‘Rogue behavior’ cited

Coastal chief blames damage on the county

The Daily Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Fresh off-highway vehicle tracks criss-crossed protected sand dunes, holes were cut in state park fences to allow vehicles to pass into environmentally sensitive habitats and tire-marks ran through threatened plant species. 

The damage had obviously been caused by OHV users, but Douglas saidthat’s somewhat understandable considering the confusing signals theyare receiving about where they can and can’t ride.

The real culprit, Douglas said, is Del Norte County for designatinga number of its roads in the Pacific Shores subdivision as“combined-use” and putting up signs telling people they could ride inan area where OHVs are mostly prohibited.

“This is the most egregious violation by a local jurisdiction thatI’ve ever seen in the history of the Coastal Commission,” Douglas said.“It’s going to take a long time to restore the resource damage that wasdone.”

Douglas said Del Norte County needed a coastal development permit toput up the combined-use signs in the Pacific Shores subdivision. Headded the county also needed Coastal Commission approval due to what iscalled a “change in intensity” of use because the roads would allow forOHV traffic.

County-installed signs. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

“This is rogue behavior,” Douglas said. “The way I view this is like a big finger to state law.”

Without Coastal Commission approval, the OHVs shouldn’t even be allowed on county roads in Pacific Shores, he said.

Del Norte County officials disagree. Last May, the Board ofSupervisors passed a resolution as part of its consent agendadesignating a number of roads in Pacific Shores as combined-use. Signswere placed along those roadways on Jan. 21 at a cost of $1,745.75.

The Coastal Commission sent a letter to the county Jan. 28 tellingit to remove the signs. In its response, dated Feb. 9, it questionedwhether the Coastal Commission had the authority over the combined-usedesignations on county roads and stated that the signs were placed inorder to direct people to stay on the roads and not drive over thedunes.

“There was no real recreational opportunity for these ATVs(all-terrain vehicles), and there was a lot of abuse going on out atthe Pacific Shores area with cross-country travel,” Board ofSupervisors Chairman Gerry Hemmingsen said. “We thought if wedesignated combined-use roads we could keep these vehicles out of thosehabitat areas.”

“People are supposed to obey the law and that’s what I’ve told everyone to do is obey the law.” — Supervisor Jerry Hemmingsen

The combined-use signs state cross-country travel is prohibited, andHemmingsen, who provides new OHV route maps to riders at his business,said he instructs everyone to abide by the county’s rules.

“I think people are supposed to obey the law and that’s what I’vetold everyone to do is obey the law,” Hemmingsen said. “Anybody whoasked about the signs or the area out there, I’ve told them they needto stay on the designated routes within the county right of way.”

Douglas called this “disingenuous” and said the signs were “clearlyintended” to open up the Pacific Shores area to OHV traffic and build aconstituency of off-roaders.

“The word’s out, even in Southern California, that there’s a new riding area,” he said.

Anyone who goes off the county roads would be breaking the law,either by trespassing on private property or riding in an area, such asstate park or California Fish and Game lands, where that activity isprohibited.

“You’re basically inviting people in to break the law and they won’t even know it,” Douglas said. “This is like entrapment.”

Off-road vehicles have always been a problem around the PacificShores subdivision, which is bordered by Tolowa Dunes State Park andthe Lake Earl Wildlife Area. But California State Park officials saidit has gotten noticeably worse since the county installed combined-usesigns on its roads.

“Pretty much the day the signs went up we had immediate breaches inour fence lines,” Redwood State Parks Superintendent Jeff Bomke said.

Park employees have recently received a number of complaints about OHVs in Tolowa Dunes, he said.

Some of the posted park signs stating OHVs are prohibited have beentorn from the ground and are lying next to deep rivets in the sand.

Bomke said he was considering diverting resources from other parks —which he added might limit public access to those areas because of alack of staffing — to help combat the problem of illegal OHV use in theTolowa Dunes.

The parks didn’t start to enforce its OHV policy until about 2006,Bomke said. Before then, the dunes had what the superintendent called“two-tracks” grooved into the sandy ground from heavy off-road vehicleuse. As a result, he said, threatened and endangered plant species andAmerican Indian cultural resources could have been impacted andinvasive species, like European beach grass, could be spread.

“State parks does understand there is a need for the OHV communityto have a place to go,” Bomke said. “But state park lands, that areprotected for a reason, aren’t the place to go.”

County officials still contend the combined use designation was tokeep people on the roads and off the dunes. And at this week’s Board ofSupervisors meeting, Hemmingsen said he assessed the damage around thePacific Shores area and it “pretty much looked like business as usual.”

The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

While the signs were taken down that same day — even before Douglaswas finished with his tour of the area — the county did not abolish itscombined-use designation for the Pacific Shores roadways.

“We’re waiting to hear back from the Coastal Commission about whatis the commission’s policy on the installation of signs, and if theyretain authority, then we’ll put in  a coastal development permit forthe signs and request a waiver,” Del Norte County Counsel Dohn Henionsaid.

Until then, he added, “We believe the combined use designation remains effective.”