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Chris (Dukes69), Sarah, Julie(Desert Jewel), Crash and I met with an impressive gathering of people regarding the Doran Gatekeeper By-Pass Closure. (For more info on this: click)
At the meeting was the Director of Regional Parks, Tom Potter; the Manager of Calico Regional Park, Rae; BLM Rep that oversees the Calico Area OHV, Larry Blaine; Two ladies from the Risk Management Department from the County Regional Parks, and Paul from County Land Use. (Please forgive me if Ive missed anyone, got your names wrong or title wrong...this was from memory!)
First let me say how wonderful it was that these folks could take time out of their busy days so that we could all get together to discuss this issue!
We began our meeting in the parking lot of Calico Regional Park. After introductions, I opened the discussion so that we could understand the cause of the closure. Much to our suprise, it wasnt what we expected. Though unauthorized access to the park and its facilities is important, its not the main reason they closed the by-pass. The closure was two-fold.
Firstly, there is pending litigation where the litigants claim that they passed into BLM land unknowlingly and were injured.
Secondly, (and just as important), there is a major problem of unauthorized OHV (primarily bikes and quads) tearing up the hills behind the campground and the Gatekeeper (Which is not BLM land, and is closed to all OHV use). Not only is this activity illegal and unwelcome to the campers at Calico Regional Park, but its potentially dangerous.
The converstation was very open and friendly. We discussed the options in which to solve the problems. Most importantly, we all agreee that we need to keep Doran Scenic Drive open the way it is. Interestingly enough, Doran Drive, off Ghost Town Rd is on Regional Park Property until the road curves to the right. There is no obvious designation of the boundaries of Regional Park and BLM land. We all agreed that it would be futile to put up signage, as it would be destroyed or removed within days.
The use of the By-pass as it was intended is not a problem. The problem lies when riders and drivers leave the by-pass to play in the hills around Calico Ghost Town. Our primary focus was to come up with a solution that could deter OHV access on anywhere but the by-pass. They were receptive to our suggestion of fences, and we discussed possible placement. Now, its just a matter of what kind and where.
We drove around to the Campground side, hiked up the hill to the by-pass, and got a new view of what we were discussing.
Tom Potter has assured me that when they came up with a resolution of what and where they would fence, they would ask us for our input prior to putting them up. He liked having our insight into the issue, and welcomed our opinions.
Although I did offer that we would make ourselves available for the installation of the fences, I'm not sure whether they'll take us up on it or not. We also discussed a combined work party with the Area BLM to do the installation.
All and all, Im very happy with the way the meeting went this morning, and look forward to hearing from Tom Potters office in the next couple weeks.
Tam
At the meeting was the Director of Regional Parks, Tom Potter; the Manager of Calico Regional Park, Rae; BLM Rep that oversees the Calico Area OHV, Larry Blaine; Two ladies from the Risk Management Department from the County Regional Parks, and Paul from County Land Use. (Please forgive me if Ive missed anyone, got your names wrong or title wrong...this was from memory!)
First let me say how wonderful it was that these folks could take time out of their busy days so that we could all get together to discuss this issue!
We began our meeting in the parking lot of Calico Regional Park. After introductions, I opened the discussion so that we could understand the cause of the closure. Much to our suprise, it wasnt what we expected. Though unauthorized access to the park and its facilities is important, its not the main reason they closed the by-pass. The closure was two-fold.
Firstly, there is pending litigation where the litigants claim that they passed into BLM land unknowlingly and were injured.
Secondly, (and just as important), there is a major problem of unauthorized OHV (primarily bikes and quads) tearing up the hills behind the campground and the Gatekeeper (Which is not BLM land, and is closed to all OHV use). Not only is this activity illegal and unwelcome to the campers at Calico Regional Park, but its potentially dangerous.
The converstation was very open and friendly. We discussed the options in which to solve the problems. Most importantly, we all agreee that we need to keep Doran Scenic Drive open the way it is. Interestingly enough, Doran Drive, off Ghost Town Rd is on Regional Park Property until the road curves to the right. There is no obvious designation of the boundaries of Regional Park and BLM land. We all agreed that it would be futile to put up signage, as it would be destroyed or removed within days.
The use of the By-pass as it was intended is not a problem. The problem lies when riders and drivers leave the by-pass to play in the hills around Calico Ghost Town. Our primary focus was to come up with a solution that could deter OHV access on anywhere but the by-pass. They were receptive to our suggestion of fences, and we discussed possible placement. Now, its just a matter of what kind and where.
We drove around to the Campground side, hiked up the hill to the by-pass, and got a new view of what we were discussing.
Tom Potter has assured me that when they came up with a resolution of what and where they would fence, they would ask us for our input prior to putting them up. He liked having our insight into the issue, and welcomed our opinions.
Although I did offer that we would make ourselves available for the installation of the fences, I'm not sure whether they'll take us up on it or not. We also discussed a combined work party with the Area BLM to do the installation.
All and all, Im very happy with the way the meeting went this morning, and look forward to hearing from Tom Potters office in the next couple weeks.
Tam
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