SDMBA Position Statement Calavera - 2019
April 4, 2019
San Diego Mountain Biking Association Position Statement Regarding Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve
San Diego Mountain Biking Association (SDMBA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and promoting mountain bike access in San Diego County. SDMBA’s mission includes working with other trail user groups, land managers, and policy makers to develop fair and responsible policies governing the use of public and private lands.
During the summer of 2017, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) began an education and enforcement campaign to remove mountain bikes from the Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve (CHER), known to many as the “Lake Calavera Trails.” Mountain biking is legally not allowed in virtually all CDFW reserves throughout the state, CHER included.
Mountain bikers have utilized the CHER trails alongside hikers and runners for more than 30 years, long before CHER was established and bikes were formally disallowed in 2000. However, since approximately 2008 mountain bikers have come to use the area more regularly and in significantly greater numbers than in the past. Some of these mountain bikers (and other CHER users) have created miles of new trails within the reserve, and have in places constructed features (such as berms and jumps) to enhance the mountain biking experience. With the increased residential, commercial, and industrial development in North San Diego County, the number of mountain biking enthusiasts within the area has exploded while at the same time the number of legally accessible trails has declined dramatically.
This confluence of circumstances has led to heightened concerns for CHER by CDFW and representatives of numerous environmental groups, ultimately triggering the renewed focus on the reserve and efforts to remove mountain biking.
As a trail access advocacy group, SDMBA is compelled to provide a unified voice for mountain bikers facing expulsion from CHER. As such, we are encouraging CDFW, the City of Carlsbad, conservationists, and mountain bikers to consider the following:
CDFW has never developed nor implemented a management plan for CHER. While the reserve was originally established solely to preserve high quality habitat and mitigate for habitat lost for other development, then-existing uses (including mountain biking) were not sufficiently taken into consideration. Periodic half-hearted attempts to manage the property failed to yield any semblance of a trails plan, and no attempt has been made to direct impacts to legal access points or established trails.
The failure to designate a network of well-designed and easily accessible trails that avoid the most sensitive habitats on site have led to the haphazard patchwork of trails found at CHER today.
Given the history of mountain bike use at CHER, coupled with proximity to relatively high density suburban development on three sides and lack of alternative recreational opportunities, it is highly unlikely that an outright ban on, and expulsion of, mountain bikes will be successful. Rather, such efforts will likely lead to a breakdown in cooperative inclination among user groups while many remain committed to riding the multitude of trails at CHER.
SDMBA recognizes the current haphazard trail network at CHER is suboptimal and is harming the ecological resources of the reserve. SDMBA is therefore committed to working with CDFW, the environmental community, and the state legislature to establish a management plan that appropriately considers the need to identify and sequester the most sensitive areas of the reserve, while at the same time providing for reasonable access, signage, and maintenance of adequate trails to serve the needs and desires of mountain bikers, hikers, runners, birders, and other trail users.
SDMBA is urging CDFW and other stakeholders to commit to a process that is transparent and inclusive of all user groups, recognizing that the issues facing CHER are representative of potential conflicts that will likely occur throughout the region in years to come.