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SAMBA Mountain Bike News
Waiting on the environmental review
County study will determine fate of trail plan
By Bob Horowitz
SAMBA anxiously awaits the release of a environmental impact report for the updated American River Parkway Plan, which is expected in early 2008. A 23-member citizens committee handed over a draft parkway plan to Sacramento County officials on June 5, 2006, and the County Board of Supervisors gave the plan a tentative blessing in January, 2007, before sending it to the county's Department of Environmental Review & Assessment for a thorough vetting.
Mountain bikers and aspiring mountain bikers who live near downtown Sacramento support the draft plan, which should ultimately provide a perfectly legal, linked-loop trail network with 6-8 miles of riding between river miles 2 and 6. The plan also allows for the possible expansion of the network if the program is deemed successful. These will be the first legal trails within 20 miles of downtown Sacramento, and will ultimately provide wholesome family recreation for urbanites, an important training ground for novice bikers living and working in the downtown area, and a place for SAMBAistas to ride after work, at lunch, or any other time when driving 30-miles one-way to the foothills just isn't going to cut it.
The report must be adopted by the city and county of Sacramento, and the city of Rancho Cordova. After that, legislation must be introduced at the State Capitol to make the new American River Parkway plan the official parkway plan. This legislation must pass both the Assembly and the State Senate and be signed by the Governor. After that is done, the county parks department still gets to make the call as to when to open the trails. Their criteria are set in the plan, and include adequate buffer areas to protect wildlife, good signage, and enough money to manage the new use.
The report does provide one final opportunity for opponents of responsible off-pavement cycling to derail four years of SAMBA progress. We must remain vigilant as the final phase of the parkway planning process looms.
As you may recall, on Dec. 6, 2005, the American River Parkway Update Citizens Advisory Committee voted 16-4 to allow off-road bicycle access in sections of the lower Parkway. Perhaps more importantly, the committee adopted language that makes it possible to extend the trail network beyond these limited areas, should the mountain bike community prove to be the excellent Parkway stewards which we claim we will be. Extensive turnout from the mountain bike community, and many thoughtful comments, undoubtedly made the difference that evening for those committee members who were genuinely undecided.
In August, 2007, the collaborative planning process used to produce the updated parkway plan was recognized by the American Planning Association as an exemplary local effort to create sustainable communities through environmental stewardship. The planning process is one of 20 vying for a statewide award. The awards ceremony is slated for Oct. 2, 2007.
SAMBA's initial trail network will be built on existing trails and service roads in Woodlake and Cal Expo, which make up about four river miles out of 23. Woodlake begins at the end of Northgate Boulevard, and continues upstream to the Business 80 crossing. Cal Expo begins there and continues eastward (upstream) until the end of Ethan Way (near the racetrack).
Woodlake and Cal Expo also happen to contain some of the most environmentally degraded areas in the Parkway; SAMBA will prove that environmental restoration and off-road bicycles are not mutually exclusive. These areas also contain some environmental treasures, including swampy sloughs favored by turtles, great blue herons and snowy egrets, and super-dense riparian forests punctuated by towering cottonwoods and inhabited by deer, coyotes and possibly a stray cougar. SAMBA will prove that bikers can live in harmony with all species.
In the interim period between plan approval and official opening of any trails, SAMBA has been warned by county officials that an increase in off-road bicycling in the pilot-project areas could result in increased enforcement and citations.
Most folks seem to agree that the environment and wildlife of the lower parkway will be better protected by luring more legitimate users down to river miles 1 through 6. Currently, these portions of the Parkway are underused because many folks say they don't feel safe. Illegal camping and other nefarious activities are rampant.
The various river stakeholders, and the project management team, have proposed a number of conditions for off-road bicycling in the Parkway. These are not yet set in stone, and your input is welcome on this issue. The conditions may include, but are not limited to:
- Improve trail alignments and add signage, wayfinding and user guidelines.
- Minimize trail footprint and utilize sustainable trail building techniques, including natural buffers.
- Competition courses, BMX areas and "technical" trails are not permitted.
- SAMBA will help regulate abusers and utilize volunteer patrols to ensure responsible shared use.
- The county retains the ability to open and close trails, permanently or temporarily, or to modify access in any way, at any time. (This means if people continually ride off the approved trails, or cut new trails, we could lose all access.)
- SAMBA must commit to trail maintenance.
- County must identify financial resources to open trail system and maintain it.
SAMBA has long argued that the ban on riding off-road in the Parkway actually causes danger for people and the environment. Rogues don't care that it's illegal, and law-abiding riders simply don't visit those areas. The lower Parkway suffers from a strong perception of danger and isolation, and we believe mountain biking is the most effective and least expensive way to "activate" the area.
Although the Parkway plan is being updated, the goals of the original Parkway plan will remain. These include:
- Top priority: Maintaining a world-class flood control network protecting billion of dollars worth of real property. Hurricane Katrina has reinforced the importance of that aspect of the Parkway.
- Second priority: Protecting the environment of the Lower American River, including water supply and quality, wildlife habitat and viable native plant communities.
- Third priority: Providing recreation opportunities that are river oriented and generally not available anywhere else in the county.
SAMBA won over UCAC members by promoting a policy of inclusion toward new stakeholders. Our opponents have tried to exclude new stakeholder groups for years. Anyone familiar with current conditions in the lower parkway, especially Woodlake, knows that exclusion has been an environmental disaster.
To lay out the issues in a coherent fashion, SAMBA wrote a White Paper (MS word, 2 MB). We also conducted a special ride for UCAC members and local politicos in November, 2003. Because the event was so successful, and because not all members of the committee were appointed by November, we did it again on May 1, 2004.
Other groups on the UCAC include whitewater kayakers, runners, equestrians, anglers, bicycle commuters, the Capital Station Redevelopment District (Richards Boulevard area), the American River Parkway Foundation, the California Native Plant Society, Friends of the River, the Save the American River Association (SARA) and the Environmental Council of Sacramento. Each member of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors picked a committee member, the City of Sacramento got three and the City of Rancho Cordova got one.
- SAMBA would like to thank the staff and management of the Sacramento Planning and Community Development Department for their efforts so far.
- You can follow American River Parkway Plan developments by visiting the department's Parkway Plan Update site.
- The consultant who put together all the maps and the parkway update website, and who guided the integrated area planning, is MIG consulting of Berkeley.
- The consultant organizing the UCAC meetings is the Center for Collaborative Policy, a joint program of CSU Sacramento, and the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.
