Day: November 7, 2017

Los Padres NF – Monterey District Closure Order, 11/7/17

Los Padres Issues Closure Order for Key Trails, Camps on Monterey Ranger District

GOLETA, CA, November 7, 2017…Los Padres National Forest officials today issued a forest order to maintain a temporary closure of the Pine Ridge (Forest Trail No. E306), Terrace Creek (Forest Trail No. 3E22) and Ventana Camp (Forest Trail No. 2E14) trails, as well as Barlow Flat, Sykes, Redwood, Terrace Creek and Ventana Camps.
The remainder of the Soberanes Fire closure instituted last December on the Monterey Ranger District has been lifted.
Forest Service law enforcement officers will strictly enforce the new closure order, which carries a penalty of $5,000 and/or six months in jail. The order will expire November 6, 2018.
The closure order prohibits the public from being on these three trails or entering these five developed recreation sites due to continued public safety and natural resource concerns within the Soberanes Fire burn area. The closure will remain in effect until the hazardous trails conditions can be mitigated. Adequate surveys of these trails are being undertaken to determine the amount of damage, the subsequent repair needs, environmental planning, and funding sources to accomplish the necessary trail repair work before allowing public access to these popular trails and camps.
The scoping regarding this temporary closure included discussions with local landowners, members of the public, government agencies, as well as cooperators and volunteers.
For additional information, please contact the Monterey Ranger District at (831) 385-5434, or by visiting the Los Padres National Forest website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/lpnf.

TO BE CLEAR – THE SOBERANES EAST LOOP IS STATE PARK AND NOT AFFECTED BY THIS ORDER. IT IS STILL CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE! AS ARE THE LIMEKILN TRAILS, I BELIEVE.

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Tourism Tuesday, 11/7/17

From The NY Times this morning:

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A tour bus on Hollywood Boulevard in 2015. The Los Angeles City Council is considering regulations to limit the access tour vans have in the Hollywood Hills, a neighborhood with narrow, twisting streets. Credit Chad Ress for The New York Times

Good morning.

Today’s introduction comes from Adam Nagourney, the Los Angeles bureau chief.

It’s not so easy living up in the Hollywood Hills these days. First it was the onslaught of tourists on foot, clogging the narrow, twisting streets as they used GPS devices in search of the Hollywood sign. These days, it’s a louder and more cumbersome intruder: open-air tour vans, pushing through on roads that can barely fit one car, some with loudspeakers blaring dubious claims by the driver. (“And on the left, the house where Humphrey Bogart once lived!”)

Confronted with the anguished concerns of neighbors, the Los Angeles City Council is trying to walk a fine line by responding to upset constituents without hurting tourism, a major economic force here. (And there are few tourist draws as big as the Hollywood sign.) The council is moving to adopt regulations that would require tour operators to give patrons private headphones, getting rid of squawky speakers. And the city is drawing up a list of streets where tour vans would be banned completely.

“You’re talking about over 100 buses every day traveling the small streets of Hollywood Hills,” said Anastasia Mann, the president of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council. “Blocking Mulholland Drive and creating huge hazards. It really gets out of hand.”

For the rest of the article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/us/california-today-for-hollywood-hills-tour-vans-are-nuisance.html