Proposed Ban of Off-Trial Hiking in all CA State Parks

All: please take a short moment to send a quick email ASAP to trails@parks.ca.gov stating (1.) your opposition to the proposed law change that will ban all off-trial activities (hiking, biking, horseback riding, etc.) in certain designated areas of all CA State Parks & (2.) requesting public hearings to be held statewide before this law change can be implemented.

This has to be done ASAP / before Mon. 6-6-16 @ 5 PM.

Spread the word to all you know & see the "outing" I've posted on meetup for Mon. 6-6-16 @ 5 PM that has much more info / links to what's going on, who to contact, what to do, etc. to stop this. There will be a public hearing held in San Diego on Wed. 6-22-16 from 6-8 PM in a location TBD & likely on other dates in other locations - please attend if you can to protest / stop this.

Who to Contact ASAP:

Email to: trails@parks.ca.gov

Fax to: (916) 324-0301

Phone to: (916) 653-8380 (Lisa Mangat) & (916) 324-0370 (Alexandra Stehl)

Mail:

(1.) Lisa Mangat, Director; Calif. Dept. of Parks & Recreation; 1416 9th Street Room 1405; Sacramento CA 95814

(2.) Alexandra Stehl, Roads & Trails Program Manager; Calif. Dept. of Parks & Recreation; P.O. Box 942896; Sacramento CA 94296

Your Local CA State Elected Representative (get them aware & involved to put pressure on the CA State Parks & Rec. Dept. to drop this bad idea).

Thanks for your time & support - together we can stop this bad idea,

ClimbingNewb wrote:see the "outing" I've posted on meetup for Mon. 6-6-16 @ 5 PM that has much more info / links to what's going on, who to contact, what to do, etc. to stop this.

Where is this outing posted? On Mountain Project? I'd like to read the proposed ban. Thanks.

FrankPS wrote: Where is this outing posted? On Mountain Project? I'd like to read the proposed ban. Thanks.

http://www.meetup.com/Hiking-Coachella-Valley/events/231614382/

Thanks, Newb. I sent an e-mail opposing it to the DPR.

Edit: This appears to be a proposed statewide ban for all Natural Preserves (and other specific area designations), not just limited to San Jacinto and Anza Borrego.

Our Government is out of Freaking control.

A discussion of what motivates/justifies this proposed ban, and whether it has merit, would be nice. Presumably it's not being suggested just to be a pain in the butt.

In western Colorado, I'm not aware of constitutional law enforcing this but there is a strong message of "stay on trail" to protect the cryptobiotic soil, which takes hundreds of years to develop and can be destroyed with one footprint.

What are the "certain designated areas"? Are they areas such as Williamson where someone has conducted a study and determined that a moratorium is appropriate (not saying it's legit, but at least it's not arbitrary) or is it intended to prevent all off trail hiking in all park? I can't imagine that it's the latter--that would be incredibly difficult to enforce--but if it is, bouldering at the Tramway is going to be A LOT more limited.

Actually Newb, it would be way more helpful (and transparent) if you actually provided some information about the law that you want people to publically oppose. Link please?

FrankPS wrote:Thanks, Newb. I sent an e-mail opposing it to the DPR. Edit: This appears to be a proposed statewide ban for all Natural Preserves (and other specific area designations), not just limited to San Jacinto and Anza Borrego.

Thank You!

Fat Dad wrote:What are the "certain designated areas"? Are they areas such as Williamson where someone has conducted a study and determined that a moratorium is appropriate (not saying it's legit, but at least it's not arbitrary) or is it intended to prevent all off trail hiking in all park? I can't imagine that it's the latter--that would be incredibly difficult to enforce--but if it is, bouldering at the Tramway is going to be A LOT more limited. Actually Newb, it would be way more helpful (and transparent) if you actually provided some information about the law that you want people to publically oppose. Link please?

Here's the proposed regulation/law, in short:

"No person shall leave designated trails, board walks or other designated routes
of travel in Natural Preserves, Cultural Preserves, State Cultural Reserves, or
State Natural Reserves within the California State Park System, unless
approved by the Department."

So it's not all state park lands, but all those with the above designation.

Here is more information and links that I copied from the meetup group.

Details - Off-Trail Use Restrictions (Bans) For All State Park Designated "Preserves" & "Reserves":

This proposed amendment to state law will replace CCR Section 4325, Title 14, Chapter 1 with off-trial restrictions/bans of cross-country hiking, biking, horseback riding, etc. in any CA state park areas to be classified/designated as a Natural Preserve, Cultural Preserve, State Natural Preserve, or State Cultural Preserve. Use will be restricted to only on trails, boardwalks, etc. (This will greatly reduce the places where we can currently hike in Anza Borrego Desert State Park for example).

Links:

Summary of How Law Change Will Negatively Effect Hiking in Borrego Desert:

theabf.org/ca-state-parks-p…

Summary of Law Change: theabf.org/sites/default/fi…

CA State Park Detailed Notice of Changes:

theabf.org/sites/default/fi…

More:

CA STATE PARKS PROPOSES OFF-TRAIL USE RESTRICTIONS: Please take a look at these documents regarding a proposed law that will affect the way park visitors enjoy Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

In a nutshell, this proposal would make it illegal to leave roads and trails in natural and cultural reserves. That means, for instance, that people could no longer climb around on rocks or walk up a wash, canyon, or ridge in any of our 8 cultural reserves. Think of hiking in Cougar or Sheep Canyon, primitive camping in Blair Valley, or rock climbing in Culp Valley. We and our park visitors would not be allowed to experience this park the way we have been invited to do since the park’s establishment. It is also a law that would be virtually impossible for park peace officer rangers to enforce in a park so open and large.

If you feel strongly about this new law going into effect, you can write a comment as a private citizen, as a park volunteer, or ABF member (instructions on the attachment) by June 6, 2016. A public hearing has been requested by a couple of user groups - so there is a hearing planned for San Diego on June 22, 2016 from 6-8pm – location yet to be determined. We will send that announcement around when we get more information.

Note: these restrictions will likely spread to many of the other CA State Parks over time.

E-mail sent....

"As a frequent user of my California State Parks, I wish to put on record my opposition to these new and unnecessary restrictions on free travel in my State Parks. I realize the importance of preserving special historic and cultural places, I am an advocate of preserving such locations. The proposals I have read go far beyond what I consider reasonable guidelines for good management of my State Parks."

Patric.... it's being suggested just to be a pain in the ass.

Your lucky you live in Colorado, here in California, the Nanny State is really starting to take hold of every little aspect of life. If you have never been to California you should visit. The places that they wish to make off trail use illegal are not all that fragile nor endangered. At my local state park, Malibu Creek.... the tools rerouted a popular trail so as to make one go close to the visitors center... this added about 3/4 of a mile to get to the climbing ... now people being people we tend to walk in straight, direct lines to where we wish to go. When I was getting a ticket from the very young Ranger chick for walking on fragile grass.... I was able to pull up a photo of the very same chunk of dirt... being plowed by a tractor so a crop of corn could be planted to be used as a prop in a motion picture a few years previous. She didn't know what to say.

ClimbingNewb wrote: Note: these restrictions will likely spread to many of the other CA State Parks over time.

Newb, the way I read it, it is a proposed statewide ban that is not just limited to San Jacinto and Anza Borrego.

It seems as if it's just those local hiking groups are bringing this up.

FrankPS wrote: Newb, the way I read it, it is a proposed statewide ban that is not just limited to San Jacinto and Anza Borrego. It seems as if it's just those local hiking groups are bringing this up.

Thats the way I read as well. I updated the Thread title

Thanks Newb.

Thanks for the heads up!

ClimbingNewb wrote: Thats the way I read as well. I updated the Thread title

But it's not all state park land. Sorry to be nitpicky, but I think that's an inaccurate and exaggerated title. :)

Edit: It's only those specific designated areas (Natural Reserve, etc.)

Edit the Sequel: There are a couple of state parks near where I live that don't have any of those designated areas, as far as I know. So they wouldn't be affected. It would be nice to know which parks contain these areas.

FrankPS wrote: But it's not all state park land. Sorry to be nitpicky, but I think that's an inaccurate and exaggerated title. :) Edit: It's only those specific designated areas (Natural Reserve, etc.)

So they pass the law. Then its nearly a free pass to make anything a Reserve/ preserve etc.

Guy Keesee wrote: When I was getting a ticket from the very young Ranger chick for walking on fragile grass.... I was able to pull up a photo of the very same chunk of dirt... being plowed by a tractor so a crop of corn could be planted to be used as a prop in a motion picture a few years previous. She didn't know what to say.

Classic.

I don't agree with the nanny state POV, but there are a lot more climbers and some steps that have been taken out in Josh, for example, such as marking trails out to the Comic Book or other out of the way places have minimized impact to a limited area rather than people trudging all over the place. At first I thought it was lame, but that was from a 20 yr. old perspective of when there weren't that many of us out there. Now, you climb up on something tall and there are use trails everywhere. Kind of ridiculous.

Having said that, I think a total ban is lame and should be opposed. If they want to restrict use, they should have to work harder to come up with an appropriate set of guidelines that work. These are parks, not museums.

Fat..... they also do landscaping in Malibu State park... to make everything look better, more natural...and I think its a good thing to put folks on trails so we don't trample all over the desert while walking to the climbs... but to make it illegal is completely over the top.

One of my friends just got a ticket for smoking a camel light while she was sitting at the base of the apes wall. While 300 feet away about 100 people were swimming in the posted "no swimming" rock pool, tossing used pampers into the water, tossing beer bottles into the water and leaving about 100 lbs of trash everywhere, every Saturday and Sunday.... but do the Rangers ever do anything about that - no. I think they like these laws so selective enforcement is at their disposal.

and Frank... don't worry about not having a "cultural area" in your state park... if a Ranger finds one arrowhead....it's a done deal.

I received this email from the Allied Climbers of San Diego/Access Fund:

us10.campaign-archive2.com/…

With this link embedded in the message:

parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27460

You can copy and paste some or all of the message excerpt that they have sent out.

Comments are due by 5pm Monday June 6 to
trails@parks.ca.gov or (FAX) at (916) 324-0301

per the state link parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27460

Feel free to contact your own state legislators as well. findyourrep.legislature.ca.…

The state DPR claims they have to do since there is no other good method - wrong, since some locations already have made their own decisions, often reaching the opposite conclusion.

It claims there is no economic impact to regions or cost to parks - wrong, since the cost of enforcement alone would be quite high for large desert areas.

It might make some sense if individual reserves and preserves had to actively opt in to this blanket ban. The default should be opt out, not opt in.
This is actually similar to existing policy, where some preserves already have a no off-trail use policy.

However, other preserves such as most of the six in Anza Borrego, actively have decided in their management plan that off-trail use is generally ok.

parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21314 14 MB 2012 Plan ttp://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/final_abdsp_cultural_preserve_management_plan_112612.pdf

Off-trail use has also been OK in Red Rock Canyon state park preserves and on the peaks behind Mitchell Caverns