Nightmare Canyon Letter To Director

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Nightmare Canyon Letter To Director

Postby Jeremyrowell » Fri Aug 04, 2017 6:13 pm

Dear Director Magnat,
I wanted to inform you of a situation in Red Rocks Canyon State Park requiring your attention.
Recently some of our Stewards of the Sequoia members and partner organizations voiced concerns over the temporary closure of Nightmare Gulch which surprisingly is still closed after four years, as well as the stonewalling they felt they were getting from Tehachapi Superintendent Russ Dingman over the past several years.
On 5/17/17 I talked on the phone with Superintendent Dingman to try to find out more about the 2013 temporary closure of Nightmare Gulch trail to motorized use-
He told me his office is going through planning process internally
He offered that there are the following issues-
• Public safety major washout
• Cultural resource species issues which he feels cannot be resolved unless there is strong support during planning to reopen the route
• Route may not be sustainability
That there is a Temporary Closure which has been revaluated by himself and his staff each year, but he cannot provide copies of those re-evaluations since they are internal documents
They have Internal documents regarding the specific washout and species issues being looked at by department. These are not available to public.
I asked what the concern was that triggered the closure and he informed me it is not public information.
I asked what measures his office had taken to fix the problem and he informed me it was not public information.
I told him each of these items were public information and he again informed me there were internal documents that could not be provided to the public.
He noted they are working with regulatory agencies and OHMVR
He is trying to have a resolution
He is frustrated with process
The public is entitled to see the documents but the decision is above pay grade
He is trying to get general plan moving forward so documents can be released
I mentioned that Bakersfield Trailblazers and Ridgecrest Gear Grinders have repeatedly offered over the years to volunteer to fix any problems. He will pass information on to Matt Williams Ranger and Ivonne Houston Superintendant so they can tell us about other volunteer opportunities.
Neither Matt or Ivonne contacted us about volunteer projects after my phone call. At the 7/27/17 Public Roundtable Meeting in Ridgecrest Dingman asked if we had been contacted and told me that Matt would contact me and the Trailblazers about volunteering. We have heard nothing as of yet.
Both Trailblazers and Geargrinders have a past history of active volunteerism with other agencies.
Stewards of the Sequoia is the largest on the ground volunteer organization in the Sequoia National Forest.
In 2015 we performed over 83% of all trail maintenance in the Sequoia. We have worked on over 3100
miles of trails over the past 13 years. For State Parks Management to not take advantage of our kind of
resources is negligent.
I requested the documentation that Superintendent Dingman insisted was not public information from State
Parks and it was provided to me on a CD four days ago.
The only closure order was the temporary one from 2013. There is no documentation indicating that
Superintendent Dingman or his staff re-evaluated the closure or considered any actions to reopen the trail
as he claims. Instead he repeatedly turned volunteers away.
It is certainly understandable and efficient to use boilerplate when responding to a large volume of the
same type of request. However according to the documents we received Dingman chose to create
boilerplate in order to respond to four people who emailed him asking the status of Nightmare Gulch over a
period of 3 years (Joe Rodriguez, Jeremy Rowell, Mr. Steinbrucker & Chuck Neilsen). Dingman even
provided the boilerplate to Officer Matt Williams and other staff to use. When responding to Bakersfield
Trailblazers and Ridgecrest Geargrinders who wanted to provide volunteers Dingman could not be
bothered with providing a personal email or current facts. State Parks needs to do better than this.
In his boilerplate Dingman continues to cite the Red Rocks plan (that has been in process since 1994) as
what the public needs to wait for to resolve all issues, meanwhile he subverts the process by using closure
as his preferred management tool. Closure is an admission of failure.
There is a note captured by Kathleen Franklin in her 26.March.03 e-mail which appears to be hearsay from
a private individual claiming that one Desert Tortoise was crushed by vehicles on Nightmare Gulch trail.
There is no other mention of harm to Desert Tortoises in the area in any of the documentation your office
provided. It appears based on this one hearsay comment that State Parks initiated a $48,000 study in 2013
which found the Nightmare Gulch area was unsuitable Desert Tortoise habitat being too dry and rocky.
Surely State Park biologist must have known this without a $48,000 study. It seems this study was
grasping at straws by anti OHV staff trying to manufacture some type of justification for the prior closure of
Nightmare Gulch. Meanwhile not a penny for repairing the trail.
Ridgecrest Geargrinders informed State Parks Officer Matt Williams in writing on 10/23/13 and again on
1/28/2014 that damage to Nightmare Gulch trail was minimal and could be fixed by their volunteers, at no
cost to State Parks, if only they would be given permission to. The Bakersfield Trailblazers also informed
State Parks Officer Matt Williams in writing on 10/28/13 that they would be happy to repair the trail and that
the work was not very significant. There is no record of State Parks responding in writing to either letter.
Surprisingly neither the Gear Grinders or Trailblazer's letters of 2013 were included in the file to me from
your office so I have attached them to this letter. Both groups followed up with emails and phone calls to
Superintendent Dingman over a period of 3 years but he refused their help.
At the Public Roundtable meeting on 7/27/17 Dingman informed us that the 2013 temporary emergency
closure of Nightmare Gulch was based on information from 1990 or 2000. I asked him if that meant State
Parks waited 10-20 years in order to institute an emergency closure based on outdated information? A
staffer from OHMVR cut me off and prevented Dingman from answering. Perhaps you can answer that. We
find nothing in the documentation to justify the 4 year closure of Nightmare Gulch to historic motorized use.
There is a 5/23/17 email from you to Dingman about Nightmare Gulch, as well a 5/25/17 follow up from Karl
Knapp in your office notifying Dingman that Jason Span is getting the following information together-
From: Knapp, Karl@Parks
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2017 2:30 PM
To: Dingman, Russ@Parks
Subject: Re: Nightmare Gulch
Russ,
I am working with Jason Spann to get an updated route inventory of Nightmare Gulch canyon. I
want to have updated conditions for our conversations. I am asking Jason to gather:
• slide size and extent
• if removed does this slide exacerbate future slide activity (removing slide toe etc.)
• GPS map location to overlay with our biological sensitive species data
• identify closest appropriate spoil disposal sites
• produce a route log
I am trying to get him on site soon so this information is available. Let me know if you can think of
other inventory data that would be useful. He might need support to be shuttled, probably the best
to park a rig at the south end and be dropped off at the gate on the north. Let me know your
thoughts or if you disagree with this approach.
Thanks
Karl
Dingman did not inform the public about this when asked if any mitigation work is being considered. Instead
he just keeps saying the route is closed and his hands are tied, which is far from true.
Has Jason gotten this information together about ways to fix the trail? If so please provide it to us as it was
not in the documents we received about Nightmare Gulch.
Motorized recreation like Nightmare Gulch is extremely important to local communities and tourism. State
Parks needs to do everything possible to maintain existing motorized and other access to public lands
under your care.
At this time we request that State Parks provide approval for volunteers to start work repairing Nightmare
Gulch trail and reopen the route once repairs are completed. The public have been locked out of this
important trail for far too long with no apparent justification.
We also ask you to replace Superintendent Dingman with someone who can reasonably manage the area
using closure only as the very last resort, instead of the first and apparently only option.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Chris Horgan
Executive Director
Stewards of the Sequoia

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Re: Nightmare Canyon Letter To Director

Postby Jeremyrowell » Fri Aug 04, 2017 6:15 pm

RE: TEMPARY CLOSURE of NIGHTMARE GULCH, RED ROCK CANYON STATE PARK
SENT VIA EMAIL
Dear Mr. Williams,
First, we would like to thank you for taking time on your day off to speak with us yesterday. This is an
official letter from the Gear Grinders 4WD Club, Inc. in Ridgecrest, to ask that we be included in any
planning, scoping, trips for the environmental assessment, etc., which pertain to Nightmare Gulch. We
feel that our perspective of the trail as users since 1970 will be most beneficial in any decisions that
might be made.
We, as a club, would also like to offer any assistance that might be needed in the way of labor to reopen
the trail. We would also like to again pursue an Adopt-a-Trail Agreement with Red Rock Canyon State
Park like we had with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as well as with the BLM and State Park
prior to Nightmare being officially included in the State Park.
My husband, Jerry, and I were at the table when the deal was struck to protect the nesting raptors from
February 1st to June 30th each year. Also included was that Nightmare Gulch would be open to hikers
from the 1st through the 15th of each month and to vehicle travel from the 16th to the end of the month.
This agreement has worked quite well now for over 30 years. We hope that this temporary closure will be
assessed and the proper steps taken within a reasonable time, as this is the time of year that vehicle use
is most desirable. As I said before, we will be there with labor to make this happen as quickly as
possible.
After hiking the canyon yesterday, we believe that an emergency closure should not have been required
in Nightmare Gulch. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, that Mother Nature will come
through and scourer out the bottom of the canyon. The only two obstacles that Jerry observed could
have been taken care of by a work party in very short order. One obstacle would require 3 or 4 guys to
roll a rather large rock off of the trail. The other would require the expansion of an already existing ramp
to climb a 3’ step. The rest of the canyon is pretty much as we have seen it in past years and poses no
problems to most 4-wheel drive vehicles.
Thank you for including us in the process to reopen the trail.
mary l. grimsley

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Re: Nightmare Canyon Letter To Director

Postby Jeremyrowell » Fri Aug 04, 2017 6:15 pm

Dear Mr. Williams
This letter is in support of the Gear Grinders 4WD club. As a member of the Bakersfield Trailblazers I have also been driving this trail since the 70’s and have seen many changes in this canyon over the years and from the photos Jerry posted with a few people these obstacles could be easily taken care of by trail users.
The Bakersfield Trailblazers regularly does trail maintenance on multiple OHV trails in Southern California. For many years we have had successful Adopt - A - Trail agreements for various trails with the forest service for trail maintenance. We have an Adopt- A - Trail agreement with the Gear Grinders for the maintenance of the Sherman Jeep trail that has worked well for over 20 years. Nightmare Gulch could benefit with such an agreement.
As a club, we are disappointed to see this trail closed before the end of the season for OHV use by such an insignificant cause. We hope you will work diligently to open the trail in a timely manner.
Thank You, Jon
Board Member
Bakersfield Trail Blazers
Jon Aichele
3801 Phaffle Dr
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Jons4x4@aol.com
661-832-9453

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