Diversity

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July 28, 2004

Diversity

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Diversity is a good thing. After thirty years of being told so by the liberal left, I have finally seen the light and embrace it - at least as it pertains to the routes in Clear Creek.

According to the BLM database, the classification for routes in Clear Creek are Improved, 4WD, Jeep, ATV and SST. Five different classifications. Then, within the last three, you have to consider degree of difficulty. For instance, there is a big difference between jeep route T125 (mislabeled as ATV) and jeep route T143 (not evaluated but OPEN). A novice jeep driver could negotiate T125 but would probably have a great deal of trouble with T143.

My recent experience with the boys from LA demonstrated the need to have easy single track in addition to the type of single track trail that Mike Lafferty and Randy Hawkins would eat up. Fortunately, Clear Creek offers a rich diversity of routes, from easy 4WD and jeep routes to the highest quality AA trail. We can not allow the BLM to destroy this diversity with subjective evaluations such as "110129 - Route is redundant, use NOT o. k." or "17119 - Does NOT contribute to use spectrum."

What does the BLM staff in Hollister know about the OHV use spectrum? What does their GIS database tell them about the technical difficulty of a route? The short answer is - NOTHING. When I was out GPSing routes with Jason, the question of "degree of difficulty" never came up. Unfortunately, the people who created this plan sat around in their office 70 miles away from the land they manage and passed judgment on our routes knowing nothing about how they are used, how much they are used or their degree of difficulty. IMO, they only cared about coming up with 270 miles so they could get back to their retirement planning... and they could not even do that right (Alt. A calls for 208 miles of open use while Alt. B calls for 230).

Of course I saw this coming. They showed the Technical Review Team members their lists of criteria with which to rate trails and we gave them feedback. But, like everything else in the recent TRT process, it apparently went in one ear and out the other. Might as well have been talking to the wall. I also included comments during the scoping phase of the aborted Environmental Assessment last May about route diversity, use spectrum, and the management philosophy the Salinas Ramblers have employed over the years to preserve our high quality enduro trails.

Here is another perfect example. Out around the KCAC mine is a major dirt road, R015B that is shown as OPEN in all of the alternatives but does not appear in the route designation tables. It is an improved dirt road and should be in their database as a 4WD route. It's a fun to blast up in the snow or if you are in a hurry to get out to the Spanish Lake area to work on the enduro. For inexperienced or dual sport riders it is a nice easy route. The Ramblers actually used a portion of it last year on the enduro because we were not in a special test and we gave the riders a chance to sit down and relax on their way into a 20 minute break at the paved road.

Having said that, R015B is not an enduro route (as in special test), it is a transportation route. When we have had a special test into a check at the paved road, we would use routes like T175 or T231 along with an unmapped connector route that ties into OR208. Unfortunately, OR208 does not now appear in Alternative A or B. The BLM's excuse - 17119 - Does NOT contribute to use spectrum. They also have it assessed as 13119 - RNA nearby, use NOT o. k.. which I believe is a mistake on their part. Finally, they classify OR208 as a SST (single track trail) but it is an old road and would more appropriately be classified now as ATV or Jeep.

It is routes like OR208 that add diversity to Clear Creek and give the OHV user an alternative to a wide flat road. If I wanted that kind of experience I would go to Hollister Hills.

OR208 is not a lone case. Since the BLM failed to follow through with a TRT trails subcommittee to provide input (they organized one and assigned people to it but never scheduled a meeting to review the route assessments), it is now incumbent for the OHV community to review every route listed in the DEIS to review its classification and assessment. Unfortunately this can not be done until the BLM provides better maps to the public as you can not discern many of the smaller routes and their numbers on the maps provided with the DEIS. I have addressed this issue and George Hill said that they would work on getting new maps published, but it will take time.

You can work from the PDF on the BLM web site or you can download this spreadsheet with the same information.