Federal Cuts Threaten Outdoor Recreation Industry

From the Independent: http://www.independent.com/news/2011/aug/30/federal-cuts-threaten-outdoor-recreation-industry/

Lois Capps Addresses Roundtable of Area Stakeholders
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday proved to be a typical sunny Santa Barbara summer morning – the Santa Ynez mountains were clear and bright and the ocean stretched out towards the Channel Islands, only slightly obscured by fog. It was a perfect day for Congressmember Lois Capps to pay a visit to Horny Toad Activewear's headquarters on West Mason Street to host a roundtable discussion with representatives from the area's outdoor recreation industry.
The talk was spurred by the threat of imminent budget cuts to conservation programs, such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund. As a point of reference for residents who may not realize how such funding impacts Santa Barbara County, many popular parks were acquired and have been maintained with federal money. Shoreline Park, for instance, received $425,000 to acquire and develop it. Carpinteria Bluff Park was acquired for $214,000. If the proposed reductions take place, the Department of the Interior would be funded at $9.9 billion, which is seven percent below last year's level.


Congressmember Lois Capps address concerns of area outdoor rec representatives
In California alone, outdoor recreation contributes $46 billion annually to California’s economy and supports 408,000 jobs across the state. The industry generates $3.1 billion in annual state tax revenue and produces $28.1 billion annually in retail sales and services. Nationally, outdoor recreation revenue contributes $730 billion to the U.S. economy and supports nearly 6.5 million jobs.
In order to highlight the impact that these cuts would have – not only on the many nature preserves and parks in California but also on the companies whose business is outdoor recreation – Capps invited stakeholders to come and share their thoughts. There were over 20 people present, including First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal; Christina McGinnis of the Environmental Defense Center; Dan Fontaine with Wilderness Youth Project; Chris Orr from Santa Barbara Mountain Trail Volunteers; Hans Cole, Patagonia's Environmental Grants Manager; Kim Kimball, Gaviota Coast Planning Advisory Committee chair; Michael Cohen, owner of Santa Barbara Adventure Company, Michael Feeney, executive director of Land Trust of Santa Barbara County; and Carla Frisk, Trust for Public Land manager.


Hans Cole, Patagonia's Environmental Grants Manager
Seated in Horny Toad's spacious and modern headquarters, the delegates mulled the impacts these budget cuts would have. “Recreation is big business,” said Capps. “It represents hundreds of billions of dollars in this country, and without protected public lands this slice of the economic pie would not exist.” Although the potential impacts were frightening to all present, the mood was not one of fear but of resolve. Cohen spoke about how his company is currently hiring more people to fill the demand for surf trips and boat adventures to the Channel Islands. He called tourism Santa Barbara’s “last viable industry.” Cole said his organization “wouldn’t have a business if it weren’t for all this amazing public land.” It is no accident, said Capps, that corporations such as Patagonia are headquartered in the area given the natural beauty of the 23rd Congressional District.
Capps addressed attendees' concerns and spoke to the incredible sway certain groups seem to have over Washington. Yet she also reminded that this was taking place not only in Washington but also in their very districts, and she would make it her “mandate” to speak on the behalf of local outdoor recreational companies. In turn, she encouraged her constituents to reach into their own communities, to make a national voice heard, and to educate future generations about the significance of the natural world and turn this education into advocacy.

Front Country Trail Turtle

This little guy was spotted today leaving the San Ysidro Creek heading up the super steep fire road towards Hot Springs. Let's hope he makes it!

Up Close and personal with a SB Trail Native

It's a long steep road ahead

Bike Racks At The Trail Heads? It's Time

Why not promote a "greener" way to use the trails? Instead of driving to use your favorite trails how bout biking there then doing that hike. Some are already doing just that but the lack of bike parking forces cyclists to get creative when it comes to looking for a place to lock up their rides. Tunnel and Romero have gates near to the trailhead which allow users to lock but all the other trails do not. We have approached the Santa Barbara Bike Coalition and SB City Parks with the idea of placing racks at your trail heads and both groups seem interested. Hopefully this "additional parking" will be placed at your favorite trail in the very near future.
(All photos taken in the Tunnel Trail vicinity)

Sign posts, when used propely can make fine bike racks

One trusting cyclist left this bike unlocked at the Trail Head

Bridge or bike rack? You decide

Street sign or bike rack? You decide
People get creative when securing their bikes

SB Independent Recognizes Santa Barbara County Search & Rescue

Well deserved recognition for a great organization- Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue

Hiking's Lost And Found Department

Search And Rescue's Got Your Back

Lost Found Enlisted

Paradise Lost at Red Rock? Longtime Road Closure Limits Recreational Access

From Noozhawk- Link To Article

Paradise Lost at Red Rock? Longtime Road Closure Limits Recreational Access

Reduced funding, limited staffing and several lawsuits have contributed to a backlog of work for the Los Padres National Forest.

Summertime fog, gray gloom at the beach — what’s a family to do? As many Santa Barbara County residents and visitors alike know, that’s when you pack up and head over the hill to enjoy the inland heat and get wet at Red Rock. The only problem is, this hugely popular recreation area along the Santa Ynez River in the Santa Barbara District of the Los Padres National Forest is still closed to vehicular traffic.

Sure, you can get your family there if they are capable of biking, walking or horseback riding the 10-mile round-trip on asphalt to the final destination of Red Rock. But for those groups with young children, elderly and or handicapped members, their access is still denied.

So much for having an Adventure Pass, some say. The road closure of this lower section of the Santa Ynez River Road (Forest Road 5N18.2 as well as the upper Santa Ynez section) has never gone on this long before — now approaching a whole summer season — and recreation enthusiasts have been forced to crowd into the limited parking right before the first crossing and the even more limited parking at the Lower Oso picnic area. From there, the first eastern bridge is locked and it’s a long, hot haul back to Red Rock. Great for those who can make the trek on the road, not so great for the many more who can’t.

Paradise lost? Especially on weekends, traffic and parked vehicles have spilled out along narrow Paradise Road, causing congestion and safety problems not only for the Forest Service, campground users, the campground concessionaire staff as well as nearby local residents, but for the other agencies tasked with traffic enforcement and safety.

“This has created a whole new set of problems and issues, the most that the Forest Service and the county sheriff’s along with Search and Rescue have ever had to deal with,” said Douglas Dodge, district ranger of the Santa Barbara Ranger District/Los Padres National Forest.

And then there are the economic trickle-down effects. If you ask the folks who run the Paradise Store how this summer’s sharply limited access has affected their business, you’ll get a polite earful.

“We were so hopeful that this season was going to be a good summer for us because of the plentiful rains, but our business is definitely down, at least 50 percent during the week, not quite as bad on the weekends,” said Laura Armor, vice president and chief financial officer of the Paradise Store. “And this sure hurts us during these more challenging economic times.”

The people who work for Rocky Mountain Recreation who are permitted by the Forest Service to manage all of the campground and picnic areas also have a similar story to tell. They have been forced to lay off employees and had to cancel all reservations to the popular Upper Oso Campground, which had been solidly booked for every weekend since last December, a significant revenue loss.

Now that Upper Oso is finally open but only on a first come, first serve basis, area manager Celia Hancock noted that “a much higher percentage of people are still very upset and frustrated for not having their usual car access to the Red Rock area, much more so than the very small percent that are happy the road has been closed.”

The big question is why — why has a longtime, heavily used public access road for recreational use been unavailable for so long?

“It’s complicated,” Dodge said. “There have been a number of setbacks for us this year, including high water flows throughout the entire Los Padres Forest that have caused a much larger number of maintenance projects, heavy water flow at the Paradise Road crossing that pushed back the opening of Upper Oso, a lack of staff to deal with these issues due to dwindling budgets, and several lawsuits against us that have pulled away even more staff just to work on those … it’s all added up.”

About the lawsuits that no one wants to talk about. Lots of information is available on the Internet for those willing to untangle the maze of legal-speak. But in a nutshell, the Los Padres National Forest, as well as three other area forests in Southern California — the Cleveland, Angeles and San Bernardino — plus the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service as other co-defendants, were found in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

The groups or plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit included a local group called Los Padres ForestWatch, in addition to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and the California Native Plant Society.

How does this apply in particular to the Santa Barbara Ranger District (one of five districts in the whole Los Padres National Forest)? It basically means the agency has to respond to this litigation and complete more administrative paperwork, such as detailed Environmental Assessments over a six-month deadline. While government agencies are hardly known for being perfect, they are now further hindered by decreased budgets and severely limited staff. In direct terms for the Los Padres, where each district has already lost one staff biologist during the past few years, the few remaining biologists — only three — are pulled away from their regular work.

“Having to deal with litigation is affecting our ability to work on the ground,” Dodge said.

Where are we now? With water levels at the first crossing finally lower, to regain the usual vehicle access back to Red Rock will require some simple structural bridge work. The first bridge out of the lower Oso area, known as the Lower Oso Bridge, took a heavy hit from high stream flow this year and has been undermined and deemed unsafe for car travel. Until funding is secured and a construction contract is issued, the bridge will remain closed.

Looking ahead to next year, more predicted budget cuts and increased administrative red tape, the Forest Service is slowly seeing its abilities decline to effectively manage watershed resources along with public recreational uses.

“There is no more fat to trim,” Dodge said. “Now it’s more like taking limbs off the body.”

So before you want to take your family back to the Santa Ynez River — the only large river in the county that offers residents and visitors National Forest recreation opportunities such as a family swim, call the Los Prietos Ranger Station to check the status of road conditions. According to the Los Padres website, “Visitors are encouraged to plan ahead and contact the Los Prietos Ranger Station for the latest conditions by calling 805.967.3481.” You can also get updates on its website by clicking here.

Update

Funding was allocated Thursday for the Lower Oso bridge project. While Los Padres is facing a $550,000 budget deficit, all other projects will be priority based, including the need to pay existing salaries. Construction on the bridge will begin as soon as a contract can be awarded, and all work is expected to be completed this fall.

If it matters to you that national forest recreational opportunities are slowly declining in your area, contact your local U.S. House and Senate representatives as well as county supervisors to weigh in on decreased access, lack of funding, budget cuts and increased litigation costs.

Recent Los Padres Forest closures because of lawsuits: Click here for the Ojai Ranger District, and click here for the Santa Barbara District.

— Lori Rafferty is a contributing freelance photojournalist with a zoology and environmental studies background (1982 UCSB) who enjoys all aspects of recreation in local forests. She has been documenting forest regrowth since the Zaca Fire of 2007.