By Helen Burke
There’s a debate going on at the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) about whether and how to open up watershed lands to a new use: mountain biking. For over 40 years EBMUD has allowed only hikers and equestrians on watershed lands—and then only with a $10-per-year permit. While the Sierra Club encourages the enjoyment and exploration of our public lands for all, we must weigh the benefits of access for different groups of users against the potential risks. In this case, opening the watershed to mountain bikes poses risks to extremely sensitive ecosystems, to our water resources, and to the safety of hikers and pedestrians. But as is usually the case, there is room for compromise: it’s possible that a carefully designed and implemented plan could protect these values while allowing some new access for mountain bikes.
This issue is on the table right now because EBMUD is working on an update of its Watershed Master Plan, which is revised every twenty years. At the urging of the mountain biking community, advocates for the Bay Area Ridge Trail, and EBMUD Director Marguerite Young, EBMUD staff proposed a pilot project that would have opened up four trail segments to mountain bikes: two on narrow, single-track trails and two on wider fire roads. The initial design for the pilot was formed without input from other trail users like hikers, equestrians, joggers, and birders. If they had reached out to the wider community, staff would have heard concerns that if mountain bikes are allowed on these narrow, steep, curvy trails with blind corners, they would collide with other trail users.
While the Sierra Club is not opposed to mountain bikes per se, we do have concerns about their use in areas like narrow footpaths, where safety and the biodiversity of plants and animals are more at risk than on wider roads. We’re also concerned with maintaining intact and well-vegetated watershed lands to protect drinking-water quality.
To make sure these factors were being considered by EBMUD, the Sierra Club reached out to other environmental groups (representing other trail users) to form an alliance to oppose mountain bikes on narrow footpaths on EBMUD watershed lands. Eventually six organizations came together to form Safe Trails, Environmental Protection (STEP): the Sierra Club, the Golden Gate Audubon Society, California Native Plant Society, Regional Parks Association, Claremont Canyon Conservancy, and Metropolitan Horseman’s Association.
Our advocacy has been effective: last month EBMUD staff eliminated the two narrow trails from consideration for the pilot project, while leaving in one or two fire roads.
STEP and the Sierra Club do not oppose allowing mountain bikes on fire trails like the Eagle’s Nest trail, a connector trail from San Pablo Dam Road to Inspiration Point trail, if an adequate enforcement and compliance program is in place to protect hikers and equestrians and to guard against rogue trail development. Another fire trail proposed for opening to mountain bikes, the Pinole Valley trail, is more problematic because, depending on the routing, it could pass through habitat of the California red-legged frog and Alameda whipsnake, both protected species. The Sierra Club has called for a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) where changes in trail use impacts are potentially significant. Because of the presence of threatened and endangered species, EBMUD’s Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) needs to be reviewed by US Fish and Wildlife Service, and EBMUD staff needs to investigate the Plan's compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The Skyline Trail section between Tilden and Sibley—an area known as Skyline Gardens—exemplifies the importance and fragility of the ecosystem that STEP seeks to protect. This trail section was part of the pilot project as originally proposed, but has since been removed from that plan thanks to STEP’s advocacy. Skyline Gardens is the site of a California Native Plant Society project to remove invasive nonnative plants in order to encourage natives in the most botanically diverse area of its size (about 250 acres) in the entire East Bay. Skyline Gardens contains 237 native plant species and 67 species of rare and unusual plants. EBMUD has expressed an openness to a special designation for Skyline Gardens as some kind of conservation area, with no mountain bikes. The California Native Plant Society is working with the District to make this happen. (See the end of the article for hike and volunteer opportunities at Skyline.)
As the pilot program introducing mountain bikes onto watershed lands takes shape, it will be critical to ensure it is properly funded so that there is environmental documentation and an enforcement program to keep bikes in designated areas. Overall, we support the general direction of the EBMUD staff recommendations—although as the saying goes, it ain’t over until it’s over (and the Board votes). We look forward to meeting with other trail users and stakeholders, including members of the bicycle community, to discuss the Watershed Master Plan and trail uses.
WhatYouCanDo
Get involved: If you're interested, you can attend STEP or Sierra Club East Bay Public Lands Committee meetings; contact the Sierra Club's SF Bay Chapter office at 510-848-0800 for details.
Volunteer at Skyline Gardens: Volunteers, under the direction of project manager Glen Schneider, go out to Skyline Gardens twice a week to conduct a botanical survey and remove invasive species. To get involved in that effort, contact skylinegardens@ebcnps.org.
Hike to Skyline Gardens: To see the magnificent springtime display of native plants in bloom at Skyline Gardens, Glen Schneider will lead a special hike for Sierra Club members on Saturday, April 8th at 9 am. Space is limited to 20 people. RSVP here.
Photo: Wildflowers in bloom at Skyline Gardens. Photo by Glen Schneider.