Times Standard 6-10-00

Changes to Lost Coast camping proposed

The Times-Standard

The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to add camping fees and put areas near campgrounds off limits to overnight use in the Mattole, Honeydew and Black Sands Beach areas.

The bureau hopes to stem overcrowding of campgrounds by not allowing campers to use nearby parking lots to strike camp. The bureau said they have had problems with large groups of people using parking areas overnight.

Overnight camping fees would be $5 per night at Mattole and Honeydew, and there would be a $2 per-night parking fee at the Mattole and Black Sands trailheads.

The move has sparked concern from off-highway vehicle groups that recently filed a suit against the bureau for closing Black Sands Beach to vehicular traffic. The suit charges that the bureau did not comply with federal laws before closing the beach, and did not consider the public's desire that alternatives to the beach closure should be found.

Don Amador of the Idaho-based Blue Ribbon Coalition, the lead plaintiff in the suit, sees the proposed rules as a ban on camping in one of the favorite spots used by off-road vehicle groups prior to the beach closure last year.

The proposed ban, he says, appears directed at the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The bureau said there is no intent whatsoever to prohibit camping on the beach, and believes the concern is based on a misunderstanding.

"We want people to use the beach," said the bureau's Arcata Field Manager Lynda Roush, "and not to use the parking lot."

The discrepancy seems to be due to vagueness in the proposal in the Federal Register.

The Black Sands Beach section reads that the site is closed to overnight camping and limited to parking for off-site backcountry use. Off site, it says, means traveling north of Telegraph Creek.

Most people don't camp on the south side, Roush said, which is subject to dangerous waves and is often under water. Most people camp north of the creek, she said.

Telegraph Creek is below and slightly north of the trailhead on the bluffs.

"All we're trying to say is that you can't camp in the parking lot," Roush said.

In his interpretation, Amador said, "That's not exactly truthful."

Problems with large groups of people using the Mattole Campground parking lot and facilities have prompted the bureau to propose closing the area within 500 feet of the campground to overnight use.

"What we had (one day) last year is 400 people in and around the campground," Roush said. The group was rowdy and setting off fireworks, she said.

Several people in the campground became concerned about the ruckus and left, Roush said.

She said collecting fees and limiting camping to the campground will help define a capacity for the campground.

Free parking is available at other locations, including the new Horse Mountain Creek trailhead.

Land managers are seeking written public comment on the proposed rules. Write to Bureau of Land Management, 1695 Heindon Road, Arcata 95521.