I hate that holier than thou attitude that some people have toward others. “They only ride four wheels because they can’t ride on two”. Wrong and no less wrong than some mountain bikers that think that they have a softer footprint than motor vehicles and refuse to align their interests with ours. It doesn’t work. We are all in this together and instead of fighting over the spoils we need to fight together to protect our rights we will loose them forever.

Hoofs, knobbies, or Velcro soles do not cause erosion, but rather the majority of all erosion is caused by water running down a trail that is devoid of vegetation. Yes game trails cause erosion. Erosion is perfectly natural. The difference is that human trails are maintained using heavy equipment. They just level the trails and push the loose soil into the depressions, ready to get washed away next time it rains. Maintained trails are not less prone to erosion and in fact the opposite is true. Always question what you know is true. But nobody does that and these myths just get universally believed and accepted by everyone. The fact is nobody really cares because they look better. Why does everybody want our off road riding area to look like a golf course, so manicured that you could drive a golf cart through it?

Like so many others I kept putting off joining Blue Ribbon Coalition until Carnegie was threatened. This is the big wake up call. We have to work together and share our insights towards a common goal, preserving the sports we love. We can’t let the greedy fat cats take it away from us. Carnegie is ours and it is worth fighting for. Like George Horne said at the rally to save Carnegie, “They drew the first blood” and as Don Amador said, “they have awakened the sleeping beast”. Most of us were going about our business doing what we love to do and not giving much thought to the fact that Carnegie was getting more and more crowded because other riding areas were getting shut down.

I don’t know how we can save Carnegie, but I do know that together we can make a difference. We need to speak out and listen to each other. Here I go again. I have no real answer to your question, but I know that together we can make it happen. There are heroes like the members of CORE (Carnegie off Road Enthusiasts) who have been working for years to make Carnegie better. They are the ones who might be able to answer your question. They and all the other groups that are working to preserve our right to the enjoyment our sport and our connection with nature. Our children depend on it.

And here’s one on the sport fisherman getting bit by the greenies too.
http://capwiz.com/asafish/issues/alert/?alertid=14446771

http://www.libertymatters.org/newsservice/2007/faxback/3123_Pumps.htm

It’s the same people, Jennings and Roesch. Maybe the tide is turning. They never give up. The fight is to the death.

Judge Orders State to Shut Down Pumps to Save Delta Smelt, Salmon
Dan Bacher
Thursday Apr 5th, 2007 5:54 PM

Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled that the California Department of Water Resources must obtain a “take permit” from the Department of Fish and Game for any endangered Delta smelt, spring run chinook salmon and winter run chinook salmon that it kills in the water export pumps of the California Delta. In a monumental victory for anglers and conservationists, a judge on March 22 ordered the State Department of Water Resources to shut down the state’s water export pumps in the South Delta in order to save endangered salmon and Delta smelt.

Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, in a strongly worded opinion, ordered the State Resources Agency to “cease and desist” from further operation of the Delta pumps “until and unless” they obtain from the DFG an incidental take permit for winter run chinook salmon, spring run chinook salmon, and Delta smelt in compliance with the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

“We’re delighted and surprised with the decision,” said Bill Jennings, executive director of Watershed Protectors, a project of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. (CSPA) “The judge agreed with us that the Fish and Game Code clearly states that you have to get a permit if you’re going to kill endangered species in the Delta pumps.”

Officials with the Department of Water Resources were very upset with the ruling – and concerned that the judge hadn’t considered the Bay Delta Habitat Conservation Plan (BDHCP) now being developed in collaboration with an array of state agencies.

“We’re perplexed with the court’s ruling in this case,” said Lester Snow, director of DWR. “We find the prospect of curtailing pumping to be unacceptable in terms of the economic consequences to the state.”

“We are committed to developing a cutting edge conservation package for the Delta, and have been for some time. We’re also working with federal agencies on development of a new biological opinion. We certainly will suggest that the judge reconsider his draft decision and put it in terms that are more logical and acceptable to developing a conservation program for the Delta,” he explained.

“DFG and DWR have engaged in a dance of denial in avoiding the CESA,” said Jennings, “since they aren’t prepared to mitigate for the loss of species listed under CESA.”

Michael Lozeau, the attorney representing the alliance, emphasized that the agency will have to mitigate fish losses by reducing pumping, improving habitat and other measures. “They have to replace every single Delta smelt, winter run chinook or spring run chinook that is taken in the Delta pumping facilities,” Lozeau said.

“The question we must ask ourselves is whether or not our fisheries can survive the DFG remaining within the Resources Agency,” added Jennings. “

For more information, contact: Bill Jennings, Chairman, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance Watershed Enforcers

That is how it ends. The same Bill Jennings as is involved in shutting down Carnegie.

(1) Lead ban confounds industry 3/16/2009

A recent action by the Obama administration has left anglers and the fishing industry scratching their heads. Last week, the National Park Service (NPS) suddenly announced it would ban lead fishing tackle in national parks by 2010.

The American Sportfishing Association (ASA) weighed on in the controversy with a widely distributed statement. “The sportfishing industry is surprised and dismayed by the March 10 announcement made by the National Park Service,” said ASA VP Gordon Robertson. “Their intention to eliminate the use of lead in fishing tackle in national parks was made without prior consultation of the sportfishing industry or the millions of recreational anglers who fish within the national park system.”

My comment is stick it to them.

http://www.texaswildlifeunlimited.com/texas_outdoor_partners/2009/03/here-is-a-disturbing-piece-

(2) Calif. water agency changes course on delta smelt

Lester Snow, director of the California Department of Water Resources, is questioning whether increasing freshwater flows in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect the tiny fish is worth the effort — a reversal of the department’s position.

Citing “new information,” Snow told the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that a federal biological opinion in place since December may be overstating threats to the smelt. The opinion ordered pumping restrictions throughout California’s State Water Project in wet years to ensure water flows for the smelt during the fall spawning season.

Unpublished research conducted by Snow’s department, in concert with the California Department of Fish and Game, has revealed the existence of a separate delta smelt population in an area that is not affected by state water operations, Snow said. The population in question is thriving in a tidal marsh around Liberty Island in the northern delta.

“This population suggests that delta smelt are less susceptible to a catastrophic event than previously thought,” Snow wrote in the letter to Ren Lohoefener, FWS’s regional director in Sacramento.

Snow urged FWS to revisit water-storage restrictions at Oroville Dam, a crucial source of water, especially to farmers in the fertile San Joaquin Valley. The biological opinion in question would make the DWR release cold water in wet years to aid the smelt as it spawns.

Environmentalists were enraged at the apparent about-face and criticized Snow for what they see as political expedience.

Are these the same smelt that Judge Roesch used as rational to shut off the water to Central Valley farmers? My comment is more of the same… Ha Ha

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/12/12greenwire-calif-water-agency-changes-course-on-delta-s

(3) Bicycles tear up the west Hills

Check this out. We are not allowed to ride the West Hills in the rain, but it seems that the rangers think that it is OK for non-green-sticker bicycles to do so. Check out the damage. I am a bicyclist but this is outrageous. (I won the woman’s pro downhill California national race in 1988)

http://www.videosurf.com/video/groovy-gravity-games-2005-downhill-mountain-bike-race-53651225?