War declared on off-roaders

Michael McCabe, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...26/MN203885.DTL


It may sound like something out of the Vietnam, but on the San Mateo County coast, locals and sheriff's deputies are declaring war of sorts on infiltrators they call "the defoliators."

Sheriff's deputies are cracking down on increasing numbers of road vehicles -- motorbikes, all-terrain 3-wheelers, 4-wheel-drive cars, SUVs and trucks -- that are crisscrossing the area's once-pristine hills and back roads that wind through them.

The off-roaders are wrecking native vegetation, and spooking horses and endangering their riders, locals say, and the noise alone is like the Indy 500.

March Madness is the 'defoliators" favorite time of year, the season of mud,

when their vehicles can slide down sideways and wallow in the brown goo. Mud is cool.

Worst of all, according to sheriff's deputies and local residents, their mechanized beasts are disrupting the entire ecological landscape, even scattering birds and animals and obliterating their habitat.

Among the creatures at risk are the juicy little rodents that the local raptors -- hawks and falcons -- desperately rely on for meals. There are even reports that some of the fleeing rodents are seeking refuge in residents' homes. And that won't do.

In the eyes of the law, the off-roaders are trespassing and "defoliating" the hills and meadows, the technical term for tearing up the land with their machines.

After more than 300 warnings over the past several months, San Mateo County sheriff's deputies are adopting a "zero-tolerance" policy, using their own 4- wheel-drive vehicles and Kawasaki dirt bikes to intercept them. They are now handing out citations. The fines can run between $200 and $500, and in egregious cases, up to $1,500.

"It's a nightmare," says Lt. John Quinlan of the San Mateo County sheriff's office. "People buy these off-road bikes and vehicles, but there is no place (set aside) to ride them unless you go to Tracy or Hollister. Everything in San Mateo County is owned by someone. This is totally illegal and destructive."

Particularly hard hit is the 4,262-acre property known as Rancho Corral de Tierra, one of the largest undeveloped tracts remaining on the San Mateo County Coast. Most of it is owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust, which announced in May 2001 that it had reached an agreement to buy the land for $29. 75 million.

Rich Allen, who owns the 100-acre Moss Beach Ranch inside Rancho Corral de Tierra, has run out of patience. For awhile he was willing to get his tractor to help pull off-roaders out of the mud. Now he is picking up the phone and calling the cops.

Most of the 106 horses he boards on his ranch are thoroughbreds and are quite temperamental, Allen said. The sight of an off-road bike or SUV roaring by "upsets" them.

"I was on my horse Pretty Boy a few weeks ago when we crested a rise and a dirt bike came out of nowhere," Allen says. "All the horse saw was a white T- shirt, reflected sun glasses and a white helmet. Pretty Boy went up in the air like a corkscrew and I landed on my butt. It's a real safety problem here now."

Others say the off-roaders appear to be taking over the land, like squatters, bringing with them their own alien culture.

"They like to bring their own furniture up and off-load it from their trucks, things like love seats, lawn chairs, and then they play their music from loudspeakers," said Patti Firpo, who trains people to ride horses at the Renegade Ranch on Sunshine Valley Road in Moss Beach. "It's the so-called music and the noise of the bikes that gets to me and the horses, a constant boom boom, roar roar, boom boom, day and night."

Keeping the off-roaders out of Rancho Corral de Tierra is complicated by the fact that there are at least a dozen ways to reach its back areas, some secret, said Sgt. John Diggins of the San Mateo County sheriff's office. There are yellow signs aplenty warning that the area is private and motorized vehicles are strictly verboten.

Rancho Corral de Tierra is a vast swath of land that nearly surrounds the towns of Moss Beach and Montara. It includes two of the four main peaks of Montara Mountain -- Montara Knob and South Peak, which offer sweeping views of the Bay Area. Scattered farming and equestrian use are expected to continue through special easements after the land trust secures title to the entire property.

The land supports the endangered peregrine falcon, San Bruno elfin butterfly, San Francisco garter snake and the threatened red-legged frog. Because of the ocean influence and rapid altitude changes, plants grow on the property that are found nowhere else in the world. Native vegetation includes the endangered Hickman's cinquefoil and the unique Montara manzanita.

More than four miles of the property's boundary are contiguous to existing public lands -- state and county parks, the San Francisco Water Department and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

"We are always concerned when there are illegal uses of our property," said Paul Ringgold, director of stewardship for the land trust. "There is a plan to install gates at certain access points, but with a piece of land that size you will never be able to keep everyone out."

Ringgold said that the land trust, as a broker to secure properties for open space, is not in a position to manage the lands it acquires. The intention is to eventually turn Rancho Corral de Tierra over to the state, county, or perhaps the federal government for inclusion into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

That time cannot come any time too soon for many on the Coastside who want no more to do with the off-roaders.

"It's going to get worse," says Quinlan. "The word is getting out among the cowboys from as far away as Palo Alto that this Coastside is the place to slip and slide. We'll be waiting."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crowdog

So, what's the other side of the story?

Sounds like its OK for mild mannered horses to go out and ear it up and leave horse shit everywhere:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Crowdog
"People buy these off-road bikes and vehicles, but there is no place (set aside) to ride them unless you go to Tracy or Hollister.

There's the "other side" ;)

Not that I condone illegal trespass, but the fact is that if you don't set aside areas specifically FOR this kind of recreation, people will resort to illegal access.

TEX

Sounds pretty simple.

Private property, trespassing without permission.

What's the problem? The Landowners don't want people to tear up their shit.

If some fuckin' irresponsible punkass, wants to do donuts on my lawn, weather it's .25 acre, or 1000 acres, it's still my lawn.

What should really be the question is, who the fuck are the idiots giving the greenies ammo to close down the legitimate places to play, by doing this??!!

And the excuse that there is nowhere else to play is total shite. There wasn't a place to play when they bought thier toys, it's not like they closed something down in that area!

So, we have areas of private property on which the owners do not want the public off-roading on. No offense, but Off-roaders should stay out if in fact that is the case. If this is truly a factual report then they people doing the off-roading are in the wrong and deserve the tickets and fines.

It pisses me off when a few stupid assholes do this shit and make all of us look bad :mad3:

Other side? Horses? Who cares! Sounds to me like it's clearly a case of trespassing and that makes it illegal to be there.

The fight to use the land shouldn't be made by just using it. Makes us all look bad!!

Paul

Originally posted by Dan-H
Sounds like its OK for mild mannered horses to go out and ear it up and leave horse shit everywhere:rolleyes: Devils Advocate: They applied and obtained special access easements. They are allowed on the property. Whereas motorized recreation has signs indicating that they are not allowed. Horse shit is harmless and completely biodigradeable. However and the issue that has closed some places to horses is the fact that they don't completely digest their food and they leave behind a lot of seeds to sprout non-indigenes (sp) plants and weeds.

The "cowboy" who ended up on his ass should train his horses better. I know my horses love to play catch the three-wheeler.

But the issue here is once again people who infringe upon the rights of property owners. They have continued to aggravate a situation that has caused the owners to unite and fight motorized recreation. Obviously those bringing out thier living room furniture are leaving it behind. That's still unlawful dumping no matter how you slice it. Is really making a bad situation worse. The one owner indicated he helped stuck trucks so he, at least initally, was not opposed to the vehicle traffic, until it became too much too often.

The land is privately owned and it is posted no motorized vehicles allowed. Yet a bunch of idiots are once again smearing our name across the papers and just helping to solidify the anti-motorized recreation position as we don't care about the environment and certainly refuse to adhere to posted signs and the rights of private property ownership.

Maybe those who want to use the land should organize to try to find additional places to recreate. Obviously just tresspassing isn't the solution.

The sheriff states the solution to his own problem there in his own words:



"It's a nightmare," says Lt. John Quinlan of the San Mateo County sheriff's office. "People buy these off-road bikes and vehicles, but there is no place (set aside) to ride them unless you go to Tracy or Hollister. Everything in San Mateo County is owned by someone. This is totally illegal and destructive."


hmm, seems to me that if they made an effort to set-aside an area for these "defoliators", or better yet, made some established trails and such to that people COULD get out an enjoy the area with out disturbing others, 1/2 their problem would be solved. The county should set up a deal with some of the land owners to give them a rax break if they open up some of the land to ORV use (and help stave off liability issues)

Also, mud happens and people like mud, so set aside a mud bog area. The place it GOING to be torn up, give people a place to do so. Come in every once and a while for a day and plow it all back down when it gets too torn up....

Give person a place to shoot guns, and 90% of them will shoot there, if not, they will just shoot anywhere. Same thing.


Also, I'm surprised there isn't more laws regarding noise from off-road vehicles (bike, quads and 4x4's). I *personally* do not like the whine and ting of 2-strokes, I don't see why a decent muffler couldn't be designed for them, but most 4x4's are loud and obnoxious as well. I got nothing against making my 4x4 quieter (note, "quieter", I ain't got a v-8 for nothing :D), I don't NEED open headers to cruise around in the woods...



I don't know, just rambling. I'm not familiar with the area, so I can't comment too much, it just seems to me that "officials" are taking the wrong approach, and in effect, making thing worse. Less area to play, more concentrated and destructive it is to what's left.....


hmm, good analogy, look at a farmer's ranch. VAST acres of land for a small population, why?? So the live-stock don't destroy one confined area before it can repair its self..... anyone see a parallel??



sorry, :rant off:


:edit: I also agree with most everyone else, It IS private property, so yes, they are with in their rights. And I would to if Jack-assses were tearing up my land when I asked them not to.

it's private property. They are tresspassing and causing more grief for the offroaders that are responsible. I always ask for permission to run private property and if the owner says no, I thank them for their time and move on.

Here's an idea for you guys to channel your frustration.

Write a quick note to your representatives and tell them that we need more area for OHV's instead of less. It doesn't have to be a lengthy novel, just a few sentences stating your objection to the closure of public land for OHV's. And maybe that the number off OHV's has greatly increased over the last decade, but the area available has shrunk.

Find your representatives easily at http://www.congress.org/

Here are a few addresses for Californians:
Senator@Feinstein.senate.gov
Senator@Boxer.senate.gov
president@whitehouse.gov
gale_norton@ios.doi.gov


Crowdog
www.crowley-offroad.com

So what are we going to do about it? Organize a clean up of the site as an apology? Write a group letter to the Editor of the Chroncile as condemning their behavoir? Offer to work with the law to stop this? Or just rant about it here online...............?

Paul

Originally posted by nasvik
Or just rant about it here online...............? That would be status quo.

Originally posted by Crowdog
War declared on off-roaders


Among the creatures at risk are the juicy little rodents that the local raptors -- hawks and falcons -- desperately rely on for meals. There are even reports that some of the fleeing rodents are seeking refuge in residents' homes. And that won't do.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crowdog

Yah it's the offroaders :rolleyes: that make the mice and rats head for your nice house. Not the fact that you built a fawking home on the land the mice and rats call home.

Why not attack urban sprawl everthink that the mice were their first you scared them away and now they are just coming back.

can't see why it's ok for these fawkers to build homes roads and other crap on these places but then prohibit every one else from enjoying it.

Makes me think of Tahoe.
Lets build malls casinos huge parking lots and roads then blame the offroaders for all the damage done to the lake

:mad: :flipoff:

Originally posted by Crowdog
Write a quick note to your representatives and tell them that we need more area for OHV's instead of less. It doesn't have to be a lengthy novel, just a few sentences stating your objection to the closure of public land for OHV's. And maybe that the number off OHV's has greatly increased over the last decade, but the area available has shrunk.This reminds me. Last summer I was browsing the BLM's website and came across a picture, well two specifically that showed and area that had very similar perspectives of an OHV area. The BLM captioned about note the reduction of vegetation....bucka bucka. I sent them an email about those two pictures. I asked them if and why not in their photgraphic observations and "testimonial" had they not considered overall climatic changes, increased amount of people using the area and the reduction of the overall OHV area that forced an increased concentration. I'm still waiting a response. :rolleyes:

Yes write to as many people as you can. You must actually generate a piece of paper to really be effective as email gets lost or deleted and a stack of email doesn't measure anything compared to a stack of letters.

no-where did I advocate tresspassing or suggest that the use/abuse whatever is acceptable, but I am sick of the equestrian spin that its OK for horses and not OK for Mountain bikes or off road vehicles. Responsible use is Responsible use and abuse is abuse.

Oh wait, I forgot, allhorse owners/riders are responsible, just ask any of them :rolleyes:

On private property, what else beside tresspassing can you get cited for ? Maybe I'm wrong but if you are out hiking and trespassing or horse riding and tresspassing or offroading and tresspassing it *IS* the same thing and would carry the same penalty.

So, will our tax paid law enforcement officials be stopping every person in the area including hikers and horse riders? If not, can you say selective enforcement of the law?

Also, I didn't see in the article that folks "applied for" the easements, it just said they had easements. My guess is because they own land or operate a commercial activity on the parcel they are grandfathered some sort of easement.

Oh yah and tresspassing is bad.

Make friends with the property owners gain permission to access the property then police it and care for it like it was yours.

There are many spots near my house where I can wheel but since I doonot know the land owners I will not go. Just because every one else does it doesn't make it right.

And why is it always the offroaders that get blamed for dumping couches and crap in these places. Sems to me the above place mentioned is a common place for the homless to camp out in.

Rust, seems to me your missing the point that this is someones PRIVATE PROPERTY!!!

Not public land that once allowed motorized access.

If I lived in the city and a crackhead decides to squat in my living room, because "all the free shelters were closed down" am I wrong to call the cops to haul him away?

There are area's set aside for legal off road recreation, it's just that these idiots refuse to spend a little time getting there.

As for what we are going to do?

Writing the editor of the Chronicle isn't a bad idea, although I doubt it would get the same kind of press, if any. The cleanup would be a good idea, but it won't stop the problem.

How about a cleanup, a letter, and getting the cops to impound every vehicle caught trespassing in that area!

Harsh, but how long till the local idiots figure out that if you do it, your shit gets taken away. Abatement is a scary wakeup call, but it could solve the local problem! But the blackeye is already ours!

I'm writing the editor of the Chronicle first. I know it's a VERY liberal paper, of course, but this report is grossly biased and irresponsible. These people are not "off-roaders", they're assholes. Human trash that happens to utilize off road vehicles.

Originally posted by nasvik
Or just rant about it here online...............?



DING DING DING. We have a winner.

Everyone, please join me in addressing the editor of the SF Chronicle where we, as the real "off-roader" public would like to educate them regarding who the people in this story really are.

Let's make sure they know that WE dont condone nor participate in this kind of activity and do not want to be labled with people who do. Thanks.

http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/info/e-mail/

I Just re-read the post and realized that the environmentalists twisting this whole thing as many of you have pointed out.

This article in a perfect world should not have been writen to portray an environmental problem. It should have been writen as a trespassing and lack of respect for others article.
I'm no good at writing letters to but maybe some one good with a pen can make this point in a letter.
the statments made in the article are misleading. Once again the environmentalists are making any one with an offroad vehicle evil.
but this time the living mamal of of an offroad vehicle the horse is not as evil as the mechanical the dirtbike or quad or truck.

I am sick of these people using the big environmental lever to get their way.

Ok, slow down. This article has quite a bit of BS and left out facts in it. If ya wanna hear the other side of this, here it is:

I literally grew up a block away from the place they are talking about in Moss Beach. I used to ride my dirt bike, moutain bike, walk my dog, and later drive my truck around back there ALL THE TIME. The cops we're always cool too us cause they knew that it WAS NOT ALL PRIVATE LAND at one time. We had just as much a right to be there as the horses and hikers. Recently a bill pased wich allowed a large majority of this land to be bought by the Peninsula Open Space Trust. Basically this just keeps all the damn developers away from the land, but it also puts someone directly in charge of the land.

When I was growing up there were tons of people on horseback riding around. Whenever my friends and I would come up upon anyone on foot or horse, we would slow down, stop, or even turn off our bikes sometimes. But common sense will tell you that both these groups (even though myself and my friends belong to both groups) are not going to get along well together. I always knew it wouldn't be long until something like this happend.

I haven't been up there in a few years, but I can see how it could get pretty ugly. There are a lot of jackasses that will head up into the hills, drink a bunch of beer and set some couches on fire... Just like any other small town with nothing else to do after the local high school football games.

As fars as the little criters being forced into nearby homes, give me a break, the only little critters sneaking into my parents house (who still live where I grew up) is the damn raccoons and skunks!!

Particularly hard hit is the 4,262-acre property known as Rancho Corral de Tierra, one of the largest undeveloped tracts remaining on the San Mateo County Coast. Most of it is owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust, which announced in May 2001 that it had reached an agreement to buy the land for $29. 75 million.

Peninsula Open Space Trust (http://www.openspacetrust.org/POST_Lands/rancho_corral.htm) looks to be an organization just like the Nature Conservancy (http://www.crowley-offroad.com/land_grabbing_secrets.htm) . By land for "public use", and then close it off to the public and "save it" for the endangered animals. It is then transfered to the government with a BIG tax writeoff for the greens. The greenies then use this money to buy more land, shut it down, move it to gov't control, etc, etc....

The property supports numerous threatened, rare and endangered animal species. Rancho Corral de Tierra is home to the endangered peregrine falcon, San Bruno elfin butterfly, San Francisco garter snake and red-legged frog. Healthy populations of fox, coyote, bobcat, deer, mountain lion, brush rabbit, eagle, and hummingbird also reside on the property.


Crowdog

I think the people that do this stuff are as much an enemy off legitimate off roaders as the greenies are.

By the way, I'd say that only about .5% of Rancho Corral de Tierra is even accessible to anything with 4 wheels, and 99% of that can easily be reached in a car. Basically I think it's just a bunch of kids who didn't know any better, and let things get out of hand. If I get a chance I'm gonna try and get up there this weekend to have a look around (either on foot or my mountain bike :D ) And yes I do plan on writing the Chronicle to let them know that this in no way should reflect the attitude of the local off road community.

How many of you voted for Proposition 12, two years ago, or Proposition 40 in the last election?

I ask because the funding to purchase open space like this ranch, that allowed motorized use in the past, and change the use to eliminate motorized recreation came from our tax paying pockets (through Propositions 12 and 40).

OK, complain and follow the author's logic that it's private land and these "abusers" have no right to tread on the land. I would hope you look a little deeper and ask a few questions. Has the land always excluded motorized recreation? Is there an established public right of way, which has changed for some reason? What made the land private? What funding paid to have the private land trust gain ownership of the parcel(s)?

Would you be upset if you found tax dollars, State taxes, paid to the land trust to purchase other land parcels, were used to make this purchase? What would think about taxes funding a purchase that allowed this owner to exercise their choice of who they believe is acceptable as visitors (and who is not -- a vehicle)?

It's right there in the article, "Ringgold said that the land trust, as a broker to secure properties for open space, is not in a position to manage the lands it acquires. The intention is to eventually turn Rancho Corral de Tierra over to the state, county, or perhaps the federal government for inclusion into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area."

The adjacent land "the Golden Gate National Recreation Area" probably already allows non-motorized recreation, so why not write your state congressman to make the turnover to the government a State Vehicle Recreation Area? Managed recreation would prevent the abuse and provide a needed location. Write that you favor a land purchase to provide a SVRA, and write that you will accept no land purchase by the State that carries restrictions to future motorized use that is inconsistent with past easements and use.

Rancho Corral de Tierra SVRA.

Even as a motorized legal picnic area it's more access than that available on the majority of the 1,100 miles of California coastline.

Happy Trails!

Originally posted by Rabbit
Basically I think it's just a bunch of kids who didn't know any better, and let things get out of hand.


This is kind of how it looks to me, too, from a distance. Around here, we've lost lots of land like this over the last 10-20 years. There used to be tons of private land where they let people go trail-riding, but most of it is gone now. Lots of reasons - urban sprawl, growing popularity of 4-wheeling, etc - but in almost every case the shit hit the fan after things got out of hand.

Just one more argument for self-police-ing. Frown at the people who abuse the trails, pick up other people's trash, explain to the dumbasses why they need to be more considerate.

Originally posted by Rabbit
Ok, slow down. This article has quite a bit of BS and left out facts in it. If ya wanna hear the other side of this, here it is:

I literally grew up a block away from the place they are talking about in Moss Beach. I used to ride my dirt bike, moutain bike, walk my dog, and later drive my truck around back there ALL THE TIME. The cops we're always cool too us cause they knew that it WAS NOT ALL PRIVATE LAND at one time. We had just as much a right to be there as the horses and hikers.

Thanks Joel for bringing in a locals view. This is such the truth. Chris (my fiancé) and Joel grew up riding their dirtbikes out there. Then it turned to trucks. We haven’t been wheeling out there in about 5 years, but during that time we had never run into any problems, with horses or with the law.

Originally posted by Rabbit
By the way, I'd say that only about .5% of Rancho Corral de Tierra is even accessible to anything with 4 wheels, and 99% of that can easily be reached in a car. Basically I think it's just a bunch of kids who didn't know any better, and let things get out of hand.

Yet more truth is told! I wouldn’t really call it wheeling, but it is pretty fun when you’re a teenager to cruise around on little dirt roads and climb mild hills. As I said, I haven’t had a vehicle out there in years, but I do still actively ride my horses out there. I can honestly say that I have run into more vw bugs, honda civics, and the likes, then I have ever come across capable wheelers or dirtbikes. And those I have met on the trail have been totally courteous when passing me. I don’t have a problem with sharing trails. Maybe it’s cause I have been on both sides, or maybe I don’t get all freaked out and jack up my horse when I see a vehicle coming, but like I said, I have had NO PROBLEMS riding there. Three of my horses are under the age of 6... maybe some people just need lessons.

Originally posted by Monkeyboy
Yah it's the offroaders :rolleyes: that make the mice and rats head for your nice house. Not the fact that you built a fawking home on the land the mice and rats call home.

BINGO! The road we live on (about 4 miles from the mentioned area) had only five other houses on it until about 4 years ago. Chris’ family has lived here 25 years and for about 15 of those it was a dirt road. Now there are approximately 15 new houses, selling for over a million each, that were built just past ours on the steep hillside. I’m just waiting for a good rain. Can you say Land Slide? I won’t even get into the “community” that was also built one road past ours. Yet another area gone. Yeah.. I’m sure it’s the offroad vehicles that are destroying our environment and precious wildlife habitats.

"It's the so-called music and the noise of the bikes that gets to me and the horses, a constant boom boom, roar roar, boom boom, day and night

Ummm... can I just say... Bull S***! This person is so damn full of it. I am so sick of people talking trash just to get their way. Funny thing is, the loudest, constant noise I hear out there is usually the sound of the tractor that is being run from that ranch.

My summary.... It sucks that all offroad users can’t be more responsible and respectful AND it sucks that some equestrians can’t be more understanding. This was a cool area that is now off limits cause some jack asses went out there to dump trash and party. Or perhaps pressure was put on the cops to enforce no trespassing laws by a group of selfish equestrians who were inconvienced by a vehicle that innocently “got in their way”. I enjoy both wheeling and horseback riding. They both attract me cause I love the outdoors and nature. I am so sick of the bad rap that wheelers get. We all know that as a group, the people on this board are more environmentally educated and focused than a vast majority of the people in this country.

Among the creatures at risk are the juicy little rodents that the local raptors -- hawks and falcons -- desperately rely on for meals. There are even reports that some of the fleeing rodents are seeking refuge in residents' homes. And that won't do.

Can you beleive this shit? How could any rational being think that a paragraph like this could've been written by an unbiased individual...?

Anyone who beleives this tripe would have to be even dumber than the grudge-weilding, axe-grinding hack that wrote it...

Originally posted by Jakesteramalamajama


Can you beleive this shit? How could any rational being think that a paragraph like this could've been written by an unbiased individual...?

Anyone who beleives this tripe would have to be even dumber than the grudge-weilding, axe-grinding hack that wrote it...

Yep..as soon as I read the 2nd half of that paragraph I said to myself "hmm..what do you think the homeowners are more upset over, a hawk maybe being a lil hungry or having a mouse running around their living room?"