4X4NOW
Trail Closure Alert

Black Sands Beach Closure

The following is a copy of a call for help in keeping a small portion of a California beach open for multiuse purposes. The Lost Coast 4x4's club lead by one of our members, Dave Wheeler who lives near this beach, was instrumental in starting the fight to keep this area open. This beach/waveslope was historically a multiuse area with 25 or so miles of waveslope with no dune area.

More recently the majority of the waveslope was closed to vehicular traffic leaving 3.5 miles open. Without good reason and ignoring public comment the remaining 3.5 miles was closed by BLM with the Coastal Commissions approval. Many of our club members were at the last Coastal Commission meeting and it was a total farce with the majority of the Commissioners laughing and talking during our presentations. Our speakers were knowledgeable and articulate. The biggest objection to keeping the beach open came from a woman who stated that she was walking down the beach and was afraid and fealt threatened by the motorized vehicles around her.

This is exactly the type of closures we need to fight as we are losing more and more public land daily.

More information can be obtained at the Lost Coast 4x4's website at: http://lostcoast4x4.org

Thank you,

Carl Brandt President Lost Coast 4x4's mailto:carlb416@humboldt1.com

By Don Klusman

On September 10th 1998 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) brought in front of the California Coastal Commission (CCC) a Federal Consistency determination to modify management plan to close Black Sands Beach to Off Highway vehicle use. What this means is BLM was looking for support from the CCC in their efforts in trying to close the beach. They were asking the CCC to agree that closing the beach was consistent with the California Coastal Commission Plan.

First off, I want to thank all the people who turned out for this meeting. There were over 250 people in attendance. We packed the meeting room. There was standing room only. Many people drove long distances to be there and make comments.

We knew the deck was stacked against us from the start in dealing with the CCC. It is unfortunate that the CCC commissioners did not listen to the public that they are serving. In my opinion, many of their minds were made up before they ever walked into the room. Over two and a half hours of public testimony took place. The CCC took a vote and did agree that this action was in consistency with the coastal plan.

BLM may have won that battle but the war is far from over. Next we wait for the decision to be signed by BLM and then we will appeal that decision. The next step will be to file federal suit in federal court on this action. We will do both of these items!

BLM has drawn the line in the sand and it is time that cross that line and make them accountable for their actions!

I have talked with the California Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs Inc. (CA4WDC) Board of Directors and President of CA4WDC, and we are in the process of filing a federal law suit. We cannot let BLM get away with this type of value call. If they see they can do it here, they will close other areas throughout the state the same way. A pass through account has been established for donations to help in this legal battle. This is going to be costly for all parties involved. We are asking anyone to donate to the Black Sands Legal Fund today. This is not just an OHV issue, this is an issue of the public being locked out of our public lands. This closure will hurt the access of not only OHV's but fishermen, clamers, surfers, divers, rockhounds and just people who want to enjoy the Lost Coast. So please tell your friends to donate and support our rights to public lands.

You can send your checks to:

CA4WDC, Black Sands Legal Fund 3104 "0" street Sacramento CA 95816-6519.

*Please make your checks payable to CA4WDC Black Sands Legal Fund.

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