In response to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors
opening the county roadways that go through Clear Creek Management
Area on April 6, the Bureau of Land Management and the board traded
letters during Tuesday’s meeting describing some of the possible
issues it could present.
In response to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors opening the county roadways that go through Clear Creek Management Area on April 6, the Bureau of Land Management and the board traded letters during Tuesday’s meeting describing some of the possible issues it could present.
The BLM letter, signed by Hollister Field Office Manager Rick Cooper and dated April 13, listed six concerns regarding what the opening of the roads could mean.
“The BLM still has concerns in that regard and nothing has changed in the ‘area of critical environment concern’ to reduce the concerns that led to its closure,” the letter states.
The first concern was questioning how the roads would be maintained after the board stipulated that it would not do roadwork.
“Some sections of the road will become impassable due to erosion and landslides,” the BLM letter warned.
The board stood by its stance that the county, despite some reservation from Supervisor Anthony Botelho, would not maintain the roads.
“I just feel that this is an important part of San Benito County, and we haven’t done any maintenance, but I don’t see why we don’t explore the work that needs to be done,” he said.
The BLM letter included other issues, including the allowing of vehicles that are not street legal such as ATVs, off-road bikes and tractors to travel through the area.
“Allowing non-street legal vehicles will create a huge law enforcement issue for BLM along the entire length of the road,” the letter states.
The board’s letter then responded by saying that those vehicles would be allowed “under limited circumstances” because of the Californian Vehicle Code. Non-street vehicles are allowed only on a highway system when the road is an integral connection to established trails and connects lodging to a trail system. As the board’s letter notes, both are the case with Clear Creek.
The BLM letter also stated the agency’s concern about visitors on the road traveling to areas that the BLM has closed off.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
