A good showing to influence the San Benito County BOS would be good.

California Association of 4WD Clubs, Inc. :: Access News

Could Clear Creek trails be reopened?

Could Clear Creek trails be reopened?
Written by editor@ingear4x4.com (Friends of Clear Creek) on Apr 04, 2010 09:57 am

April 6 meeting of San Benito County Board of Supervisors to recommend reopening of trails

A very important day has finally come. The San Benito County Board of Supervisors will be meeting this Tuesday April 6, 2010 to vote on reopening all 25 miles of county roads in the Clear Creek Management Area. We are requesting that as many people as possible show up and support the reopening of these PUBLIC ROADS, and the County Supervisors and County Council in their quest to better serve the citizens of San Benito County and the surrounding areas.

This would be the first giant step in having one of the top ten riding areas in the nation reopened for public use since it was closed two years ago by the BLM’s Rick Copper of the Hollister Field Office. Please make the time show up to this meeting to show our local government that as Americans we are willing to stand up and fight for what we believe is right.

If you can not make the meeting, here is more info for an email.

Reopen Clear Creek

I know that a lot of people will not be able to make it to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors meeting on April 6, 2010 at 1:30 in the afternoon because we all have jobs and need to support our families. But there is another way you can still help out.

Please send an e-mail TODAY to the Board of Supervisors asking ever one of them to vote to open all of the County Roads in the Clear Creek Management Area at the meeting tomorrow. If we can flood them with e-mails tonight they should get the idea that we are serious about getting this area opened back up as soon as possible.

As Americans it is our duty stand up and fight for what is right not only for our generation but for our kids and their kids also. Please use the link below and make up a short e-mail and send it tonight.

sbcsuper@supervisor.co.san-benito.ca.us

A letter/note doesn't have to be complicated... here's mine...

I can’t make it to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors meeting tomorrow, but I’d like to request that the Board of Supervisors each indivually vote at that meeting to re-open all of the county roads in the Clear Creek Management Area. The federal agencies are playing their own closurist games, but the County has latitude to stand separately for the residents of and visitors to San Benito County.

I do not reside in San Benito County, but I pass through it frequently to recreate, and spend many dollars in doing so – please consider the impact to the County of loss of revenue from this closure, and please stand up for public access to public lands.

Thanks,

Randii
Randy Burleson
Member, Sierra Treasure Hunters 4WD Club and California Association of 4WD Clubs

Did I miss something? Why only 1 day to get public input on this BOS meeting?

Seems more notice would be imperative on such an issue, Even if only
to gain county road access

Wayne

Where is the meeting?

Where is the meeting?

Sorry. I missed this section:

SAN BENITO COUNTY
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

REGULAR MEETING AGENDA

APRIL 6, 2010

Mission Statement

The County Board of Supervisors will recognize the public trust it holds, will on all occasions conduct business with honesty, integrity, and respect for the individual, and will hold the organization of County government to that same standard.

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors welcomes you to this meeting and encourages your participation.

• If you wish to speak on a matter which does not appear on the agenda, you may do so during the Public Comment period at the beginning of the meeting. Please complete a Speaker Card and provide it to the Clerk of the Board prior to the meeting. Except as otherwise provided by law, no action shall be taken on any item not appearing on the agenda. When addressing the Board, please state your name for the record. Please address the Board as a whole through the Chair.

• If you wish to speak on an item contained in the agenda please complete a Speaker Card identifying the item(s) and provide it to the Clerk of the Board prior to consideration of the item.

Each individual speaker will be limited to a presentation total of three (3) minutes.

AFTERNOON SESSION 1:30 P.M.

PLANNING DEPARTMENT – A. Henriques:

24) Review staff report, and draft comment letter to the Bureau of Land Management Clear Creek Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and provide comments and direction to staff.

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT – S. Wittry:
25) Adopt a Resolution to re-open unmaintained County roads upon the installation of appropriate information signage referencing a potential for human health risks within surrounding terrain in the BLM Clear Creek Management Area; and direct staff to maintain quarterly inspections of signs in the area.

The Board of Supervisors meet in the San Benito County Government Administration Building, 481 4th Street, Hollister, CA 95023-3840, 831-636-4001. http://san-benito.ca.us/agendas

Shoot...too far for me to drive...I guess a letter is the best I can do!

I sent an email too, as I am in Bakersfield for training for my new job.

Todd

The BOS voted 4-0 to OPEN the COUNTY roads in Clear Creek!!!!!!

Ride on
Brewster

:smokin: Sweet -- that's AWESOME news! :smokin:

Great work, all!

Randii

GREAT to hear!

Passing on the good news... thanks for everyone that worked hard to this good end, and thanks especially to San Benito County for standing up for what's right!

The Best News in 23 Months
Today April 6, 2010 the San Benito County Board of Supervisor made history by voting unanimously to reopen all of the closed roads in the Clear Creek Management Area. This does not mean that you can go out and ride in Clear Creek, but you can once again travel any of the county roads without the fear of being ticketed or thrown in jail. This was done over the requests of the BLM’s Hollister Field Office Manager Rick Copper who asked that the board keep the roads closed till the Record of Decision comes out. Mr. Copper was asked by the board when that was and he replied maybe as early as January 2011?

We ask that all Americans who will be visiting and driving thru the Clear Creek Management Area in the near and foreseeable future to observe the rules by staying on the county roads and not go off of them. We must learn to police ourselves thru these trying times knowing that the ultimate outcome will be a full return to the type of riding we used to know at the creek. If just a few abuse this sweet victory it will be short lived and give cause for the BLM to find ways to revoke what we have fought so hard to achieve.

If you see someone breaking the rules, please take a moment and educate them to what is at stake for all of the OHV community and the public if we lose this victory. I believe full heartedly that if we stand united together, that in the foreseeable future we will once again ride and enjoy all that the Creek has to offer every one of us and the family experiences it has provide for many of us throughout the years.

This day will forever live in the history books as a pivotal point for the OHV community and the American Public. The impacts of today’s decisions are being watched all across this great country of ours, and the impacts of these decisions will shape the future of OHV and the way our Public Lands are managed. After all Public Lands belong to the Public and not the government agencies managing them. Remember the CONSTITUTION says that the federal government CAN NOT OWN OUR PUBLIC LANDS but can only manage them.

Please pass this information on to as many people as you can, and remember that UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. Please remember that there is still a great amount of hard work ahead for all. Enjoy this hard fought victory, but do not let up the pressure to accept anything short of full unrestricted access to the Clear Creek Management Area.

Mike

Additional information. San Benito County Board of Supervisors has really stepped up!

BLUERIBBON COALITION, INC.

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Don Amador
Phone: 925.625.6287
Email: brdon@sharetrails.org
Date: April 7, 2010

CALIFORNIA COUNTY MAKES HISTORIC ACCESS VOTE TO REOPEN ROADS
ON FEDERAL LANDS

HOLLISTER, CA (April 7)--A rural county in Central California made access history when it voted 4-0 to reassert its jurisdiction on 25 miles of county roads in an area currently closed by the federal government. The April 6 vote by the San Benito County Board of Supervisors to open roads currently closed to the public is a watershed moment for Californians who are fighting an avalanche of proposed closures on federal lands in the state.

The County also voted to have staff prepare public comments in support of Alternative A in the BLM's Draft Resource Management Plan for the Clear Creek Management Area Environmental Impact Statement. The BLM's preferred Alternative E functionally closes the area to meaningful vehicular access. Alternative A supports public use of all roads and trails that were open for motorized recreation and access before the 2008 interim closure.

Don Amador, Western Representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition, states, "The San Benito County Board of Supervisors earned a place in the history books for taking a stand against a federal bureaucracy that has proposed a closure of historic proportions in their county. It was clear the Supervisors take seriously their constitutional role as a champion of the people and seek to protect the citizenry and the local economy from agenda-driven policies developed by unelected officials."

"When the federal government ignores the will of the people, local voters and users that visit the area have little choice but to look elsewhere for relief. Up and down the state, I see a growing number of counties who are joining with the people in defense of historic access to federal lands. Today's vote to reopen the roads for street-legal vehicles should be a clear signal to the BLM that their effort to make the Hollister Field Office a 'Human Free Zone' is going to be challenged," Amador concluded.