Off-roaders push for reopening of Rail Trail

Tim Hearden
Record Searchlight

April, 07 2002 — 2:52 a.m.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have rekindled a turf battle between north state trail enthusiasts and off-road vehicle users that was thought to be resolved last year.
Shasta County agreed last summer to enforce the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's ban of motorized vehicles on the new nine-mile Sacramento River Rail Trail, which stretches from Keswick to the base of Shasta Dam.

But because security concerns around the dam have taken away their main access route to the 44,000-acre off-road vehicle park north of Whiskeytown Lake, recreational motorists want to reopen the trail.

"There's virtually no place else to go that's close to town for youngsters or people who are just learning," said Ohl Olson of Redding, who heads several north state off-roaders' groups.

"What a lot of people have done with their motorcycles and ATVs is gone onto private property or property that's been restricted," Olson said. "And of course there's been a number of different events that have been canceled because of no access down there . . . so we're losing money in the community."

Shasta County supervisors will consider taking up the off-road enthusiasts' cause Tuesday by sending a letter asking the BLM to quickly reopen the Rail Trail and keep it available until security restrictions around the dam are lifted.

The BLM and the Bureau of Reclamation, which also owns some land over which the Rail Trail passes, are studying a reopening of the trail on an interim basis, said Chuck Schultz, the BLM's field manager in Redding.

The agencies will start Monday assessing the risk that would be posed to hikers, bicyclists and horseback riders who would have to share the trail with motorized vehicles, he said. There would be considerably more vehicle traffic on the trail than there was when it was used as a secondary access road last year, Schultz said.

The trail could reopen within 30 to 60 days, Schultz said. The dam road, meanwhile, would have to be reopened by officials in Washington, D.C. Its closure is indefinite, Schultz said.

The off-road enthusiasts' request has resumed a debate that filled county supervisors' chambers twice last year, as the Board of Supervisors considered whether to commit the Shasta County Sheriff's Department to keep the trail clear of motorized vehicles.

During public hearings, recreational motorists pitched for a second major access road to their park while hikers and bicyclists said such a use would threaten their safety and ruin the peace and quiet of the trail.

At a meeting about the latest proposal in late March, trail users had a mixed reaction to the off-roaders' request, as some said they wouldn't mind sharing the trail as long as the arrangement was only temporary, county Supervisor Irwin Fust said.

But Marion Schmitz, a member of Redding's Trails and Bikeways Council, said Friday that the use of off-road vehicles on the trail would be a "disaster" for its quiet and tranquility.

"I run on the trail," Schmitz said. "I live close to it and I run on it a couple of times a week typically, and a lot of my neighbors do the same thing. There are people there with horses, dogs, bicycles, and I know what will happen if people are allowed in there with off-road vehicle traffic."

Schmitz said the dam road isn't the only way to access the park. There's a way in from Copley Mountain Road, although it's a steep road that would give inexperienced motorists trouble. There's also a way to get there through French Gulch.

But Fust acknowledged that the safest way to enter the park would be through the Rail Trail, at least until the dam road is reopened.

"I want them (BLM officials) to make a deliberate but quick decision to reopen that trail," Fust said. "They have to go through an assessment on it to see if they can get it open and I encourage that. There doesn't seem to be any other temporary way to safely get people in there."

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© Copyright 2002 Record Searchlight.

Shasta Dam reopens road

Vehicles allowed to cross spillway with day permit





Alex Breitler
Record Searchlight

June 15, 2002 — 2:17 a.m.
For the first time since Sept. 11, motorists may drive across Shasta Dam — but they'll need a permit.
Friday's announcement by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation means off-road enthusiasts will once again have direct access to a 44,000-acre riding park on the west side of the dam. That park was cut off for most users when the dam was closed following the terrorist attacks.

But the dam's new policy comes with tight restrictions.

Only passenger vehicles will be allowed. Anyone wishing to cross the dam must apply for a day permit at least 72 hours (three days) in advance, bureau officials said.

The two-page applications must be accompanied by two driver's license photocopies.

And cars will be searched twice, upon entering and exiting the road.

"They (guards) will do whatever they deem necessary to make sure our facility is safe," said dam spokeswoman Sheri Harral.

Shasta Dam is not the first major dam to reopen the road over its spillway.

Hoover Dam, southeast of Las Vegas and one of the largest structures of its kind, was also one of the first to reopen following Sept. 11 — in part because a major highway crosses it.

Passenger cars were allowed over Hoover Dam within a month of Sept. 11, with no permits necessary, said bureau spokeswoman Colleen Dwyer of Boulder City, Nev.

Limited tours of Hoover Dam were reinstated in mid-December, and pedestrians are allowed to walk across the structure. Partial tours of Shasta Dam began again just last month, and the dam is closed to walkers.

Closer to home, at Folsom Dam northeast of Sacramento, passenger cars have been allowed over the dam for several months, bureau reports show.

Not all of the bureau's 475 dams nationwide will have security restrictions lifted at the same time, said bureau spokesman David Jones of Sacramento. Different dams have different security needs, he said.

"We have a local manager at each of our dams who makes decisions prudently based on what they know and are told," Jones said.

Other restrictions at Shasta include:

• The road will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. only;

• Permits are good for one day only;

• Applications must be submitted in person, faxed or mailed;

• The Chappie-Shasta campground remains closed;

• Recreation on the lake is restricted within 1,000 feet of the dam.

Harral said dam officials are balancing public access needs with safety.

"We're trying to get a happy medium," she said. "Security and safety of the public is of the utmost importance."


Reporter Alex Breitler can be reached at 225-8344 or at abreitler@redding.com.





Saturday, June 15, 2002