Sweetwater, Rockhouse, and all surrounding trails are affected. Read over this VERY carefully and please comment.

San Diego Wildlife Refuge Update News Letter

San Diego Wildlife Refuge Plan and how to submit comments

Basically, they are in favor of closing most trails including Rockhouse. You may have seen their recent work on the newly created bulldozed road along the river, through the area. That is the majority of the trails that will be allowed. It does not look good.

Comments may be mailed, faxed, or emailed to:

Victoria Touchstone
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, San Diego NWR Complex
P.O. Box 2358, Chula Vista, CA 91912
Telephone: 619-476-9150, extension 103
Facsimile: 619- 476-9149
Email: Victoria_Touchstone@fws.gov (include “San Diego NWR CCP” in the subject line)

They invite you to attend a Public Meeting on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Steele Canyon High School in the Auditorium 12440 Campo Road (Highway 94), Spring Valley, CA 91978 At this meeting, they will present an overview of the various proposals described in the draft CCP/EA. They will also be available to answer questions. Following a brief presentation, they will accept formal verbal comments on the draft CCP/EA should anyone choose to provide comments at that time.

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

I guess the time has rolled around for the 'mitigation' land for all those developments the County Supers kinda 'looked the other way' on at the time....

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Scum on a Bike

Have you all had enough of the eco-freaks yet?

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Obama's America: Our enemies don't fear us; our allies don't trust us.

Damn these friggin' people. We all know that eagles, snakes, butterflies, bobcats and deer can't coexist with mountain bikers. I have never seen any of these creatures on rides. Have you??????!

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Obama's America: Our enemies don't fear us; our allies don't trust us.

Better get some while you can...

"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

F'in A yes...
I am acquainted with one, who told me they were pushing for this type of ban - I didn't (or didn't want to) believe they could succeed in doing/pursuing this - stupid me.

I ride these areas a lot and I can testify that the various trail users (especially MTBers, who typically stay ONLY on the trails) are not contributing to any environmental degradation in that god-forsaken landscape... the greatest visible impact is from the Agency staff with their trucks and dozers creating hideous, eroded, scars called utility and fire access roads, and, oh yeah... "trails"

Thanks for the info BB... I will be attending the meeting.
How do we stop this extremist insanity?

Start by never voting for another Democrat. Ever. It's only a start, and not a complete solution, but a critical first step.

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Obama's America: Our enemies don't fear us; our allies don't trust us.

Extremist insanity of another sort.

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A bicycle is a splendid thing.
~Ernest Hemingway

Riding gets people out. People want to change other people to enhance their position. The people with power usually get what they want. Other people complain and become violators or mediators or both. People get riding out.

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"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

^^^^Except you are dealing with the US Fish and Wildlife, not the California Fish and Wildlife. Their only mission is ecological preservation over any recreational use. Building on what was learned from how CDFW interacted with (forced) San Diego's hand, they have come in and said "this is our land, Fuck You, thank you very much". They have a very simple yet scary policy. The weapon of choice will be tickets. The REALLY bad news is when they start to enforce it, the fines will be in excess of $2000.00. It will only take one or two, if that happens, and it is closed down on word of mouth.

You can do a protest ride out there but what official will take notice? The rangers? Take any problem with communication we have seen the CDFW and magnify it by 2500 miles. Any policy makers are in DC and do not give a rats ass about your position.

The only option I see is to inundate them with comments via their system. Until there is a fundamental national shift in policy that recognizes recreation can be harmonious and even beneficial to the protection of the environment, this battle is moot on national lands.

In short, ride it while you can. It is going to change drastically out there and not for our benefit

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

What I've had enough of is seeing the big developers given the red-carpet treatment in San Diego and San Diego county for the last 50 years.

I'm sick of picking up the tab and losing the quality of life that I once had here because the City Council and County Supervisors have let developers bulldoze entire swaths of canyons, mesas, mountainsides, etc. all to put in even more McMansions and town homes that there isn't enough water to even flush the toilets installed with them.

We have allowed the old 'shell-game' to keep us in a state of perpetual deception as this tiny minority got away with murder here, and how we're at the tipping point.

We are literally sprawled-out.

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Scum on a Bike

I remember there was trailwork down there and lots of optimism not long ago. What happened?

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"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

Recent "trailwork" by the Agency was (imo) a useless Dozer rampage that obliterated quite a bit of the ST from the Steel Bridge area, west, on the south side of the river, out to the utility road. "Sanitized" would be putting it lightly. Some stuff, south of the Bridge, up the hill, was "closed".

From Jason Showalter, the liaison who has worked with the Rangers in the area for trails access with some success....

The San Diego National Wildlife Refuge (SDNWR), with trailheads at the Steele Bridge in Rancho San Diego and the Bonita area, commonly referred to as “Sweetwater Trails”, mean a lot to many trail users. My house is about five miles driving distance from Steele Bridge. In 2001, I cut a quarter mile trail, beginning in my backyard, across my neighbor’s properties that allows me to reach the Steele Bridge in 3 miles, with less than .10 miles on pavement. The SDNWR trails are in my backyard.

Why are trails being closed on the SDNWR? The answer requires some history to explain the present situation.

In the early 1990’s, the County of San Diego approved a 2,500+ residential development project. The project would have resulted in over 6,000 people, over 4,000 automobiles. Fortunately, the developer filed for bankruptcy less than two weeks before grading was scheduled to start.

The USFWS purchased the land around 1994-1995. The area became designated the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. The purpose for the refuge is to protect and contribute to the recovery of endangered and threatened species and habitat. Wildlife Refuges are not parks nor are they open space. Refuges are not created to provide recreation, although activities that have passed compatibility and appropriateness reviews may be included in a management plan.

The County again had the opportunity to purchase land adjacent to the SDNWR, which would have provided a trail network from Rancho San Diego to the Bonita area. Instead, the County chooses to approve multiple residential and commercial projects that effectively eliminated any chance of a quality trail network between the two areas.

The County did propose what is today known as the Sweetwater River Loop Trail. I remember attending a meeting about this trail, back in 2002. I believe 90% of the trail was already on the ground back then. It is 2014 and the trail is still not completed.

The trails within the refuge should have been closed back in 1996. Due too many reasons, including the lack of financial and personnel resources, that did not happen. What did happen was the proliferation of user created trails. Some very well built, the majority poorly created.

Along with the trails came a massive explosion of development around the border of the refuge. New trails, new residents. Trail users were not requesting more trail access from their politicians because trail users were enjoying trails on the refuge. Politicians were not trying to acquire property to establish a trail network to replace the trails on the refuge because, well, I will let you ask your politicians why.

One could say our politicians did not foresee this situation. Yeah, right.

Now our politicians are addressing the trail using community, making statements such as, “We hear you, we agree with you, but our hands are tied.”

County District 1 and District 2 have secured property over the years and have created some trails. I do acknowledge that. The issue here is the complete lack of action to provide a quality trail network for the residents of Bonita, Spring Valley, Rancho San Diego and El Cajon. We are talking about over 100,000 people being affected.

The USFWS is responsible to ensure the protection of endangered and threatened species and habitat. The Service fulfills their responsibility through various means, one of which is the management of refuges.

Our San Diego City and County Parks & Recreation departments are responsible for providing trails and the quality of life the residents of San Diego want to experience.

Our City Council and County Board of Supervisors are responsible for ensuring the voice of the people are heard, their desires implemented.

Looks to me that someone is doing their job while others are not.

So, to answer the initial question: The trails are being closed within the refuge to protect the endangered and threaten species and habitat that the USFWS are mandated by federal law to protect.

Why there are no alternative trails being offered? Write your City Councilperson, County Supervisor, SD City Director of Parks & Recreation and SD County Director of DP&R and ask them.

Now, the Services’ “preferred” trail plan is flawed. Therefore, it will not assist the Service to accomplish their Mission. SDMBA will propose an alternative trail plan that may provide a higher level of compliance.

The loss of trail access across our County is a result of a far greater issue not discussed above.

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

^^^ While I can appreciate the information presented here, and I thank you bb for passing it along (and all your other efforts to stay informed and share the news - it's one of the primary reasons I lurk here), my reaction is that it's 738 words identifying every limp-dick involved, but offers no plan for advocacy, and so, no hope for an average person like me to help affect the outcome - that's frustrating.

To say that "SDMBA will propose an alternative trail plan that may provide a higher level of compliance" is certainly some sort of action, but it seems isolated and intangible to the larger trail community... and much like Mr. Showalter's description of the actions of the other players; too-little ~ too-late. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate any efforts for advocacy, especially since it's a probably a time-sucking, generally thankless task... I'm just frustrated and angry that We the People are often victims of our Government, rather than valued participants.

The promise of unity and action in the MTB community, that seemed to swell in January, is not so apparent now - but I still hope for such, and I would rather work in that manner than to continue to bitch and moan online... So, personally, I will defer any further comment until such a time and place presents itself where I can apply my meager opinions in a constructive manner - I sincerely hope for an opportunity to join with the larger MTB/Trail community to do that.