Dirt biker forges partnerships over Clear Creek
Ed Tobin once said he felt like an American Indian getting
pushed off his land, by do-gooder citizens and the federal
government alike.
He’s not a Native American in the literal sense. But if there is
any one person who knows the 50,000 acres of San Benito’s rugged
Bureau of Land Management Clear Creak area like the back of his
hand
– every asbestos barren and pine tree, every trail and fence,
every patch of rare San Benito Evening Primrose – it’s Tobin. He
has been riding the hundreds of miles of trails of the dirt biking
wonderland for 32 years.
Dirt biker forges partnerships over Clear Creek
Ed Tobin once said he felt like an American Indian getting pushed off his land, by do-gooder citizens and the federal government alike.
He’s not a Native American in the literal sense. But if there is any one person who knows the 50,000 acres of San Benito’s rugged Bureau of Land Management Clear Creak area like the back of his hand – every asbestos barren and pine tree, every trail and fence, every patch of rare San Benito Evening Primrose – it’s Tobin. He has been riding the hundreds of miles of trails of the dirt biking wonderland for 32 years.
Tobin, a longstanding member of the Salinas Ramblers dirt biking club, is regarded among his fellow “motorheads” as the elder statesman of the off-road recreational community, not just for those who ride Clear Creek, but also for the growing throngs of dirt bikers throughout the Central Coast.
Tobin, 55, works as a computer software and services salesman. For the last 20 years he has attended nearly every BLM public and private pow-wow concerning the destiny of his beloved Clear Creek and been a clear and level-headed voice defending the dirt biker contingent of BLM’s public. He was on BLM’s Central California Advisory Council representing motorized recreation from 1995 to 2000. When he’s not working or lecturing beleaguered BLM officials, you can be sure he is riding Clear Creek. Or, writing for his Internet blog (http://www.salinasramblersmc.org/Tobin/Blog/blog.htm.)
Tobin’s website is a journal, with almost daily entries, that describes his trials, tribulations, everyday happenings and opinions on his fight to keep Clear Creek open to the off-road freewheelers. It’s hugely popular with his fellow dirt bikers, and visited frequently by his environmental adversaries. The following is a Verbatim interview with Ed Tobin.
1) It seems it took years for Hollister BLM to make a Record of Decision on the Clear Creek Management Area (the OHV trails v. the primrose, etc.). Do you attribute that to poor leadership in the agency’s recent past?
Most definitely! Bob Beehler told me several years ago that he didn’t really care any more. I related this to the BLM State office. Why they left him in charge for two more years while they investigated his crime is a mystery to me. He would not show up for TRT [trail route] meetings and in one case no BLM manager showed up for a scheduled meeting. The Hollister Office, in my opinion, has been poorly managed and the lack of leadership shows in the record of decision.
The BLM also had a problem with their GIS systems and a lot of field work done by OHV volunteers was lost or rendered unusable by their old GIS system. This has contributed to the delay in developing an inventory of the route system.
2) How do you and other off-roaders feel about the new ROD [Record of Decision on the trail routes]? Do you feel it conceded too much to the California Native Plant Society? Or do you feel Clear Creek is big enough for both factions to enjoy satisfactorily?
Most people don’t understand that the decision to go to a Limited Use designation was made last century, 1999 to be exact. It has just taken the BLM seven years to implement it.
The OHV community was fine with the Record of Decision that was signed in 1999. We didn’t appeal it or file a lawsuit over it. I don’t think there would be a big problem today if the BLM had done what they said they would do seven years ago. Unfortunately there are many in the BLM who hated the decisions made by retired State Director Ed Hastey and they used this latest process to throw out many OHV favorable decisions that Ed incorporated into the 1999 ROD.
Because of the changes made in the latest ROD, I would say that the OHV community is very upset (to be polite) about the outcome. It appears to me that the ROD was driven by ideology and not science or practicality. I see no other way to explain some of the decisions that were made. In my mind, and I am sure in the minds of many long time Clear Creek OHV users, the BLM has destroyed what was one of the greatest OHV experiences in the entire United States.
Is Clear Creek big enough for ‘both factions’ to enjoy? I would certainly hope so. Unfortunately some in the environmental community seem to have a zero tolerance for OHV use and so these people will never be happy. And, unfortunately, they seem to be the ones driving the lawsuit and anti-OHV atmosphere.
I fully expect that they will continue to raise issues about other plants, or dust, or some other issue now that the BLM has fully protected the San Benito Evening Primrose. These people are like bedbugs that just won’t go away.
3) Hollister BLM Director George Hill says the decision closes half of the streambed and riparian crossings, and 80 percent of the barrens to the bikers? Did they go overboard?
We have no business riding in active streambeds and riparian areas like the San Benito River, Sawmill Creek and Clear Creek. I believe that all of these are well protected today and have been protected since the 1986 management plan was adopted.
I do not see riparian crossings as being a major contributor to erosion or sedimentation. Anyone who has spent any time in Clear Creek would know that just about every stream crossing has been naturally hardened and the impact of vehicle traffic is minimal. I cannot understand why, for instance, the BLM chose to close route T172A and T173 on the upper San Benito River. T172 provides access for hunters and rock collectors and T173 interconnects a single-track route system.
The barrens are a different story. In my opinion, the BLM has closed 95% of barrens that held any challenge to even a novice OHV user. Most of what they have left open, especially along R002, would only challenge a new rider on a mini-bike. The OHV community has complained about this ever since the BLM first started to designate open play areas but the BLM does not seem to care what we think or what constitutes a desirable OHV experience.
4) Do you feel Hollister BLM is fulfilling its mission: “to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of these public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations?”
I don’t think you will find anyone in the OHV community who says that they want to go out and destroy the land. We all want to see places like Clear Creek preserved so that our children’s children can enjoy the same recreation opportunities that we do.
Unfortunately it seems that preserving and closing are synonymous in the BLM vernacular. It’s almost like they should get a merit badge for their uniform based on how many miles of routes they closed.
I see the BLM using the reason “to sustaining the health, diversity and productivity of these public lands” to justify closure when they lack any scientific reason to close a resource.
The sad fact is that the BLM has done little in the thirty-two years that I have been riding the Creek to maintain or sustain our routes and yet, remarkable, we are able to use the route system year after year for multiple enduro events and casual use. This tells me that there is not a problem with most of the routes. In fact, it is my experience that most of the routes heal themselves over time.
Under the previous management plan the Ramblers would rest and rotate routes so they did not get overused. We may not be able to do this in the future if the BLM follows through and closes all the routes designated ‘Closed’ in the plan. This, of course, will lead to the overuse and degradation of the remaining open routes. While it is easy to fix a road with a bulldozer, it is very difficult and expensive to repair a single-track trail.
5) BLM, as you are aware, plans to charge entrance fees into Clear Creek, probably by November. This will be permanent, and could cost $60 to $100 for a yearly pass. How do you feel about that, and how do your fellow dirtbikers feel about it?
I heard that it would start in October and the yearly pass would be $40 for a season pass or $5 per day per person over 16 years of age. Whatever!
From comments made by riders at public meetings and in my contacts with riders I greet as they enter Clear Creek I sense that the majority support the idea of a use fee if the fee would be used to enhance the recreation experience. In other words, if the BLM uses the money to improve the camping facilities and maintain and enhance the route system then I think there will be a lot of support. On the other hand, if the money is used to buy closed signs and reduce the OHV opportunity then I suspect that there will be little support and an enforcement nightmare.
My big concern is that if a use fee is instituted that most of the revenue would go to the maintenance and enforcement of the program and that very little money would be left over for actual actions on the ground.
When I was on the BLM’s Central CA Resource Advisory Council we recommended that any office proposing a fee create a comprehensive business plan. I have not seen Hollister’s business plan yet but if it is based on the visitor use numbers that they have published then I am afraid that the program will fail to deliver. I say this because I believe that their visitor use numbers are grossly overstated. I wrote about this on my blog (http://www.salinasramblersmc.org/Tobin/Blog/blog.htm – see editorial “Figures”.) Since I wrote this the BLM started a dry season closure that would further reduce the number of visits the area receives.
Last weekend, an ideal winter weekend to ride the Creek, we counted 124 people entering or leaving Clear Creek through the main entrance between 7:45 and noon on Saturday. We counted 114 on Sunday between 7:50 and 11:00. These numbers includes children who would be exempt from the fee program. Also exempt would be people participating in permitted events.
I just don’t see their numbers adding up. It’s bad enough if they have lied to the public. It would be really sad if they have lied to themselves! The new assistant field office manager once commented to me that perhaps they should have someone with a hand counter sit at the entrance and do a real count. I would like to suggest to the BLM that they do this so they can see what the real visitor usage is.
6) Most of Larious Canyon has been closed. Wasn’t this a favorite spot with dirtbikers? Who do you blame more, Native Americans who recently claimed it as a holy area, California Native Plant Society or BLM?
It appears to me that the BLM is trying to reduce use in certain drainages, Larious being one of them for ideological reasons. Larious received a lot of use because it is directly above some of the major camping and staging areas. We lost a route that we called Tunnel of Trees a couple of years ago because it traversed a primrose habitat and because the BLM refused to work with the OHV community to develop a reroute around the problem area. In the current plan they have closed all routes in the drainage and now I understand they are denying the Timekeepers MC permission to use a loop system in that drainage on a permitted basis as well as an enduro route that conflicts with an area used for Native American ceremonies.
If I have to assign blame, then I have to blame the BLM for not working more closely with the OHV community on Larious issues. I also blame the staff botanists because they identified the primrose habitat in 1998 and under the biological opinion that the BLM signed with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they should have take immediate steps in 1999 to correct the problem with the Tunnel of Trees [the slope that starts at the top of Indian Hill and drops into Larious Canyon]. Instead, they did nothing until it became an ‘issue’ and then they had to do an emergency closure. I guess this is all part of the poor management by Bob Beehler. But, it could also have been a conspiracy by anti-OHV elements in the Hollister office too.
I don’t know about the issue with the Native Americans but I will be looking into this.
7) How often do you ride in Clear Creek, and will you continue to do so as often? Will your fellow dirtbikers continue, or will they go elsewhere?
This time of year, because of the Salinas Rambler’s enduro, I am at Clear Creek every weekend when it isn’t raining. I guess that I’ve turned into a fair weather rider in my old age. I don’t really see this changing because we still have a good recreation opportunity at Clear Creek, certainly better than the alternative – Hollister Hills.
I can’t speak for other riders but I suspect that most longtime riders will continue to frequent the Creek and we will continue to see new riders using Clear Creek as other OHV areas become overcrowded because of the popularity of the sport.
8) George Hill admits his agency is understaffed and under-financed. Will dirt bikers take advantage of this by riding in areas that are now posted closed, when no one is around to enforce the closures?
I certainly hope not. I do not endorse this type of behavior (see Stupid Hurts on the blog) and I know the Salinas Ramblers do not endorse it either. Will it happen? No doubt there will be some illegal riding because this management plan is very unpopular and needs to be modified.
There is always that element in any group that will ignore the rules, perhaps under the pretense of civil disobedience. I hope that it doesn’t happen but if it does I hope that the BLM law enforcement team can catch and fine the offenders. I understand that the new chief ranger has been taking riding (and crashing) lessons and hopefully will soon be on the trails on a bike.
In my opinion, the BLM has plenty of staff available. What they are lacking is the desire to get out into the field and work on weekends when the majority of use occurs in Clear Creek.
9) Is your side, the Blue Ribbon Coalition, finally done with the litigation against BLM? Or, do you foresee more lawsuits in the future due to the added trail closures?
I cannot speak for the BlueRibbon Coalition and what future actions they may take. I give them input and advice. They also get input and advice from other member organizations. It should be noted that, while they threatened a lawsuit, the BRC did not start one. The BRC intervened in the lawsuit brought by the CNPS and Center for Biological Diversity.
The BRC has appealed the dry season closure to the Interior Board of Land Appeals and we are awaiting a response. This is an area where I could see litigation if the BLM enacts another dry season closure this year, but I don’t make the call. I’ll leave that decision to our legal team and asbestos consultant.
I have recommended that we appeal the Record of Decision on a number of issues and we will be meeting in the near future to discuss our strategy going forward.
I understand that the so-called environmentalists have filed another petition with the court to have the area closed because, they claim, the BLM is unable to enforce the new ROD. All the more reason for the Hollister staff to get out into the field.
10) How do you feel BLM should manage Clear Creek – in other words, what changes would you make to the new Record of Decision, if you had the chance?
First, I would like to say that we seem to have a good group of BLM staff working at the Creek. I believe that they realize the problems with the ROD. Unfortunately, they do not have the authority to make changes.
One thing I would do is institute evening law enforcement patrols through the staging areas. This isn’t related to the ROD but something that needs to happen.
There are a lot of problems with the ROD, probably more that you have space to cover in this article. Here are a few of the key ones:
First, the BLM has closed a number of major routes that connect the western portion of the area with the eastern area. R008 and R010 to be specific. This will have the effect of putting more users on fewer routes and will result in more accidents and injuries. I am particularly concerned about R011, a county dirt road that will now be the only route in the northern portion of the management area that will connect the east and west. All user types, i.e. cars, jeeps, quads and motorcycles will now forced to use this road to circumnavigate the natural area. A case of ideology trumping safety.
Most camping and staging occurs in the western portion of the management area, mainly Clear Creek canyon. Some of the most desirable riding is in the eastern portion of the management area and this is where a BLM OHV specialist recommended that they direct use. It makes no sense to me to reduce the number of routes connecting the two areas. Instead, they should be making it as easy as possible to move between the two areas.
Second, the ROD closes vehicle access to County’s namesake high point, San Benito Mountain, and one of the few spots in Clear Creek where some users can get cell service. It would be a real shame if a life were lost because of the time lost hiking to the top of the mountain to get cell service. Again, ideology trumping safety.
Third, the ROD rips apart the network of single-track trails that interconnects the area and provides an alternative to the road network. While the BLM did incorporate several routes we had requested, there are still significant gaps that ruin the Clear Creek single-track experience. Ideology trumping practically and science.
There a lot of other issues, especially the barren play areas, that need to be addressed and I hope whoever replaces Bob Beehler will be smart enough to realize the inadequacies of the current plan and work with the OHV community to effect changes.
Thank you for the opportunity to address these questions. Your readers may contact me at ed*****@sb*******.net.
