At the February 6th Big Basin General Plan presentation in Felton, lots of familiar faces turned out to learn about potential changes to this 18,000 acre park and how the planning process was proceeding. For those who could not be there, we have summarized highlights of the plans being proposed and how plans may impact equestrians, point to more complete online information, and strongly encourage equestrians to comment to park officials.
Comments, requests and concerns are welcome, and will provide the equestrian community with excellent opportunity to speak out for things that will safeguard and enhance riding at Big Basin. Park officials who presented the plan seemed eager to listen to our comments and answer questions. And while the draft plans are each several pages long, there is really very little detail yet developed about how these concepts will manifest in terms of changes to trails or staging. Sending our comments and requests to park officials now will help shape how these details are incorporated.
The General Plan for Big Basin Redwoods State Park includes not one draft plan, but three draft alternative plans. The three plans have a great deal of overlap, but each has a specific leaning insofar as how much development and human impact will be encouraged or tolerated.
Alternative 1
Most encourages development for various (and new forms) of recreation
Parkwide Concept:
This concept provides additional park facilities, where appropriate, and emphasizes visitor opportunities to increase public access, recreation opportunities, and visitor enjoyment of park resources.
Alternative 2
least encourages development
Parkwide Concept:
This concept emphasizes preservation of the primary natural resources, with possible relocation or removal of some existing development, activities, or services to preserve redwood forest.
Alternative 3
generally falls somewhere in between Alternatives 1 & 2 insofar as development of roads and buildings, and expanded types of recreational uses
Parkwide Concept:
This concept emphasizes the preservation and interpretation of the prime natural and cultural features and maintains traditional park activities and programs. It calls for rehabilitation and adaptive use of historic structures and the preservation of cultural landscapes, with no new development in the historic core area.
The map of Big Basin is changing. With the assimilation of “Little Basin”, all three plans include creation of a new park entry at “Saddle Mountain”, the closest portion of the Park along Hwy 236 from Boulder Creek. (Alternative 3 suggests this entry area to be used as supplemental entry, rather than a primary.) The new park entry at Saddle Mountain would be easier to reach when approaching HQ from Boulder Creek and will likely be developed as the main entry and parking area. Visitors could then take a shuttle, or walk, bike or ride their horses to the current HQ and several trailheads. Though dedicated equestrian parking near HQ was not detailed anywhere, all officials we spoke with thought it could likely be achieved. (The point is to get it on their to-do plan detail.)
Changes to the Rancho Del Oso (RDO) entry are also on all three plans, and here the plans are not all equal. Alternative 1 would increase access for all vehicles from Hwy 1 along the one lane road to the horsecamping and (tiny) day use staging area. This would undoubtedly make that modest space far less usable for equestrian access. Unless significant development ($$$) is planned with far more space than currently seems available, increased visitor vehicle access would be problematic for those arriving with rigs and horses. Alternatives 2 & 3, however, would limit vehicular access on the single lane road into RDO as it is currently, and not impact equestrian day use access. They would continue to encourage parking at Wadell Beach for non-equestrians, who would bike or hike the single lane road (as they do now) for access to the trailhead.
Another change proposed on all three Alternative Plans is to keep the Horsecamping area, but to somehow combine it with bike-in and tent camping use: “Allow tent, bike-in at existing equestrian camp.” A few flags pop up here. The space allotted for the horsecamp is already quite limited; dividing it would be unworkable. If an additional tent campground were to be added, it would need to be a significant distance from the horsecamp or used on a rotating basis, to avoid risking injury to youngsters wondering close to horses in camp. The additional concern of tents flapping about near horses in a usually windy locale also seems very problematic, especially with youngsters about.
Also, recent changes at RDO to increase the number of toilets at the trailhead has cut back the already limited day use staging. Additional space to stage at RDO would be very useful!
Potential Trail Changes are a concern to safety for horses. Alternatives 1 & 2 include this (Alternative 3 does NOT): “Provide a continuous trail (outside of the wilderness) from the ridge tops to the coast for bicycle access to natural areas and scenic points of interest.” Keeping in mind that most or all of the existing horse & hiking trails that connect the ridge tops to the coast are steep, single-track trails with poor line-of-sight, it would take considerable changes to these trails to make them safe for multi-use. If safety is a priority for equestrians, then sharing some of these trails with bikes may not be possible.
Alternative 3 would seem to be most advantageous to equestrians, but I think it is more helpful to advocate for specific items, like reasonable staging space near HQ and at RDO, safety as a priority on multiuse trails, continuation of the Horsecamp in a manner that is safe and useful, some shorter loop routes for horses, and any additional items you feel are important.
The entire General Plan can be found at: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21486.
We encourage you to contact park officials and comment on items that are important to you. While emails are welcome (generalplan@parks.ca.gov), written letters are most effective.
Send letters to:
California State Parks Planning Division
Big Basin Redwoods SP General Planning Team
POB 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
