo Creek Park Bicycle Path but may get it done by the end of the year, said city public works engineer Christopher Lynch. It will take three months to have a 20-foot-long by 10-foot-wide pedestrian footbridge made.

“The construction is 100 percent funded by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds,” Lynch said.

The 12-foot-wide bike path will begin at the intersection of Janss Road on Conejo Valley Unified School District headquarters’ property and proceed south through Conejo Creek Park South.

That park is usually for soccer and is the location of Conejo Valley Days in the spring.

The path will continue under the 23 Freeway, carving a shortcut to where Gainsborough Road dead ends.

Getting from the beginning of the path where it terminates at the end of the path by city streets would cover 2.5 miles, Lynch said.

The shortcut will help active people get to the teen center, the senior center, the library and Conejo Creek Parks north and south more easily. The path will be made of asphalt, the same material found on many city streets.

“It’s a bike path, but in reality people will be walking on it too, and pushing strollers, using (inline skates) or jogging,” Lynch said.

Conejo Recreation and Park District and the school district are partnering with the city by allowing the path to be on their property. The city is paying the costs and managing the construction, Lynch said.

The park district may someday add a horse path beside the bike path.

Currently the city has a total of 1.2 miles of bike paths, so the new route will double that figure. There are a long-range plans to build more paths, Lynch said.

A future bike path could be constructed from Willow Lane to Haaland Drive, near the city’s transportation center on Rolling Oaks Drive off Rancho Road. That path would be hilly, as it cuts through the California Department of Transportation right of way, but it would shorten the distance for bicycle riders.

The $148,000 design costs for the Conejo Creek Park Bicycle Path were paid with city funds and $16,000 from a federal Congestion Management and Air Quality grant.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant was for $1.3 million. Total costs for construction are $1.07 million The remaining $229,641 of the grant will be used for street repair.

Posted in Conejo Valley, Road Riding | Comments Closed

Albertson and Montgomery Fireroads Graded

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

By Steve Clark

In the past few weeks, or maybe days, after the winter rains and in plenty of time for the upcoming fire season, Albertson Fireroad has been graded to a wide, smooth and slightly loose surface. Albertson Fireroad is a popular trail that starts at the east end of Lang Ranch Parkway in Thousand Oaks and continues generally eastward through the southern reaches of Simi Valley, connecting to China Flat along the way.

Today we rode from the bottom to the top, about 2.3 miles beyond China Flat. We found that a grader has been through recently, making the trail soft across more than 90% of it. This softness greatly increased our workout on the way up, but we had to be really careful not to wash out on the way down even on some very gentle curves. The surface has the consistancy of sand in some places.

There were only a very few bike tracks on the road once we were east of China Flat, suggesting that the work is very recent. From the top, we could see that the grading continued down Montgomery Fireroad into Simi Valley. It looked like Albertson Fireroad east of the fork with Montgomery (heading towards Rocketdyne)  was not graded, but that could change if the grading really took place in the last few days; it might be ongoing.

The road will be packed down through use soon enough and will then be broad, smooth and very fast. Until then, take its softer condition into account when planning your biking route.

Posted in Conejo Valley, Trail Crew, Trail Hazards | Comments Closed

CORBA has adopted Conejo Open Space Los Robles Trail West (aka Space Mountain to Potrero Rd.)

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

"Space Mountain" gets its name from the radio towers at the top of the Mountain.

CORBA is proud to announce our adoption of the Los Robles Trail West (aka Space Mountain to Potrero Rd.) under COSCA’s Adopt-a-Trail program. This program allows individuals, civic groups and private companies to adopt trails. Adopting entities agree to provide maintenance for their selected trails on a quarterly basis, as well as regularly monitor conditions on the trail. This is great news for users of this trail. It is a favorite of mountain bikers locally and from all over Southern California. Los Robles West is unique for its tolerance to rain. Good drainage and low clay soil make it ridable after even heavy rainfall, so it is heavily used during the winter. But “good drainage” is not “perfect drainage,” and heading into the summer there are often some rutted sections in need of repair, as well as brush clearance is always required after spring growth. The Thousand Oaks area is fortunate to have a large selection of Conejo Open Space trails open for multiple use. Unfortunately a shortage of resources limits the maintenance performed by the land managers. CORBA is stepping in here to help fill the shortfall.  We hope to engage local trail users to help provide ongoing trail maintenance to this trail. We are looking for volunteers and trail crew leaders to help maintain our newly adopted trail. If you would like to get involved please email us, or call us at 818-206-8213. 

View Los Robles West in a larger map

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Posted in Adopted trail reports, Conejo Valley, CORBA News, Trail Crew | Comments Closed

Public hearing on plans for Rancho Potrero to take place April 27

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

From the Thousand Oaks Acorn

The city of Thousand Oaks will have a public hearing on developing the Rancho Potrero park area in Newbury Park on the south side of Lynn Road, opposite Via Andrea and Rancho Dos Vientos Drive, at 6 p.m. Tues., April 27 in the City Council chambers at the T.O. Civic Arts Plaza.

Plans for the area include a trail head for 30 cars and trailers, restrooms, a ride-in corral, a landscaped picnic grove, an outdoor classroom with benches, picnic tables, a native plant garden, 1.4 miles of new dirt trails and a 60person shaded picnic structure.

A conceptual plan has been approved by the National Park Service for changes to the adjacent Rancho Sierra Vista property to provide access to the picnic facility on Rancho Potrero land next door.

The changes include the expansion of an existing parking lot to add 27 spaces for vehicles and the addition of native landscaping surrounding the parking area.

Gated access to the picnic area, an unpaved maintenance road and a steel bridge to span a small creek would also be added.

The city’s proposal calls for expansion of the area’s boundaries in the Thousand Oaks General Plan to include 156 acres presently owned by the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority.

The area of influence by the city and park district would be expanded to include 326 acres of Rancho Potrero property with annexation, with 306 acres proposed to be zoned as open space. The 20acre Rancho Potrero Equestrian Center site is proposed to be zoned as public land.

Nearby residents expressed concerns about lights, amplified sound, traffic and other factors when the city originally proposed a 200-person pavilion and 100vehicle parking lot in the area. The city downsized the plan to what is currently proposed after listening to those residents.

The public is invited to speak at the hearing.

For more information, call Greg Smith at (805) 449-2329.

Posted in Conejo Valley | Comments Closed

Notice to users of the Los Robles Trail

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

From Mark Langton, chairperson of the Conejo Open Space Trails Advisory Committee (COSTAC)

 There is a section of the Los Robles Trail in Thousand Oaks (also known as “The Switchbacks” and “Space Mountain”) that crosses over a private dirt road between the Moorpark Road (at Greenmeadow) trailhead and the intersection of Rosewood Trail (picnic table overlook). The private dirt road is an extension of South Ventu Park Road in Newbury Park. Please be aware that the private dirt road–distinguished by a stop sign at one side of the road where the trail crosses, and an information kiosk on the other side–is only to be used by the public to connect to the trail on either side of the private dirt road. Actions by trail users such as stopping vehicular traffic or traveling away from the path of the Los Robles Trail as it crosses the private dirt road are illegal. Failure to respect this private property could affect future public access to the Los Robles Trail.

 

Posted in Conejo Valley, Default, Santa Monica Mountains, Trail Access | Comments Closed

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