Ace 4 Safe Trails in the News!

ACE 4 Safe Trails represented you at the Oct. 2022 California State Park and Recreation Commission.

Refer to items #5 and #9B here: https://cal-span.org/meeting/csprc_20221021/

Mike Finta Presentation:

Fast moving bikes are incompatible with slow moving trail users

(Statements come from a 2012 California State Park Trail Use Study)

It is not CSP policy to provide trails for fast, highly technical, or adventure rides for mountain bicyclists.
Mountain bikers’ speeds are the primary reason for multi-use trail conflicts adn trail user safety concerns.
Speed leads to increased incidents with other users, single-use accidents, and safety concerns of slow moving trail users.
Design of appropriate park trails that include mountain bike access need to emphasize separation of fast and slow moving trail users.
Technical challenge features suggested by bike user groups are inappropriate and inconsistent with CSP policies for trail use in the State Park System.
Mountain bikers need to be aware of and cooperate with the type of use that CSP trails are intended to accommodate, and need to stay on designated bike trails for the safety of slow moving trail users.

ACE 4 Safe Trails at the El Dorado County Parks and Recreation Department Parks and Trails Plan Initial Scoping Meeting:

On Dec 14th, Ace Directors Peggy Christensen and Mike Finta attended El Dorado County Parks and Recreation Department’s initial public “scoping” meeting as they begin their process for updating the countywide “Parks and Trails Plan”. This meeting was held to “kickoff” their process to begin gathering input from the public of what they would like County Parks Department to address in their new Parks and Trail Plan.

There were over a dozen people from the public participating with representatives from:

EDC Little League,
Mountain Biking / FATRAC (3)
Ace 4 Safe Trails (Mike & Peggy)
An El Dorado Trails representative,
A representative from El Dorado Hills Community Services District,
An operations manager from El Dorado Union Mine High School District,
And a couple of others.

The Manager of County Parks and Recreation and two consultants from AIM Consulting gave a brief introductory presentation about the planning process timeline and their desire to solicit input and comments from the public.

The meeting was then opened for public comments which were documented and collected by AIM Consulting. These initial comments will serve as a starting point for further discussion and as specific agenda topics for 4 planned community meetings which will be held at various locations within El Dorado County. The first community meeting is scheduled for Jan 25th at 6:00 PM at the Gold Trail Grange Hall (Lotus Coloma Community Center). The other three have not yet been scheduled, but are planned for other locations convenient for the public to participate.

This meeting provided Ace 4 Safe Trails a good opportunity to publicly raise awareness of the importance of considering issues such as the speed of various trail users and the dangers of fast moving mountain/e-bikes sharing the same trails with slow moving trail users. Our comments seemed to be well received by County Planners, and were noted as a specific area to consider in their trail planning.

Ace 4 Safe Trails is now officially on record with the County about our trail safety concerns and our suggestions for them to consider separate trails for high and low speed trail users. We were positively received as an organization with good ideas, and we now have some public visibility. We now need to make sure the County continues to see us and hear from us. Please participate in the upcoming meetings and add your voice in support of more trails and safe trails.