Why Placer Land Trust supports Hidden Falls expansion

For more than 15 years, Placer Land Trust (PLT) has been working with Placer County and its Placer Legacy Open Space and Agricultural Conservation Program, the State of California, foundations, private supporters, and willing landowners to acquire and protect more than 2,500 acres of natural open space and rangeland that now comprises the Placer Land Trust Big Hill and Harvego Bear River preserves. Our vision for these preserves, shared by our public and private funding partners, includes a network of publicly accessible trails that will enable our community to experience the natural wonders of this iconic foothill landscape. To achieve this vision, we support Placer County's Hidden Falls Trail Expansion, with the understanding that trail and trailhead development and use will be managed to be compatible with the established conservation and agricultural objectives of the preserves. Why more trails? Simply put, trail activities — hiking, running, biking and horse riding — are exceptionally popular forms of recreation, have proven benefits to community health and contribute to our region's economy. Yet, existing trails and trailheads are in such high demand that they are often overcrowded. Placer County's Hidden Falls Trail Expansion project can ultimately add 30-40 miles of multi-use public trails through thousands of acres of beautiful protected lands, as well as much needed new trailhead facilities. The majority of the county's proposed trail expansion would be on PLT preserves located northeast of the existing park and north to the Bear River. This area has few public roads and includes expansive undeveloped blue oak woodlands and rangelands within the Raccoon Creek and Bear River watersheds. The county's Hidden Falls Trail expansion would be a combination of new and existing trails and ranch roads on these PLT preserves, including new trails built by PLT over the past several years with local community investment. Currently, these PLT trails and preserves are accessible to the public only through monthly docent-led hikes and other events, greatly limiting public use and enjoyment. Protection of natural features and agricultural usesPLT supports opening its preserves in the Big Hill area and Harvego Bear River Preserve to public use of multi-use trails, while also remaining compatible with the required protection of the natural features and existing agricultural uses of these preserves. Preserves are different than a publicly owned park, so the rules of use will be different. PLT preserves are not suitable for a similar density of trails and intensity of use as the current Hidden Falls Regional Park. PLT has always envisioned a trail system and public use of trails on its preserves that is more of an "outback" experience that is compatible with the land's rural character — fewer people, lower impact, more for individuals looking for longer hikes, runs, and rides. This has been a long-term goal of PLT and the funders of these preserves. Management of local concernsDuring the past year, we have listened carefully to the concerns of some residents who live near the trail expansion project. They have some understandable concerns about traffic, fire, noise, loss of grazing land and other impacts on their rural setting. Placer Land Trust also has concerns about over-development and over-use of the new trail system and fully intends to maintain current grazing. We believe, however, that these concerns are manageable by Placer County and can be addressed by a combination of down-sizing trailhead facilities, applying the lessons learned from managing the first phase of Hidden Falls Regional Park, and carefully phasing in the expansion project as more is learned about managing use and capacity. The development of trailhead facilities that would be owned by Placer County — including the potential trailheads at the Twilight Ride property on Bell Road, the access to the west of Hidden Falls Regional Park off of Garden Bar Road, and access at the Harvego Bear River Preserve — requires careful planning by the county that follows standard practices for public involvement and project modification according to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other applicable laws. As a private nonprofit organization, PLT relies on these established public procedures to ensure that the wide ranges of public benefits and project costs and impacts are well considered and reasonably balanced. Specifically, with regards to the Twilight Ride property on Bell Road, PLT supports the county's acquisition and development of parking and trail access at that location. However, to reduce the impact on this specific neighborhood and to be compatible with PLT's conservation objectives for its preserves, PLT recommends a smaller Bell Road parking lot and trailhead than the County has initially proposed. Overall, Placer Land Trust believes the impacts of the Hidden Falls Trail expansion project can be reasonably managed and will be far more than offset by the many benefits of public access to PLT preserves ... now, and for future generations. The time is right for moving ahead with the shared vision of the public-private partnership to create a truly unique and expansive trail system in the Sierra foothills of Placer County. Placer Land Trust Board of Directors are: Barbara Brenner, Amy Eubank, Rich Ferreira, Bob Gilliom, Jim Haagen-Smit, Doug Houston, Karen Keene, John Marin, Christine Pieper and Fred Yeager.