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SAMBA Mountain Bike News
SAMBA general membership meeting Saturday Jan. 26, 2008: We had a productive meeting and a terrific party afterwards. Thanks to everyone who attended and especially to those who stepped up for one of the volunteer roles. The Board will be meeting quarterly in the future. The new SAMBA lineup looks like this:
- Kim Andregg: Webmaster
- Kevin Beile: Ride organizer and on-line event coordinator.
- Krishna Chaturvedula: Shop relations coordinator. Linda Elgart is backup.
- Chris Cullen: Advocacy Coordinator. Bob Horowitz is backup.
- Sue Fry: Fundraising Coordinator
- Bob Horowitz: Volunteer Coordinator
- Graham Johnson: Data guy
American River Parkway Update: Sacramento County began work on an environmental review of the draft American River Parkway Plan in early 2007. It should be done very soon. One of the changes between the new plan and the old to be addressed in the EIR is the provision allowing for a trial period for off-pavement cycling in the Woodlake and Cal Expo portions of the Lower American River Parkway.
Background paper: Off-road bicycling and the American River Parkway (MS word, 2 MB). This paper was presented to the American River Parkway Update Citizens Advisory Committee on March 28 and to the general public on March 31, 2005.
SAMBA volunteer efforts along the American River Parkway: SAMBA is the adopted steward of Mile 5 South on the American River Parkway. The stewardship program is run by the American River Parkway Foundation. Our mile starts at the Business 80 overpass, and heads upstream behind River Park. It ends a hundred yards or so downstream from Paradise Beach. Not only do we pick up trash in this area, we also remove invasive plants like Red Sesbania (Adobe Acrobat). In July, 2007, we removed all Red Sesbania from the swampy area just upstream of Paradise Beach. There were some very large specimens, and it was a lot of muddy fun. We'll need to continue to monitor the pond, as well as areas upstream from that, to find plants that sprout next spring. More recently, SAMBA members helped plant the native plant garden at the new visitor center at the William Pond Recreation Area, at the end of Arden Way. SAMBA has participated in the Great American River Cleanup and the Earth Day river cleanup for many years. Check out our monster pile of trash from 2005.
American River Parkway funding: This article is old, but the underlying issues have not been addressed. Parkway supporters still seek fixes to a long-standing and all-too-familiar problem: no dedicated source of funding for the Parkway. As state and local government prepare to tighten their belts again, expect to see this issue rear its ugly head in 2008.
Lower American River Tour: SAMBA brought together representatives of many stakeholder groups working in the Lower American River for the first legal bike ride in the Parkway in 18 years. The ride was featured on KOVR-Channel 13 and in the Bee. See the pictures and read about the route.
Hot Spot Week. The IMBA/Subaru trail care crew came to town Nov. 7-16, 2003. IMBA (the International Mountain Bike Association) recognizes that we need more trail-riding opportunities in the Sacramento area. Here is a wrap-up of the week. Many thanks to Subaru for helping sponsor the trail care crews, which roam North America helping ordinary folks construct better trails.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has recognized the importance of mountain biking and its low environmental impact with its draft new land management plan.
Mountain biking liability case search turns up few risks for land managers.
