Category Archives: Conservation

Conservation, State Parks

Come volunteer at our California State Parks during this holiday season!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

From the California State Parks Foundation:

Give thanks for your favorite state parks by volunteering with Park Champions. Help us repair popular hiking trails at Chino Hills or Wildwood Canyon, improve habitat by removing invasive plants at Silver Strand, or help with general park maintainence and CAMP FOR FREE at Palomar Mountain.

Chino Hills State Park
Saturday, November 16, 9:00am to 1:00pm

Help us make improvements to the Easy Street Trail. Teens 14 and up welcome with a legal guardian. See a map here.

Silver Strand State Beach
Saturday, December 7, 9:00am to 1:00pm

This family friendly workday is part of an ongoing project to restore valuable beach dune habitat at Silver Strand. Kids 10 and up welcome with a legal guardian. See a map here.

Palomar Mountain State Park
Sunday, December 8, 9:00am to 1:00pm

This workday will focus on general park maintenance. Teens 14 and up welcome with a legal guardian. FREE CAMPING available Saturday night. See a map here.

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Adventures, Conservation

Your Immediate Action is required to Save Johnson Valley!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

OHV Call to Action! Your immediate action is required to save Johnson Valley Wednesday November 13th 2013

The Senate Arms Service Committee now looks prepared to move their bill S1309 to the floor beginning Thursday with Senator McCain managing (Senator Inhofe is out for his son’s funeral).

It is time again for the OHV Community to engage in the discussion.

Please consider taking some time to participate and extend our reach to your friends, family, and networks that find the value in saving the largest OHV area in the United States, while meeting the training requirements of the USMC. Your participation is paramount to our continued success.

While the Marine Corps let the Cook/Mckeon Compromise go unchallenged in the House of Representatives, we believe they will introduce their Alternative 6 language through Energy and Resources Committee on the Senate side via S 1309. We must contact these individual members of the Senate to ask them to oppose such language.

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Conservation, Wildlife

Gov. Brown signs Assembly Bill 1213 that sort of bans California bobcat trapping

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

On October 11, 2013, California’s latest mistake for Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will prohibit commercial bobcat trapping in areas adjacent to California’s national and state parks, monuments and wildlife refuges where trapping is currently prohibited. Assembly Bill 1213 also requires the Fish & Game Commission to consider whether to prohibit bobcat trapping on private land adjacent to preserves, conservancies or any other public or private conservation area identified by the public for protection.

While some – like Brian Nowicki of the Center for Biological Diversity think “This is great news for California’s bobcats, and for the millions of Californians and visitors alike who love watching wildlife in our beautiful parks and other wild places,” the bill comes without any funding of any kind. And without funding, there’s no enforcement.

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Conservation, Hiking - General

American Hiking Society’s Save the Trails Fund

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I love to hike.  I love the outdoors.  One thing that disrupts the flow on our hiking trails is the insurgence of mountain bikes ridden in an unsafe manner on trails where mountain bikes aren’t allowed to be that puts hikers and the mountain bikers at risk.

From the American Hiking Society’s website:

In recent months there has been an upsurge of organized mountain biking groups attempting to gain access to sections of National Scenic Trails where mountain bikes are currently prohibited. These trails – or in some cases, sections of these trails – were neither designed nor built for mountain bike use. Due to concerns about safety, sustainability, and the displacement of hikers on trails with heavy bike usage, AHS believes that the sections of National Scenic Trails, where mountain bikes are currently prohibited, should remain closed to bikes.

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Conservation, National Forests

Yamaha Volunteers Complete OHV Project in San Bernardino National Forest

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Three-Year Project Restores Popular Staging and Riding Areas near Big Bear, Calif. 

CYPRESS, Calif. – October 1, 2013 – Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., volunteers completed a three-year project at one of the nation’s most popular multi-use off-highway vehicle (OHV) staging areas located in the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF).

As part of the Yamaha OHV Access Initiative and with support of the Southern California Mountains Foundation’s (SCMF) OHV program, volunteers gathered recently for a final round of planting, cleaning and maintaining the popular Cactus Flats staging area and surrounding trails.

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