State Parks transformation meeting

California State Parks held a special Off-highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Commission meeting in Sacramento to discuss State Parks transformation process. The OHV community has always been very skeptical of the transformation process and many have asked why it was needed. State Parks says they had to fold the OHMVR Division back into State Parks because they felt it was more efficient and it would save money. But the OHV community fears that they just want to tap into our gas tax trust fund (green sticker fund) money. State Parks has always operated in the red and is always looking for more money from the general fund, while the OHMVR Division uses no general fund money and is always in the black.

This meeting was like most meetings, long and dry, with comments from CORVA, Friends of Oceano, AMA District 36, Cal4 Wheel and more. Topic for the meeting was about the Transformation of the OHV Division into the Parks and Rec. Further topics brought up were Carnegie and Oceano.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

On its current trajectory, the BLM headquarters in Washington, D.C. will be liquidated, decentralized, and relocated by the end of March in 2020.

The California Coastal Commission has issued an emergency permit requiring California State Parks to immediately close 48 acres of camping area ahead of the Christmas and New Year's holidays, resulting in a 50% loss of camping spaces on the dunes.

In response, the Friends of Oceano Dunes have written a letter addressed to State Parks asking them to delay the closure.

I attended SLO Air Pollution Control District (APCD) Oceano Dunes SVRA hearing in Arroyo Grande yesterday and came away very disappointed in the way California State Parks just rolled over and gave the local APCD everything they wanted.

As I sit here in the dark finishing up my November In-Gear article, with the distant hum of generators buzzing throughout the neighborhood, it’s easy to want to blame PG&E.

July 11 California Coastal Commission (CCC) Meeting

“In short, the status quo at ODSVRA is clearly not sustainable and it is time to more fully understand and evaluate other public access and recreation options that are consistent with coastal resource protections given the current realities that affect and are affected by OHV activities at this shoreline location. Put simply, in staff’s view a Park that is fully consistent with on-the-ground realities, and with coastal resource protection requirements, does not include OHV use. Rather, it is clear to staff that the significant coastal resource issues and constraints attributable to OHV use render long-term OHV use at this location untenable.” Those were the comments made by the California Coastal Commission (CCC) staff recommending the closure of the Oceano Dunes SVRA and the main subject at the July CCC meeting in San Luis Obispo.

I arrived at the meeting hall at 7AM, a good two hours before the hearing was scheduled to start and there were already hundreds of Dune supporter inside the hotel. By 9AM they estimated nearly 1,000 supporters were lined up to sign in to the hearing and give public comment on the CCC’s staff proposed closure of the Oceano Dunes SVRA.