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| POST takes aim at illegal off-road use By Greg Thomas [ greg@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 4:52 PM PST Four-wheel ATVs and dirt-bike motorcycles have been spotted tearing up hillsides in Rancho Corral de Tierra recently, creating a stir among neighbors and officials at Peninsula Open Space Trust. Two weeks ago POST received a call from a disgruntled Montara resident who reported seeing off-road vehicles romping around Montara Mountain midday, damaging trails and causing a racket he could hear from his home. After inspecting the area and finding ATV tread marks and shredded vegetation, POST Conservation Project Manager Chris Detwiller decided the incident merited a call to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Moss Beach substation. “Motorized vehicles in there create quite a lot of damage,” Detwiller said. “They destroy vegetation, cause erosion and lead to introduction of invasive species. There’s noise impact on wildlife habitat — all bad things.” In an effort to bar vehicles from entering the property, POST has installed gates, posted warnings and dug a series of berms and tank traps around the perimeter. Previously, POST workers have bulldozed dirt bike jumps, but they say it’s virtually impossible to keep out smaller vehicles like dirt bikes and ATVs, short of walling off the property. Instead, POST has asked Sheriff’s deputies to increase patrols in and around the park. “We’re working with them to identify any alternatives, including whether there’s a way for them to ramp up their security in that area,” POST Director of Land Stewardship Paul Ringgold said. Ringgold said that a few years ago a trespasser was apprehended by deputies and brought up on charges on violation of the state’s Natural Resources code. The offender wound up settling out of court and was ordered to meet with POST workers for a lecture on the impact of off-road activity on open space property. In this case, Sheriff’s Lt. Ken Jones is bringing out the off-road motorcycle unit to patrol the land and catch perpetrators in the act. “It sounds like they’re getting a lot of pressure from nearby neighbors,” Jones said, “so we’d be glad to help them out up there.” |