Corral Canyon Update and Lakeside OHV Park

Corral Canyon Update

We met with the folks at the Descanso Ranger District Office regarding the Corral Canyon OHV area. We talked about the status of the grant for trail work there and about future work and development. Yes, I said future development as if there is a future for off Roading. With all the government plans that are currently being driven by the anti-access environmental extremist organizations it's hard to think that there might actually be a future for this family activity.

On the grant we have spent about half the money budgeted for the tractor work and have actually accomplished most of what we had planned to do. The Forest Service personnel were able to repair all the areas that needed it on #2-Corral, #6-Bobcat and the part of #1-Wrangler trail between Bobcat Campground and the Four Corners Trailhead. These trails should be nice and smooth now and able to be ridden by most younger and new riders. With this done you can now ride fairly easy trails in a loop between the two campgrounds and the Four Corners Trailhead. They also fixed up the trail convergence area near the Bobcat Campground entrance. We will be submitting a request for funds to pay for that part of the work from the grant administrator soon. More tractor work is going to be scheduled for the winter when there is a good chance the ground will be moist. We will be focusing this work on only repairing damaged areas without removing the difficulty factors which give most of these trails the challenge we enjoy.

The Forest Service personnel will be ordering the materials for the trail markers and we will install them in the fall when it cools off a little. Around the time of late October or early November we will have another trail work day to clear brush along more of the trails. Look for notice of this in the October issue, at www.sdorc.org or contact me for the date.

For future development the Forest Service would like to do planning to add more trails in the western part of the Corral Canyon open area and make campground improvements in order to support a campground host. Add more trails. Yes, I liked the sound of that and agreed to do whatever I can to help. Basically it comes down to securing the funding to do the required environmental study work and planning. Since the area we are talking about is in the designated open riding area the environmental work should not be significant. We will be working closely with them in support of this and I will report progress as it happens.

Lakeside OHV Park Dead

Some of you may already know, its pretty much official now, that the proposed OHV park that we were trying to get in Lakeside is a dead deal. The almighty California state Department of Fish and Game jumped in on the deal and refused to let the state Department of Parks and Recreation do any studies or plans to put an off highway vehicle park there. In order to seal the deal they are buying the land to make it a wildlife preserve open to the public for hiking and horseback riding only. They are claiming its critical MSCP habitat land that needs to be protected in spite of the fact that previous studies have shown it was not critical habitat and in fact the Boys and Girls Club could not sell it as habitat mitigation land.

This is clearly another case of a government organization with too much power going out of control from being driven by the same environmental extremist organizations that are decimating public recreation opportunities all across the nation. Anything they want to say in the name of protecting wildlife is automatically accepted as fact regardless of the facts. Not until more of the public gets involved and starts letting the agencies and their elected officials know the truth will any of this change.

There are countless plans being worked on around the US right now that all have a common theme that is the restriction or elimination of many current recreation activities on public lands. These activities include camping in RVs, bicycle riding, horseback riding, driving motorized vehicles, riding OHVs and snowmobiles, 4X4ing, hunting and fishing. The claims of the environmental extremists are that all or most of these activities are a major contributor to the decline of critical species habitat when there is no proof of that. Since all these activities could cause problems for habitat it automatically is assumed that they are a problem based on unfounded claims.

The good news is that more people are getting involved and it is starting to have some affect. Some officials and agencies are starting to back off, although it is only a very little, because of the mounting backlash from the users and informed public. We need to be ever more diligent in getting more of our friends involved in the fight for equal rights and access to our public lands. We need much more help if we are going to turn things around and we can. If you are not now helping, please get involved.

Everyone that reads this should belong to at least three organizations that are continually working hard for our rights. These are the San Diego Off-Road Coalition (SDORC), www.sdorc.org, a local coalition, the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA), www.corva.org, a statewide association, and the Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC), www.sharetrails.org, a national organization. You'll find membership applications for each of these organizations on the next page. These groups all have modest dues, $20-$30 a year and each send out a monthly newsletter or magazine that keeps you informed and tells you how to help protect your right to enjoy public lands.

This page last update 6 September 2000