Off-highway enthusiasts geared up for lobby to reopen area
Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of 2 in a series on the BLM’s
consideration to permanently close Clear Creek Management Area.
Earlier this month, a hoard of off-highway vehicle users and
supporters piled into the street next to the Bureau of Land
Management Hollister Field Office to protest the 2008 temporary
closure of the Clear Creek Management Area due to high levels of
asbestos.
The event was just one of the recent actions from the motor
enthusiast community in lobbying government leaders to reopen Clear
Creek. It was perhaps the most visible effort, while the
off-highway riders over recent months have sent thousand of letters
to the BLM and the county over the closure and the possibility for
a ruling to keep it permanent.
Off-highway enthusiasts geared up for lobby to reopen area
Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of 2 in a series on the BLM’s consideration to permanently close Clear Creek Management Area.
Earlier this month, a hoard of off-highway vehicle users and supporters piled into the street next to the Bureau of Land Management Hollister Field Office to protest the 2008 temporary closure of the Clear Creek Management Area due to high levels of asbestos.
The event was just one of the recent actions from the motor enthusiast community in lobbying government leaders to reopen Clear Creek. It was perhaps the most visible effort, while the off-highway riders over recent months have sent thousand of letters to the BLM and the county over the closure and the possibility for a ruling to keep it permanent.
As the BLM mulls over public responses from its draft resource management plan – which lays out options ranging from opening most of it to closing all of the lands – the off-highway community is turning its attention to politicians in the area hoping to gather their support.
For the recent protest, the off-highway enthusiasts gathered support from county Supervisor Margie Barrios and Santa Clara County Congressional candidate Don Barich.
“I’m very much in support of the reopening of Clear Creek,” Barrios said. “The event was very well organized and it had a very strong message of unity.”
Barrios said the event’s actions were strong and should be supported by the public.
“I’m always in support of the public lands being open to the public,” she said. “It was set as an emergency closure – which means there should be an immediate risk – and there isn’t one.”
Her support is just what the OHV community wanted.
The groups are spreading their nets wide – largely also using Internet message boards – in trying to get some political backing.
“The forums are used to educate the OHV users on what the government is doing,” South Bay Riders founder Andy Bajka said. “And we use it to prevent that (land closures) from happening by using logic that we explain to politicians.”
The forums have been tools that inform others on how to get in contact with politicians, what to say to say to them and how to get informed.
In April, they got the attention of the San Benito County Board of Supervisors about the roads in that area and a desire to open them. Supervisors two years ago agreed to close the roads in light of the BLM’s decision on Clear Creek. The board reopened the roads around and within Clear Creek despite the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s asbestos findings and the BLM’s recommendation.
“Once we brought it to their attention that they are losing a lot of tax income and money, they listened,” Bajka said. “Their decision was extremely important – we were very happy with their decision.”
‘Show me the bodies’
Supervisor Anthony Botelho said it was an easy decision to support the Clear Creek users.
“I have been very clear about this issue from day 1 – Clear Creek is public land and it should be open to the public,” Botelho said.
Botelho’s reasoning stems from the lack of supporting evidence that shows the area is dangerous, he said.
“Show me the bodies,” he said. “I think the information shows that there is no people getting sick, so I don’t see why it should be closed.”
Barrios agreed, stating that she has never heard of someone getting ill.
“I’ve never hear of anybody in my life getting sick from the asbestos,” she said. “And if you are going to close it, you better be able to back it up with accurate information.”
BLM Hollister Field Manager Rick Cooper’s response is that it can take years for the symptoms to fully develop.
The EPA threshold, though, is 1 in 10,000 people getting sick. At Clear Creek, the testing concluded the frequency would be higher than that threshold.
“They say it takes 10 to 30 years with an average of 20 before it could show up,” Cooper said. “But again it may never show up. Your genetic make-up might be that it will never affect you – some might get sick a little bit more.”
Now the OHV community hopes to gather the support of officials in the federal government, including Congressman Sam Farr, who asked the BLM to extend the public speaking session when it was expiring in March.
Farr hopes the government can keep Clear Creek open but realizes the amount of asbestos in the area is harmful, he said.
“Your government’s role is to always air on the side of safety,” Farr said. “Asbestos is a known health risk and you have to balance the two.”
But the jury still is out, he added.
“We are working to see if there is any way we can keep it open,” he said.
For Cooper, the BLM will focus on the letters received during the public session and trying to answer all questions that were brought up. He said the letters and comments support both the closure and the reopening.
“We have well over 5,000 comments and half say go with Alternative A, and the others say go with Alternative G,” Cooper said. “When we look at the comments, what we are looking for are what is the ‘why’ you should go do that and what in that comment is suggesting a better alternative in reaching our objective of reducing the risk to the public while still having some sort of activity there.”
Alternative A states in the BLM’s proposed plan that the BLM would take no action in regards to Clear Creek, effectively reopening it, and Alternative G states that it would stay closed.
A decision is expected to be made by January of next year but Cooper hopes to have a decision sooner, he said.
And the OHV community will wait and react how they have throughout the closure by informing one another and staying in contact with their elected officials, Bajka said.
