The East Bay Regional Park District board approved formalizing bike access to 5.75 miles of trails from the Briones Pilot Project. The pilot was a temporary 20 month activity. These include the first bike only directional trails in the EBRPD. The pilot has also closed and restored 5 miles of unsustainable and sensitive habitat impacting trail. 1.28 miles of non system pedestrian only trails were added to the formal trail system. Thank you to the district staff, management, and board for supporting the pilot. Thank you to all the trail users and stakeholders for coming together.
Thank you to all that have participated in many ways:
- Providing public comment to the various board meetings and staff
- Participating in Dig Days for trail closure, restoration, or maintenance
- Participating in public meetings at the park
- Participating in online park surveys
- Participating in field tabling
- Respecting other trail users and making their experiences positive as well
This is a significant milestone, not an end but more so a beginning and there remains so much more to be done in Briones and beyond in the EBRPD and with other East Bay land managers. The pilot demonstrated what is possible when the trail community is engaged. Continued partnership and compliance by the trail community is needed to continue this access, apply this approach to the rest of Briones and other parks in the EBRPD.
Emphasizing this is just a beginning, several board members expressed concern that the mountain bike community would continue to comply with rules. Our take is that the mountain bike community understands that and appreciates the engagement from the park district. The @stewardsofbriones have championed a Don’t screw this up approach. Continued collaboration, compliance, and constructive discussion with the park district is needed.
Thank you all.
The East Bay Regional Park District Executive Committee voted 3-0 to take the staff recommendations to the full board for approval on December 17th. The main recommendation of interest is the formal addition of bike access on both the bike only directional downhill trails and the multiuse trails in the pilot. As you may recall bike access during the Pilot was temporary. This formalized access will be documented in Ordinance 38 if approved by the board of directors at their December 17th meeting. Ordinance 38 is where all the park rules are documented and lists singletrack trails with sanctioned bike access.
The December 17th board meeting will be another opportunity for the public to participate in the governance process. Public comments are not tallied as votes but it is one clear way for the public to provide input as constituents to our elected officials. We urge you to send an email to let the elected EBRPD board of directors know that approving this access and continuing efforts for additional responsible bike access is important to you.
Send your email to: publiccomment@ebparks.org
Subject Line: Public Comment – Briones Pilot agenda item
Be sure to include your name and where you live.
Suggested comments to consider:
Messages written in your own words are generally more effective than a form letter. A personal message on why these things are important to you sometimes makes a stronger connection. A respectful message is also more likely to be heard.