Times Standard 5-27-00

Group fights vehicle ban

The Times-Standard

SHELTER COVE -- The sun warmed the rugged coastal mountains as the waves cascaded onto the shore, and a few hikers explored the rocks, but there were no trucks or all-terrain vehicles on Black Sands Beach Thursday.

Seeking to restore vehicle access, a frustrated coalition of beach users gathered at the site to explain why they filed a lawsuit in federal district court last week in response to the Bureau of Land Management's 1998 decision to close the beach to vehicles.

The suit charges that the BLM, which manages the Kings Range National Conservation Area, failed to continue "multiple-use" policy, should have written an Environmental Impact Statement, violated the Mining Act of 1866 by eliminating an existing right-of-way, and should have maintained access for disabled visitors.

The federal agency decided to ban all vehicle use from the beach because they are no longer compatible with other beach uses, according to the 28-page management decision. BLM-area resource manager Lynda Roush said she was not allowed to comment on specific issues because of the pending litigation.

The BLM said the ban was necessary because there was an increasing number of backpackers and other non-motorized users on the beach. The agency also said the beach uses needed to conform with the 1974 management plan that called for "primitive, backcountry use" for the coastal areas of the Kings Range.

Exceptions are made for administrative or emergency access, such as when search and rescue personnel used all-terrain vehicles to search for drowning victims in March.

But the lawsuit's proponents, including off-road vehicle clubs, a surfers' group, a disabled man and residents with private coastal properties within the BLM area, said the decision was unfair and no other alternatives were ever seriously considered. The Blue Ribbon Coalition, an Idaho-based national nonprofit group, is also the main force behind and a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

"All we want to do is maintain what we had -- nothing more," said Lost Coast 4x4s president Carl Brandt of Eureka.

Originally, there were 27 miles of off-highway vehicle access, and the beach was part of a historical travel corridor. Until Highway 101 was built, it provided access from Shelter Cove to the mouth of the Mattole River. Since 1974, 3 1/2 miles of OHV access was allowed, and now there's nothing, he added.

"Some interest groups just don't seem to want OHVs anywhere," said Brandt.

"Maybe we can set a precedent with this lawsuit and then pursue access to other areas," he added. "You have to start somewhere."

If the current lawsuit restores OHV access to Black Sands Beach, Brandt added, maybe much of the North Spit of Humboldt Bay could be reopened to coastal vehicle access. OHV use was restricted to a small BLM property near the North Jetty by the county Beach and Dunes Management Plan in 1995 after years of study and debate.

Scott Sinclair of Kneeland, a Blue Ribbon Coalition board member, said that with better signs, more law enforcement and help that OHV clubs have offered the BLM, vehicles could coexist with other beach users and provide disabled people access.

"Elsewhere in the country, we have stellar OHV areas that exist right next to wilderness areas," Sinclair said. "It can work."

But Black Sands Beach is wild enough that it ought to be off-limits to all motorized vehicles, said Tim McKay of Arcata's Northcoast Environmental Center, one of the groups that has firmly opposed OHV access to Black Sands and lobbied for the BLM's ban.

"There's very few places where wilderness comes right down to the coast," he noted. There is already a "huge amount" of access near wilderness areas because of thousands of miles of roads on federal lands, McKay added.

"North America has hundreds of thousands of miles of roads and most beaches are open to vehicles," he said.

McKay, who owns a four-wheel-drive and has arthritis, said he sympathized with those who also have disabilities and want vehicle access to outdoor recreation. But he does not think that he is entitled to motorized entry into areas such as Black Sands Beach.