Jeepskickass
12-27-2001, 08:51 AM
Mike asked me to post this here:
To: Your View, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
From: Mike Bishop, President, Azusa Canyon Off-Roaders.
Perception:
For the past few years I have been fortunate enough to be a part of the ongoing experience that is OHV recreation in the San Gabriel Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle area.
In the past few months this area has gotten its fair share of ink in the papers of Los Angeles, which has been very helpful in bringing up the awareness of OHV use in our county.
The Forest Service has done a very good job of managing- this area in light of the responsibilities to the eco-system that we all share. We, at the Azusa Canyon Off-Roaders Association would like to take a moment to let you know how OHV use has changed over the last few years, unlike ten to twelve years ago, when the area in question was not managed or monitored.
A.C.O.R.A. and the Forest Service have built a barrier with designated crossings along the upper portion of the San Gabriel River so that we may lessen our impact to the area where the Santa Ana Sucker Fish live. They have specific needs such as rocky pools, and cool moving water which we have worked on with the Forest Service to figure out, and we have brought in our own Biologist to further educate ourselves and the area’s users. We have found that an introduced exotic, the Big Mouth Bass, a non-native fish is feeding on the Santa Ana Sucker fish. Together with the Forest Service we are working on ways of solving that concern.
There was also a question of migratory birds that were surveyed in the area; once again A.C.O.R.A. was involved to make sure we would do what we could to help.
AQMD was working on the dust from the area but the results are non-conclusive at this time, since the dust in question occurs even when no one is in the Canyon, stirred up by the winds off the silt composition of the exposed reservoir bottom.
When the question was raised concerning MTBE fuel additive, (Slated by Gov. Gray Davis for phase out by 2003) A.C.O.R.A. funded a water study (a copy of which your paper has) to search for this and other contaminates in the streams and reservoir, of which “No detectable traces” were found.
A.C.O.R.A. has created “response teams” in case there is a rollover or problem, and Forest Service staff has been supplied with Containment kits in case such a need arises, which, to date has not.
I am not writing this to persuade or otherwise cloud your vision. I am writing this only to enlighten you to the fact that not all OHV users are insensitive to the needs of our environment. We the Canyon Critters of Azusa Canyon have been using the canyon for over twenty years, not only for recreation with our families and friends but are also constantly thinking of new ways to protect and enhance the canyon we love. I am not here to say that nothing of consequence will ever happen no one can predict that. What we ARE saying is that since people have been going up to that area for recreation there is no record the water has ever been contaminated by our use, and with proper management, pro-active thinking, and monitoring, it stands to stay that way.
In closing, we realize that the probability of some event occurring is a possibility, however remote, and that no Human interaction in the Forest ever goes without effect. But, is the answer to close the Forest to all? Or to take responsibility for our use and effect process’s to monitor and manage this and ALL Forest usages, so that each of us may enjoy the Forest for years to come.
Mike Bishop, A.C.O.R.A.
To: Your View, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
From: Mike Bishop, President, Azusa Canyon Off-Roaders.
Perception:
For the past few years I have been fortunate enough to be a part of the ongoing experience that is OHV recreation in the San Gabriel Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle area.
In the past few months this area has gotten its fair share of ink in the papers of Los Angeles, which has been very helpful in bringing up the awareness of OHV use in our county.
The Forest Service has done a very good job of managing- this area in light of the responsibilities to the eco-system that we all share. We, at the Azusa Canyon Off-Roaders Association would like to take a moment to let you know how OHV use has changed over the last few years, unlike ten to twelve years ago, when the area in question was not managed or monitored.
A.C.O.R.A. and the Forest Service have built a barrier with designated crossings along the upper portion of the San Gabriel River so that we may lessen our impact to the area where the Santa Ana Sucker Fish live. They have specific needs such as rocky pools, and cool moving water which we have worked on with the Forest Service to figure out, and we have brought in our own Biologist to further educate ourselves and the area’s users. We have found that an introduced exotic, the Big Mouth Bass, a non-native fish is feeding on the Santa Ana Sucker fish. Together with the Forest Service we are working on ways of solving that concern.
There was also a question of migratory birds that were surveyed in the area; once again A.C.O.R.A. was involved to make sure we would do what we could to help.
AQMD was working on the dust from the area but the results are non-conclusive at this time, since the dust in question occurs even when no one is in the Canyon, stirred up by the winds off the silt composition of the exposed reservoir bottom.
When the question was raised concerning MTBE fuel additive, (Slated by Gov. Gray Davis for phase out by 2003) A.C.O.R.A. funded a water study (a copy of which your paper has) to search for this and other contaminates in the streams and reservoir, of which “No detectable traces” were found.
A.C.O.R.A. has created “response teams” in case there is a rollover or problem, and Forest Service staff has been supplied with Containment kits in case such a need arises, which, to date has not.
I am not writing this to persuade or otherwise cloud your vision. I am writing this only to enlighten you to the fact that not all OHV users are insensitive to the needs of our environment. We the Canyon Critters of Azusa Canyon have been using the canyon for over twenty years, not only for recreation with our families and friends but are also constantly thinking of new ways to protect and enhance the canyon we love. I am not here to say that nothing of consequence will ever happen no one can predict that. What we ARE saying is that since people have been going up to that area for recreation there is no record the water has ever been contaminated by our use, and with proper management, pro-active thinking, and monitoring, it stands to stay that way.
In closing, we realize that the probability of some event occurring is a possibility, however remote, and that no Human interaction in the Forest ever goes without effect. But, is the answer to close the Forest to all? Or to take responsibility for our use and effect process’s to monitor and manage this and ALL Forest usages, so that each of us may enjoy the Forest for years to come.
Mike Bishop, A.C.O.R.A.