Aliso-Woods RMP It’s time to bring this issue back to the forefront again. The number of e-mails I have been receiving regarding the RMP have been picking up lately since the time change and with more people getting out for evening rides in the park. And some riders have been getting frustrated over the past few weeks (myself included) due to unanswered correspondence with the County. Fortunately I received my copy of the notice for the May RRTAC meeting at Santiago Oaks Regional Park for Monday, May 16th at 7:00 pm. In order to give the County the benefit of the doubt, I will take the position that the reason that they have not responded is because Joanne Quirk, RMP Project Manager will be giving a presentation at the meeting regarding the Aliso-Woods RMP. I was personally getting frustrated because I have been asking for four months for a copy of the letter that was supposed to be written by the RRTAC to the County regarding the RMP (and I will publicly ask once again at this meeting). Anyone who has any interest at all regarding the trail issues at Aliso-Woods and Laguna Coast really needs to attend this meeting. Ever since our strong showing in November with over 70 riders, only I, Keith and a couple of other riders have attended the subsequent meetings. This lack of presence does not demonstrate to the County that we are a viable group and if we lose access to trails, or do not have any of the currently closed trails considered for legalization, we have no one to blame but ourselves. If riders are not willing to spend a few minutes writing a letter or two, or commit to a couple of hours every other month to sit in on the RRTAC meetings, then those people will have absolutely no room to utter a word of complaint if the RMP gets completed without the addition of some re-opening of existing trails. There will be no room to complain when the Rangers finally receive the power of citation and issue stiff citations for people using trails that they were not willing to fight for legally. So many people have e-mailed me asking how they can get involved, and so many people want to know how to voice their opinion. The RRTAC meeting that takes place every other month is precisely that venue, where the members of the public can stand up and pose questions directly to the board on ANY trail issues within the County. If you don’t take the opportunity to voice your opinion to the County when these venues occur, then you have no voice IMO to voice a complaint afterwards if things don’t develop the way you would like them to. This particular meeting is important because Joanne Quirk from the County (the RMP Project Manager) will be present to make a presentation regarding the RMP, and to ferry questions from the public. I will be there once again as I have been since November and will be at every subsequent meeting this year. Please get involved this time and let the County know that we care greatly about all of the trails in the Aliso-Woods/Laguna Coast parks and want to have our concerns considered during the RMP process. It’s time to take a head count on who is serious enough about these issues to show their support by attending this meeting. I will once again be parking at the Albertsons and riding my bike to the meeting. Please post your name here or e-mail me so I can get an estimate of how many riders will be attending this meeting. Thanks Adam, aka JamR
Can you explain what RRTAC and RMP are. I can't figure it out (still learning, sorry) And can you explain more of what we can do to help. Do you just want mountain bikers there to show that we are prominent in this area? Or do you want knowledgable people to ask questions and debate? What kind of questions? I don't know how everyone else feels about these things, but I'm a little intimidated. I don't know anything when it comes to legislation or the process that is going on with Aliso/wood canyon (maybe it will make sense when i figure out what those abbreviations are). I'm gunna try to come to this meeting (not sure cuz thats finals week) and hopefully learn everything thats going on. Are there any links you have where I can read about whats been going on the last year or so?
Good points Moochy, The RMP stands for the Resource Management Plan. Basically what has happened at Aliso-Woods and in some part also at Laguna Coast is that the plan for these areas have not been finalized. For over 10 years now Aliso-Woods has been operating under an interim operations plan, which is not an inherent problem in itself. The problem with this park is that long before the County took possession of the area and created the park as we know it today, and long before the Harbors Beaches and Parks was even an entity in Orange County; this area had a well established network of recreational trails. It does have to be duly noted that many of them were not legally established trails, but realistically after decades of unhindered use by the public; many of these trails became historically accepted paths of travel for recreation in this area. When the County created the maps of the park as we know it today, there apparently was no concise study that took place that reviewed all of the popular trails in the area. Instead the County simply placed the main logical trails on the map and called it a day. Even after the creation of the County Park, many of the currently closed trails still enjoyed a quasi-open status and were included in the most popular publication (Mountain Biking in Orange County) with credits given to the Harbors, Beaches and Parks in the prelude to the book. After a while the closed signs and wire fences started showing up on these popular trails, and then some of the trails that once enjoyed a multi-use status were re-designated to hiking only trails. Then the enforcement and citations came which were geared towards the bikers on closed trails and for night use of the park, while infractions from other user groups were treated in a much lighter manner. The bottom line is that for years we have been informed that the proper avenue to get these trails re-reviewed for opening was through the County RMP for the park. Quite a few of us have been calling, writing letters and showing up to meetings and trail summits for five years now; and finally it appears that the RMP has begun (although none of us that have written the County lately have received any response in writing confirming this). What we are hanging our hat on right now is Supervisor Wilson’s commitment to our group at a meeting in February that the “RMP would be started and completed under his watch” which I believe effectively ends in November of 2006. The RRTAC is the Orange County “Regional Recreational Trails Advisory Committee” which is a 12 member (I believe) board of Volunteer members and County Staff that is the public’s sounding board for these issues. They meet every other month at Santiago Oaks Regional Park and cover all trail issues in Orange County (Hiking, Biking, Equestrian trails, bike lanes, bike paths, etc….); and anyone from the public can attend these meetings and bring any trail issue to the board for discussion and review during the public comment period. This is what we have been doing religiously since November. Joanne Quirk is apparently the Project Manager for the RMP and will be at this meeting to make a presentation to the board and the public on the Aliso-Woods RMP, so it is an important meeting to attend for anyone who wants to be involved and informed regarding Aliso-Woods. Here is the basic concern that I and others have stated many times to the County regarding the RMP. We simply want to have an involvement in the RMP and to work with the County to try to get access to some of the historical trails that have been closed in the past. We have stated to the County that one of our main concerns is that we will not be given the opportunity to state our views during the RMP, and there will come a time when we are notified of a public meeting (like the one coming up on the 16th) where we are presented with the final proposed map of the park, and discover that none of our concerns or requests were reviewed. I do not know if that is what’s taking place here, but I and others have been writing the County again for the past few weeks to Kevin Thomas, Tom Wilson, Joanne Quirk, Jeff Dickman and others within the County simply asking them the current status of the RMP. All the riders I spoke with this week have not received any reply from the County. So it would give the appearance that the County is for some reason not communicating with us. That’s why it’s very important to have as many riders and hikers as possible at this next meeting so we can once again show the County that we are very concerned and very interested in “OUR” park, and insist on having a say in the outcome of “OUR” recreational trails. That’s what’s so nice about these meeting venues, because even if a person does not want to get up and get directly involved in publicly speaking directly to the board, their mere presence at these meetings makes a difference, and gives a much needed support to those of us who do get up and speak at these meetings. We need bikers to be present at ALL of these meeting to show the board members that we are an organized and concerned group that cares deeply about our park. That’s basically the history and the gist of what we are trying to accomplish. It always helps to have people write letters to the County, and after this meeting I will once again post the e-mail contact addresses for all of the pertinent County personnel who are involved in our parks. But again……..This is a Very Important Meeting for any rider who uses and loves Aliso-Woods and Laguna Coast to attend. Not to be harsh………….but as I stated on many occasions……….If you are not willing to get involved with this issue and at least show up to a few meetings per year; then when we don’t re-gain access to come closed trails; more trails get closed on us; and Rangers/Sheriffs start increasing citations to riders in the parks………….you will have no room to complain. Please attend this meeting and be there to support those of us who are regularly standing up and stating our concerns to the board. Be there!!! Monday, May 16th 7:00 pm Santiago Oaks Regional Park 2145 N. Windes Drive Orange, CA 92869 714-973-6620 I will be riding my bike in from the Albertsons parking lot. Thanks :wave:
Wow, good explanation. So is anything more happening with the montage and expanding the golf course. I know the idea got shut down earlier this year, but I was under the impression that they would modify it and present a new plan to the county. Have they given up on it?
As far as I understand, the Montage is still in the planning stages and will be following the legal processes of review for their plans. I personally never had a major issue with the Montage expansion except for the conflicting messages it was sending. For over 10 years we have been kept off long-time accepted historical trails with the explaination of habitat protection, then we find out about proposed plans that would bulldoze through dozens of acres of wilderness lands. It was just contradictory that we have fought for so many years for access to some 2' wide trails that have existed for decades and have not been successful in having them re-reviewed for incorporation legally into the park system; yet a proposed golf course expansion that would completely raze acres and acres of untouched areas is being considered. If the Montage follows all the proper steps and meets all the requirements set forth for their plans; and habitat is mitigated in other areasl; I see no real problem. However on the flip side, the users who have been seeking a venue to have the historical trails reviewed for opening have not in my opininon been given a fair opportunity for the past 10 years to be heard. This meeting is one of our opportunities to be heard as a group. I hope to see as many Socaltrailriders.org members as possible at the meeting. Just consider this a group ride from the Albertsons to the meeting
