Crowdog
04-20-2003, 03:44 PM
Backcountry group targets southwest Reno foothills
Susan Voyles
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
4/18/2003 07:53 pm
Fresh from victories that maintain access to public lands in northwest Reno, a coalition of backcountry enthusiasts now is turning its attention to opening up the foothills in the southwest Reno area.
And Washoe County commissioners are listening.
After coalition chairman Carl Adams addressed the commission earlier this week, the board unanimously agreed to prepare ordinances that would preserve and restore public access for trails and public roads to public lands. The Reno City Council gave similar orders last summer.
“It’s been a history of these access points being closed as development moves up the mountains,” Commissioner Jim Galloway said. “Public lands don’t benefit the public much if the public can’t get there.”
Adams, chairman of the Washoe County Backcountry Coalition, said he hopes to reestablish a loop road from Hunter Creek Road across Big Meadows and ending in Verdi.
Adams said the goal is to identify 20 to 30 roads and trails that would remain open to public lands surrounding the Truckee Meadows.
“Roads are being closed, and there doesn’t seem to be any plan to protect them,” he said. “We want sustainable access. Not something that is going to be a big nuisance in any neighborhood.”
Washoe County voters have shown their support for keeping wild areas nearby with the passage of a $38 million bond issue for trails, open space, parks and libraries in 2000.
“But it’s simply not enough,” Adams said.
The county ordinances would standardize where and how access points to the surrounding hills should be maintained.
The proposed ordinances would require new developments to reserve adequate space for long-established trails and public roads to public lands. Standards would address how those trailheads and/or road entrances would be built, including signage.
In the motion, Galloway also asked what legal options exist to force private landowners to remove gates or no-trespassing signs across public roads.
And Galloway said he will insist that the ordinance be enforced. “We have a vanishing commodity. The sooner we try to preserve it, the better.
“It’s just the nature of man to put up gates and fences.”
Working with the coalition and property owners, city and county planners said they intend to identify proposed access points worth protecting.
Reno City Planner Arlo Stockham said he wants to ensure potential homeowners are made aware of access points. “They should know where it is and what it looks like,” he said.
City and county officials hope to build on the success of the Peavine Peak strategy approved last November, which lays out access points along the urban rim of the Peavine foothills.
Local officials worked with the U.S. Forest Service, the coalition and homeowners on that strategy. The coalition includes members of the Truckee Meadows Trails Association, the Sierra Club and five motorcycle, bicycle and off-road vehicle clubs.
“The one issue that unites us is we all want access,” said Adams, 61, a motorcyclist and retired computer projects manager who moved here from San Francisco 3˝ years ago.
Adams was involved in the Peavine strategy. And this year, he appealed plans for converting open space to a golf course in the Somersett project. That led to a compromise in which developers agreed to provide eight public access sites to Peavine.
Southwest foothills
Adams said the coalition’s next big project is to make the southwest foothills more accessible.
On Hunter Creek Road in upper Caughlin Ranch, a mini-storage complex of five buildings is being built across the mouth of the road. And Adams is concerned whether the road will remain open once construction is finished.
Stockham, however, said there are legal provisions for keeping a spur of the road open through the Pines subdivision property to the south. He expects that road will remain open at all times.
The mini-storage units have been part of the plans for Caughlin Ranch for more than 20 years, Stockham said.
The buildings are hidden from the neighborhood, nestled behind an electrical power substation. They are built up at the edge of the tree line leading to the high canyon country.
After the mini-storage units, the road crosses federal lands until it approaches Verdi, where it is called Garson Road.
Located south of Boomtown, the entrance to Garson Road has been open and closed over the years. But it has been closed for some time now and a much stronger gate has been built, Adams said.
Getting it open will take some tricky negotiations, Stockham said.
Stockham said Promax property owners apparently have the right to gate the road after winning a court case in the 1970s. But that same decision granted a road easement across the property farther east.
New access road?
The U.S. Forest Service, however, has been reluctant to build the alternative road to avoid the expense and scarring of the hillside, Stockham said.
If nothing else, Stockham said an access road could be required when the 667-acre property is developed in two or three years. He said the property is now up for sale and several interested builders have visited City Hall to ask questions.
Another difficult issue is access to the Hunter Creek Canyon trail. In the early 1990s, the City Council approved the Juniper Ridge subdivision. As a condition, it required an easement for a trail between two home lots as an access point to the canyon.
For many years, people used a vacant lot in a cul-de-sac as an easy shortcut to get to the trail. The trail between the home lots leads to a steep ravine where hikers have to scamper across the rocks, Adams said.
As a solution, Washoe County is attempting to buy 472 acres, including 2,000 feet of Hunter Creek frontage, farther down the canyon. The project is now on the list of possible acquisitions, utilizing proceeds from public land sales in southern Nevada. The cost: $2 million.
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/04/18/39876.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News
Susan Voyles
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
4/18/2003 07:53 pm
Fresh from victories that maintain access to public lands in northwest Reno, a coalition of backcountry enthusiasts now is turning its attention to opening up the foothills in the southwest Reno area.
And Washoe County commissioners are listening.
After coalition chairman Carl Adams addressed the commission earlier this week, the board unanimously agreed to prepare ordinances that would preserve and restore public access for trails and public roads to public lands. The Reno City Council gave similar orders last summer.
“It’s been a history of these access points being closed as development moves up the mountains,” Commissioner Jim Galloway said. “Public lands don’t benefit the public much if the public can’t get there.”
Adams, chairman of the Washoe County Backcountry Coalition, said he hopes to reestablish a loop road from Hunter Creek Road across Big Meadows and ending in Verdi.
Adams said the goal is to identify 20 to 30 roads and trails that would remain open to public lands surrounding the Truckee Meadows.
“Roads are being closed, and there doesn’t seem to be any plan to protect them,” he said. “We want sustainable access. Not something that is going to be a big nuisance in any neighborhood.”
Washoe County voters have shown their support for keeping wild areas nearby with the passage of a $38 million bond issue for trails, open space, parks and libraries in 2000.
“But it’s simply not enough,” Adams said.
The county ordinances would standardize where and how access points to the surrounding hills should be maintained.
The proposed ordinances would require new developments to reserve adequate space for long-established trails and public roads to public lands. Standards would address how those trailheads and/or road entrances would be built, including signage.
In the motion, Galloway also asked what legal options exist to force private landowners to remove gates or no-trespassing signs across public roads.
And Galloway said he will insist that the ordinance be enforced. “We have a vanishing commodity. The sooner we try to preserve it, the better.
“It’s just the nature of man to put up gates and fences.”
Working with the coalition and property owners, city and county planners said they intend to identify proposed access points worth protecting.
Reno City Planner Arlo Stockham said he wants to ensure potential homeowners are made aware of access points. “They should know where it is and what it looks like,” he said.
City and county officials hope to build on the success of the Peavine Peak strategy approved last November, which lays out access points along the urban rim of the Peavine foothills.
Local officials worked with the U.S. Forest Service, the coalition and homeowners on that strategy. The coalition includes members of the Truckee Meadows Trails Association, the Sierra Club and five motorcycle, bicycle and off-road vehicle clubs.
“The one issue that unites us is we all want access,” said Adams, 61, a motorcyclist and retired computer projects manager who moved here from San Francisco 3˝ years ago.
Adams was involved in the Peavine strategy. And this year, he appealed plans for converting open space to a golf course in the Somersett project. That led to a compromise in which developers agreed to provide eight public access sites to Peavine.
Southwest foothills
Adams said the coalition’s next big project is to make the southwest foothills more accessible.
On Hunter Creek Road in upper Caughlin Ranch, a mini-storage complex of five buildings is being built across the mouth of the road. And Adams is concerned whether the road will remain open once construction is finished.
Stockham, however, said there are legal provisions for keeping a spur of the road open through the Pines subdivision property to the south. He expects that road will remain open at all times.
The mini-storage units have been part of the plans for Caughlin Ranch for more than 20 years, Stockham said.
The buildings are hidden from the neighborhood, nestled behind an electrical power substation. They are built up at the edge of the tree line leading to the high canyon country.
After the mini-storage units, the road crosses federal lands until it approaches Verdi, where it is called Garson Road.
Located south of Boomtown, the entrance to Garson Road has been open and closed over the years. But it has been closed for some time now and a much stronger gate has been built, Adams said.
Getting it open will take some tricky negotiations, Stockham said.
Stockham said Promax property owners apparently have the right to gate the road after winning a court case in the 1970s. But that same decision granted a road easement across the property farther east.
New access road?
The U.S. Forest Service, however, has been reluctant to build the alternative road to avoid the expense and scarring of the hillside, Stockham said.
If nothing else, Stockham said an access road could be required when the 667-acre property is developed in two or three years. He said the property is now up for sale and several interested builders have visited City Hall to ask questions.
Another difficult issue is access to the Hunter Creek Canyon trail. In the early 1990s, the City Council approved the Juniper Ridge subdivision. As a condition, it required an easement for a trail between two home lots as an access point to the canyon.
For many years, people used a vacant lot in a cul-de-sac as an easy shortcut to get to the trail. The trail between the home lots leads to a steep ravine where hikers have to scamper across the rocks, Adams said.
As a solution, Washoe County is attempting to buy 472 acres, including 2,000 feet of Hunter Creek frontage, farther down the canyon. The project is now on the list of possible acquisitions, utilizing proceeds from public land sales in southern Nevada. The cost: $2 million.
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/04/18/39876.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News