Friends of Oceano Dunes wins lawsuit with Coastal Commission

In late 2017, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) approved a large expansion of dust control measures at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicle Recreation Area.

Oceano Dunes SVRA

With the SVRA now closed due to the recent Covid-19 restrictions, the surrounding local economy has been devastated. The tourism that brings revenue into the community has come to a halt. Nearly all of the retail stores, restaurants, hotels, rental companies, and other small businesses in the area are just struggling to stay afloat.

Carnegie SVRA Alameda-Tesla Expansion Legislation- April 2020

Here we go again with more legislation to stop the Alameda/Tesla Expansion at the Carnegie SVRA. Similar legislation was shot down by both Gov. Brown and Gov. Newsom in the past few years. But they are back again, this time even more aggressively trying to keep the expansion and the SVRA tied up in the Legislature and the courts.

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.

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.

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.

Fall in southern California signals the beginning to the desert off-road season. This time of year is also accompanied by Santa Anna winds and wildfires. Added to the offerings this year are strong winds, wildfires, and rolling blackouts throughout the state. As experienced the past couple of years, wildfires take a toll on human lives, homes, and trails. As the winds, fires and smoke subsides, help your friends and neighbors rebuild their lives. And, help the land managers rebuild your trails.

The Cal4Wheel website is now hosting a fairly comprehensive Glossary of Landuse and Environmental Terms. (https://cal4wheel.com/access-advocacy/glossary). I have been working on this glossary for the past 15 years by compiling terms and definitions from a variety of landuse documents. It is now in a format that is relatively easy to update with new terms and is a good fit for the Cal4Wheel Access Advocacy section of the website. If you encounter any terms you do not understand, send me a note and I will get it added to the glossary.