Hollister, CA - The San Benito County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 earlier this month in favor of a resolution to restore public access and OHV recreation at the Clear Creek Management Area (CCMA) located in the Central Coast Mountain Range. The county's petition asks Congress to designate the currently closed 70,000-acre CCMA as a National Recreation Area (NRA).
The BlueRibbon Coalition during its presentation to the supervisors urged use of the 2005 Clear Creek Travel Management Plan as the guiding document for the NRA. The Plan identified about 243 miles of motorized roads and trails, 400 acres of open riding areas and authorized a number of permitted OHV events.
Don Amador, Western Representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition, stated, "The San Benito County Board of Supervisors showed courage and determination when they passed this Resolution asking Congress to bypass an unresponsive land agency. The Board Chairman also said the Hollister Field Office continues to waste taxpayer funds by destroying existing OHV campgrounds."
Brian Hawthorne, Public Lands Policy Director for the BlueRibbon Coalition, said, "The public will not tolerate federal land managers using junk science to impose a political agenda. And as more and more of our public lands are mismanaged, it is reasonable to assume the public will demand the sort of solution that San Benito County is proposing."
"I think we all understand the designation process could take several years. But left with the option of a permanent area closure, this legislative proposal is our only path," Amador concludes.
Link to Resolution
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/San_Benito_County_Resolution_10.4.11.pdf
Link to June 22 Congressional Testimony that includes NRA proposal
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/testimony-amador-written-ccma-06-22-11.pdf
