TROUBLED TRAILS AT DONNER SUMMIT?

Donner Summit sees its fair share of visitors through the snow season, and then again in summer when folks come up to hike, and play about in the local lakes. It's always nice when September rolls around, and the quiet of autumn settles down on the mountains.

This year, though, September threatens to bring something new, noisy, and potentially very destructive to the Summit.  Royal Gorge LLC plans on hosting a 3 day event, September 5 to September 7, The Tahoe Sierra 100 Mountain Bike Endurance Race, which the promoter they're working with, GlobalBiorythm Events, bills as an, "inaugural event."

Here's a bit of description straight out of their flyer: "With unforgettable scenes of grandeur and color as well as unforgettable views of Royal Gorge, Needle and Lyon Peaks and the beauty of the Tahoe Sierras. This historic ultra endurance mountain bike race will travel along the trails and roads as did the the gold miners, sheepherders and pack strings did in 1855....Riders will pass through areas that no bike has ever gone before."

This race, which will have as many as 700 entrants in various classes,  will impact both single track, and Forest Service Roads.  The Forest Service office in Foresthill has already issued a permit for the use of Foresthill Road, down along the North Fork American River. A spokesman indicated that this race has been planned for a long time, and applications were made last year. Apparently no public input was solicited or received, and Royal Gorge LLC has been mighty quiet about it.

A map of the proposed race had been available on the promoter's web site, but it has been pulled down. The race will start up near Summit Station, Royal Gorge LLC's Cross Country Ski headquarters, and will go down Soda Springs/Baker Ranch Road past private holdings, including Cedars, a private residential enclave that is the California cousin of the private Adirondack "camps" on the east coast, and will then connect to Foresthill Road.

This race is of concern for many reasons.  About 30% of the race is planned for single track trails, and neither the promoter, nor Royal Gorge LLC has provided information about where those trails are. Royal Gorge may not use any of the Forest Service land they hold cross country ski permits for for this event without separate permits from the Truckee Forest Service station; Truckee's rangers have only just heard of this event this week because of calls from citizens.

Additionally, the lands Royal Gorge LLC are proposing to develop are very fragile, and provide habitat to many species.  Before developing, Royal Gorge LLC will have to go through a CEQA process, to assess impacts of development.  However, if Royal Gorge LLC allows 700 mountain bikes to race across fragile, single trails on their lands, they will have hastened the destruction of much of the terrain and habitat that will be undergoing study. "Oops! Sorry about that wolverine, but you didn't rate endangered species status anyway." Send in the bulldozers.

Mountain bikes aren't a bad thing per se, if the people riding them are respectful of the land, and the other users of the land. However, when an area starts to get heavy use by mountain bikes, and when, as is often the case, the mountain bikers start forging new trails, areas can get pretty ravaged, and prone to erosion.  A big complaint about heavily biked areas is that the trails become rutted, and then, riders, avoiding the ruts, widen the trails. And so on.  For a race involving up to 700 riders, multiply this "and so on" by a very large number.  A race of this size will be inherently destructive, and it beggars the imagination that Royal Gorge LLC can claim to be "conservationists" while sponsoring an event of this magnitude.

Here's the kicker. The race information sheet states that free camping and free parking at Royal Gorge are included in the entry fee. Let's say 700 bikers enter- I imagine they'll have friends and relations coming along to cheer them on. That means there could be well over a thousand, maybe pushing 2000 people having a nice slumber party up at the end of Pahatsi Road, there for the BBQ and the jumbo projection screen of the race, and the party.....

Has it even crossed Royal Gorge LLC's mind that September is usually an extremely high fire danger month?  And they're going to have all these campers? Is Royal Gorge LLC going to post a very large bond, and accept liability for any fire that might be started consequent to such a very large number of people camping on their land? 

Royal Gorge LLC will have to get a "Temporary Outdoor Event" permit from Placer County, which as of this week Mike Livak, project developer, is putting on the shoulders of Global Biorhythm Events, who, incidentally, just had to cancel their Mammoth Bar race, "due to complications working with the State of California... there were challenges persuading the State to provide us with the necessary accommodations."   Feeling assured that the Summit is in good hands with Royal Gorge LLC's plans?

Me neither.