The comment period is closing in less than a week - October 6. Please take a moment to provide comments. Unlike many land managers in SD, State Parks has been awesome to work with and are taking steps to improve MTB access in SD. In this plan update they have rolled back State Wilderness boundaries so that bikes will have better connectivity and ride options!

This is a slam dunk but we need people to write in and comment in support of the general plan. Anyone who has complained about trail access and getting screwed over by the man needs to submit comments. I have a template ready to go, see it two posts down. All you need to do is CTRL "A" + CTRL "C" + CTRL "V" and sign your name at the bottom. If you are too lazy to do this then you can fuck off next time you complain about not having any trails to ride.

Thank you


Original post below:

State parks has been going through the process of updating the general plan for Cuyamaca for a few years now with numerous public and stakeholder meetings. This isn't a trails plan, but an overall plan for the park which looks at management objectives and land use designations within the park. It does impact trails because biking is restricted on some types of preserves and in state Wilderness. Last week State Parks released the final draft of the general plan. It is not final and must go through a final comment period, but given the extensive public involvement it is hopefully the final form.

The most relevant pages are: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/fil ... 02014r.pdf

4-8 (page 108 of doc) - map of preferred alternative
4-22/23 (page 122-23) - mountain biking goals
4-29/30 (page 129-30) - trail goals/guidelines
4-71 (page 171) - map of proposed Wilderness boundary adjustments
4-72/73 (page 172-3) - description of Wilderness boundary adjustments

For background info:
Link to summary description page: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27169
Link to documents page for entire public process: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27215

What was at risk in this plan was:
1) possible loss of trails to new Wilderness designation
2) loss of bike access for trails in cultural and natural preserves, and
3) State Parks realization they had erroneously mapped trails and State wilderness boundaries when adopted in the 1980's, such that trails which were intended to be outside Wilderness and currently used by bikes are actually within Wilderness boundaries. Both the East Side and West Side trails that we have ridden for years pass into state Wilderness, and the Harvey Moore and Deer Park trails we use to connect to Indian Creek trail on Cleveland National Forest are entirely within Wilderness (oops!). State Parks was proposing to allow bikes on E/W side trails but close Harvey Moore/Deer Park to bikes, reasoning that a multi-use corridor would fragment the Wilderness.

The results are:
1) No new Wilderness. Instead, Wilderness boundaries have been scaled back in a couple areas to allow future multi-use, as requested to improve connectivity. This will eventually open up three trails to bikes: Kelley Ditch Trail next to Engineer Road (full dirt connection to William Heise park, Julian), Blue Ribbon Trail near Hwy 79 (full dirt connection to Descanso) and also East Side Trail from Sweetwater Bridge to Cuyamaca Outdoor School, which will create a new loop option.
2) Wording was changed for cultural and natural preserves to "allow mountain biking on designated roads and trails" rather than blanket ban of bikes on trails in those preserves.
3) Wilderness boundary will be officially moved back 100ft from East/West Side trails to allow multi-use, as proposed by State Parks. Several options were proposed by SDMBA to maintain access to Cleveland National Forest. State Parks opted to reverse its stance and cherry-stem Harvey Moore/Deer Park with a non-motorized backcountry corridor to allow continued bike access.
4) In addition to the above, State Parks has stated it will support better connectivity between neighboring areas specifically Cleveland NF and Anza Borrego SP.

Summary:

Changes have been made that will pave the way for bike access to three trails while not losing access to others which were possibly at risk. It is important to note that the above plan is not final, it is subject to one final round of public comment. Therefore we will need trail users to submit comments in support of the plan during this period, which ends October 6, 2014. I will post up a comment template soon, for ease of use.

It is also important to note that the above changes will not grant us access to trails mentioned immediately. The next step in the process following approval of the General Plan is to complete a new trails management plan which will look at changes in use. This will be another possibly lengthy public process. While it may move slowly, at least it is moving us in the right direction.

The progress we have made to date is the result of mountain bikers getting actively involved in advocacy and working with the land manager to create a plan that works for everyone. It shows what we can accomplish when people put aside a bit of time to help out. We will need your help coming up to ensure the final plan is consistent with this draft. Please take the time to submit comments, it does make a difference!

Thank you for all of your effort, Evan. It is really sad how long all of this takes. It is nice to know it is moving in a positive direction though. Keep up the good work.

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

Here is a template you can send to State Parks. It would be cool to personalize it a bit, otherwise copy to an email and fire away! The links in the post up top are still valid should you want to check out the plan.

Submit to: enviro@parks.ca.gov
Email subject line should be: Cuyamaca Rancho State Park General Plan


Dear California State Parks,

Thank you for another opportunity to comment on the General Plan Update, and thank you for all the work that your staff has put in to this process so far. I am writing to express my overall support for the Preliminary General Plan and Draft EIR with specific mention of the following items:

A) I support the wording in the Management Zones Matrix to allow mountain bikes on designated roads and trails in cultural and natural preserves. This gives State Parks the ability to maintain mountain bike access to trails in such areas where it is appropriate, recognizing that such trails may provide important connectivity or access to certain areas of the park. Thank you for making this change.

B) I support the Mountain biking goal and guidelines as listed on page 4-23 as well as the Trails goals and guidelines on page 4-29.

C) I support adjusting and better defining the State Wilderness Boundary, in particular the following items in Table 2 on pages 4-72 and 73:

6) Move boundary back considering presence of SDGE power line and access roads.

7) Decommission wilderness at Green Valley. This will provide multi-use access on the East Side Trail north to the Outdoor School, a critical connection that will open up new loops.

Establish multi-use corridor along Harvey Moore and Deer Park Trails which is critical to maintain mountain bike access to Cleveland National Forest.

9) Adjust wilderness boundary 100 feet west of West Side Trail to allow for multi-use trail connection.

10) Adjust wilderness boundary 100 feet east of East Side Trail to maintain existing multi-use trail connection that has been used by bikes for decades.

11) Adjust wilderness boundary to 100 feet west of Blue Ribbon Trail. This will provide an excellent connection to the south end of the park that is a much safer alternative to Hwy 79.

12) Adjust wilderness boundary to 100 feet west of Kelly’s Ditch Trail to provide a key connection north to Julian and maintain access to a future Trans-County trail alignment.

Please approve the plan as it is now written. The proposed changes are a very positive step for multiple use and will help provide positive experiences for all users in the future. I encourage State Parks to continue this momentum and look forward to working with you on the Roads and Trails Management Plan.

Sincerely,

Dunnnn-da-dun-DONE.

_________________
"Those skilled at the unorthodox are infinite as heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the great rivers."
— Tzun Tzu

Done! Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

Bump! Today is the last day for comments.

Please send something in if you haven't

State Parks is one of the few land managers doing good things for us. The only way to screw it up is by not supporting them with lots of positive comments!