Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,California OHV Commission meets in Sacramento By Bill Dart . SACRAMENTO, CA, J AN . 19 The California Off-Highway Vehicle Commission 's January mee ting was held in Sacramento a t the Parks and Recreation headquarters : All commissioners wer e present excep t Paul Golde, who was unable to attend due to flu. Deputy Director .L ee Chauvet reported that the mitigation for the EI Mirage project will be minimal and ' no off-site mitigation compen sation will be required. Commissioner Ed Waldheim commented that the ' delays in acquiri ng the property for the project h ave allowed th e p ro perty va lue to almost double.' Ed would like to , see the property , purch ased as soon as possib le so that ' th e p ri ce of the property wo u ld n ot co n ti n ue to rise. It was suggested that properties for proposed projects be ' purchased as soon as Possible, an d , if the proj ect was ruled ou t during study .o f th e proposed project, th at th e OHV fund would benefit from any , propert y ap p reciation wh en th e .p roperty was sold, rather th an delaying p u rc hase whil e st u d ies wer e co m p le ted , and paying a h igher pnce. . Larry Keethe, of th e Att orney Genera l's office, reported th at th ere is ongoin g li tigati on at P ism o Dunes and Carnegi e SVRA's, and th at the Comm ission cou ld tak e co m m en ts fro m th e a udience on th ese areas, bu t that the Commiss ioner s shou ld re fr ai n from mak ing co m ments th emselves. There are 10 pl a in tiffs in th e Pismo Dunes case, where people who own p ropert y inside th e SVRA are ch arged fees to access th eir own property, charged campin g fees to cam p o n thei r own . p roperty, an d denied the abili ty to use th eir property. At th e November m eeting, Keethe stated that the Commission could n ot acce p t commen ts on Pismo that related to litigation issu es, so m any members of the audience who caine to speak did not. During the meeting though " comments wer e 'ta ken from park ranger staff, and no co m men ts wer e all owed from opposit ion. Tom Cri m mi ns , Re gi onal OH V Coordi nator for the Forest Service gave a report o n th e " image" o f OHV recreation, and how we n eed to work , o n' improving o ur image wit h th e general publ ic. H epointed out tha t th e enviro n men talists ha ve group nam es lik e Friends of the ----, Save th e ...., Defender s of " --, while our organizations have n ames like Dirt Diggers, Clod Dod gers, Bar Benders, etc. T h e Tread Lightly p ro gram will be promoted heavily th is year by th e Fo res t Service a nd u ser organ izatio ns . Comm issi oner Eugene Chappie will . outl in e a possible program to ge n era te a posi tive image campaign by th e March Co m m ission meeti ng. Ed H asty, sta te d irecto r of th e . BLM , spoke a bo u t th e reasons for the ' a nnouncement to den y futu re permi t ' a pp lications for the . Ba rsto w-t o Vegas even t, th e. Parker 400, th e Check Cha se, a n d th e Stod dard Vall ey to J ohnson Vall ey events. H e ci ted cu m u la ti ve envi ronm ental impacts, co u rse strayin g by even t participants, Wilderness St u dy Area intrusions, th e 'Desert T ortoi se , crowd co n trol, th e cost effectiveness o f monitoring th e events, th e pending n ew En vironm ental Impa ct Statem en t (EIS), and public perception ' of poor management by th e BLM. He tri ed to justify his actions by sta ting th at th is action to el imina te four events wo ul d p rot ect th e remaining events. T h e BLM wi ll be preparing an EIS on th ese events, but it is interes ting to no te th at th e decision has been made before the process has even sta rted, and the EIS wi ll be writte n to justi fy the ac tion later. Ed Waldheim comme nted tha t by eli m ina ting a pl anned and managed acti vity, th e result wo u ld be m ore harmful than th e events. T he peop le will still be there, on ly now in an unmanaged , u n controlled eve nt. This nega tive action will eli m ina te man agement capability: Waldheim went on to state th a t th e ongoing closures o f riding areas , the el imi nation of certain events, a nd th e fu rther co n ce n tr a tio n of u se in smalle r an d sm a lle r areas was creatin g more adverse impacts than were created by more dispersed use. The increased cu m u la tive impacts on th e remaining open area s would th en justify even more closures. At that ' point, Commissioner WaldheiIT! introduced a motion as follows : "The California Off H ighway Motor Vehicle Commission urges th e U.S. Bureau of Land Managem en t to reconsider its denial o f th e ' annual Bar stow-to-Vegas event or a ny other poin t-to-point event. We are co n cerned that th e rid ers who o n ce participated in an organized, struc tu red event will n ow be displaced an d will now have more im p act on less regula ted cas ua l OHV op portu ni ties. We believe th e organize rs and participants in th ese events have been denied due process a nd normal procedures, and th ey have a righ t to present th eir case for th ese races as part of the regular pe rmi t p rocess a nd in accordance wi th a ll perti ne nt en viron me n ta l laws. The decision a ppears, in the lo ng ter m , to lack conce rn for our natural resources." The motion was passed by a 5 to I vo te, with even Commissioner Ma rge Sutton, who represents th e env iro n m ental group interests, vo ti ng in favor of the motion. Commissioner McGuigan, al so representin g en vironmental interests was the so le dis senter. . Jerry Johnson, of the State Parks and Recreation Staff, presented a report of initiative SCA-I , which will be on th e ballot in o ur nex t electio n. This ini tia tive would raise the tax on gasoline, with a five cent raise in th e first year, a nd ad ding o ne cent per ' year until a total o f nine cents per gallon was added. T his ta x in crease is primaril y to solve o u r tr a ns portatio n p roblem s through h ighway co ns truction a nd development o f better m ass-tran sit programs. T he G reen Sticker fund wo u ld a lso receive a large boost from th is initiative, si n ce I % of gas tax reve n ues ~oes to th e Green Sticker fund. This wou ld a m ou nt to over 60% more m oney goi ng to th e Green Sticker fu nd. This in crease is vital to th e program , since th e cost o f o pera tin g th e SVRA system will soon co ns u m e a ll the fund if present trends co ntinue. This wou ld eliminate fu n di ng for the Forest Servi ce, th e BLM, an d local agen cies, wh ere we ge t more riding for ou r money. Additiona lly , a study is being done to determine how acc urate th e figure o f 1% is in relation to how much gas is actua lly co ns u me d by OH Vs. Indicat ions ar e th at OH Vs ac tua lly ,use more than I %, in which case th e fund would get a lar ger sha re of th e tax revenues, again good news for th e program. J ohnson al so reported th at th e number in inactive registrations was increas ing, while acti ve registra tio ns were decreasing. Also, many vehicles are apparentl y n ever regist ered. There was a discussion on how to ge t th ese non-registered and in active registratio ns into th e program. Staff wi ll be mee ting with th e Cal iforn ia H igh wa y Patrol to discuss co mp lia nce en forceme nt. U nder old busi ness, H ugh McGuiga n reported on th e possibl e alternatives for managing th e Oso Fla co La ke area at Pi smo Dunes. Th is area has been th e center o f a co nt ro versy for the last year. The area is a part o f the Pismo Du n es SVRA, but is closed to OH V us e. The Green ticker fu nd ha s spent man y thousa n ds o f dollars to . pro tec t a nd rehabilitate th e area, but th e OHV co m m u ni ty h as n ot received credit for the p ro ject. Meanwhil e, th e area h a s b een h ea vil y u sed b y n on m ot orized visito rs wh o do n ot pay a ny fees to use th e area , a nd have ca used sign ifica nt damage to th e area by building new trails for eq u estri ans right through sens iti ve areas , damaging plants th at con trol movemen t o f the dunes, and littering the area. OHV users have pushed for eith er closure of the area, or user fees being co llected to properly manage th e area and control visitor use. Commissioner McGuigan introduced a motion to h ave th e Nature Conservancy prepare a draft proposal for Cooperative Management Agr eem ent o f Oso Flaco Lake. This draft plan will be presented to th e co m m issioners two weeks before th e Mar ch 16 meet ing so th at it ca n be discussed at th e m eeting. The o ther alternatives would be: close the area co mpletely or manage the area with park ra nger sta ff. There was co nsiderab le discussion on th e desert tortoise issu e. The Com m issio n exp ressed th eir fru stration th at n othing is being done to help th e tortoi se. The Commission ap p roved a $ 125,000 grant to provid e emergency feed in g and watering to th e tortoise ea rli er in 1989 at th e . urging o f Fish and Game officials. One o f th e problems facing the tortoise is th at a three-year drought h as reduced the feed a n d water a va ila ble to th em, and this h a s exacerba ted th e problem s of th e viral infect ion, as th e tortoi se is in a weakened state already. The intent wa s to crea te water holes a nd distribute feed 'so that th e tortoise would go in to th eir annual hibernation with some food and water . After th e gra nt was approved , Fish and G ame decid ed that - three to five ,years o f s tu dy would be n ecessary before . any thi ng co u ld be done. Meanwhile, th e to rtoise popu lation co ntin ues to decline insi de areas tot ally closed to h uman acti vity, as well as in o pe n a reas . Now Fi sh a n d G ame h as su bmitted p ro p o sal s to conduct li terature sea rc h es o n h ab i tat improvem ent me thodology, designin g studies on ho w to replace vegetation, a nd co nducting experi ments. This was not th e intent of th e grant. T he Co mmi ssio n wa nted to do something now to help the tortoise, n ot spe nd years doing more st u dies. R ick Ha m m el, BL M Coordi nator for District 37 AMA , reported that after three meetin gs with Fis h and G am e and BLM officials, n o thing was being done to save th e tortoi se. Steve Kuehl o f CORVA ex p ressed hi s total frus tra tio n abo u t the lack o f p ro gr ess. He stated th at the Threaten ed a nd En dan gered Species Act was a to tal failure because it prevented doi ng so me th ing to ac tually help th e species, a nd has been used primaril y to elim inate ac tivi ties , not help the species. The act has been abused by env iro n menta l organ iza tio ns a n d age ncy pe rso n ne l wh o have their own agenda. In other old business matters , it was reported that th e Pismo Dunes staff is working to imp lem en t the new camper count. This has been an ongoing issue for over two years , as th e park staff had been counting ea ch vehicle as a ca m p in g unit, when in fact, m any peop le had two vehicles for one cam psite, for examp le, a n R V and a four-w h eel drive for com m u ting and towing the R V through the soft sa nd areas. The Commission h as asked that th e camper count b e corrected, th e Ca lifornia Co asta l Co mmissio n reaffirmed th e OHV users position, yet th e park staff res isted a ll efforts to co rrect the situation. H o pefull y ' th is issue h as bee n resolved once and for all . It was a n nounc ed that ski areas that opera te on Natio nal Forest lands will have to have Green Sticker s on th eir sn owmobiles. Ski areas had resisted registration , stating that sin ce they were permitees, they were excluded. Marge Sutton introduced a resolution, to do a study of the Cooperative Management agreements that have been entered into with the Forest Service and the BLM on Green Sticker funded projects to determine the level of user satisfaction with the grant process: In other words, are the .: users happy with how the money is being spent in their behalf. After discussion, it was decided that staff would look into the feasibility of suc h a stu dy and how much it might cost. It wa s announced that an EIR has been completed on the proposed Hudner property acquisition which would expand H ollister Hills SVRA. The Public Comment period was quite livel y, an d severa l important issues were ra ised, Rick Hammel co m m ented on Barstow-to-Vegas and Ed H ast ey's remarks on why no more permits would be approved. An Environmental Assessment (EA) was done on th e event before a permit was issu ed for th is year 's event, and th e EA sta ted that District 37 had , done a very professional j o b of controlling riders and spectators. District 37 and BLM personnel had walked th e entire course area that was tortoise habitat, and no active tortoise burrows were found. After the '89 event, again , the course was surveyed and no signs of impact to th e tortoise was found. Hammel pointed out that without a sanctioned and tightly controlled B-to-V, a protest ride would probably occur, , with a larger number of people in a n uncontroll ed situation. Th e impacts would be much higher than a con trolled event. Bill ' Dart, legislative officer for Di strict 36 AMA , informed th e Commmission th at a grant that had been approved back in 1983 for th e Stani sl au s Na t ional Forest to , develop a n OHV stagi ng a rea, wi th th e su pport o f a local cl ub, th e " F Troop," th a t used the area for a n an nual eve nt, was finall y b ein g implemented, bu t th a t w he n the p roject was co mple ted, the, an n ual event th at ge nerated th e su p port for th e grant wou ld be eli mi na ted. As th e p roject e vo lved, the.staging a rea was co n fig ured so th a t it would n ot be able to accom modate th e cl ub 's event. It wa s no t the Commission 's Intent to elim inate th e event, and the staff was directed to work out a solution th at would a llo w th e even t. Dart a lso informed the Cornrnissio n th at th e Los Padroc National Forest had closed trails that had used Green ' Sti cker money for rehabilitation work. The .closures are under appeal by th e'Central Coast M.C. of San Luis Obispo. The closures were m ad e without fo llowin g procedure, and were implem ented only one year , aft er th e trails wer e deemed appropriate for th e area by the Forest's Land Management Plan, and while a Forestwide OHV Plan Environmen(con tinued to page 50)

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