This is for Mr. Monaco and members of the San Benito County
Board of Supervisors:
Editor,
This is for Mr. Monaco and members of the San Benito County Board of Supervisors:
The People of San Benito County own several unimproved road that pass through public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) located in southern San Benito County known as the Clear Creek Management Area (CCMA). According to one BLM figure, this area is visited by about 55,000 people each year; most of these visitors shop in Hollister on their way to the CCMA and on their way home after a weekend recreation. It doesn’t take much imagination to see that these visitors spend several million dollars in Hollister each year.
Closing the CCMA and closure of county roads in the CCMA will impact county business and tax revenue negatively. Additionally, the county road through the CCMA is the only south county road connecting between Hernandez Valley and Vallecitos.
I therefore encourage San Benito County to keep their roads in the CCMA and to keep those roads open. I also wish to remind you, as delineated in a recent letter to the BLM and copied to the Board of Supervisors, that the BLM’s reasons for this closure are without merit because Calidria asbestos (chrysotile) is proven etiology free.
Additionally, the Board should recognize that portions of the current road, between Idria and the summit near the Aurora Mine, are actually private road. The county road (CR 107) passes through Idria, then cuts west around the north side of Idria Peak to the ridge above Sampson Creek, past the Wonder Mine and around the north side of Sampson Peak. A local rancher gated this road many years ago and the county failed to notice. The county should remove the gate and reopen this historic road.
Ray Iddings, via e-mail
