American River Ride

[Gardner <slsf@foothill.net>]

I had the pleasure of attending the American River ride this weekend.
Up on arrival I was quite surprised to see a number of signs posted at
the park entrance saying camping was only allowed for those with self
contained campers.  No tents, sleeping in pick-ups, or horse trailers
was allowed.  This was being strictly enforced by a number of zealous
park rangers.   Needless to say, this caught many off guard.  Some who
had driven long distances suddenly found them selves without any place
to spend the night.  Ride management said they didn’t find out about
this new regulation until the Monday before the ride.

Ride management did their best to cope with a new and difficult
situation.  I heard the opinion expressed that park management really
doesn’t want the endurance ride anymore and this is a way of perhaps
creating regulations that would eventually just make it too difficult
to hold an endurance ride at a state park.  I don’t know if this is true
or not.  I did question several rangers and got the impression that they
thought this was as ridiculous, but they had been ordered to enforce
it.  One ranger told me, “God knows what regulation the  State of
California will come up with next”.

You wouldn’t believe how difficult it was to get the rangers to give out
the name of their boss. I did manage to obtain two names for interested
parties to contact.  They are supervising ranger Mark Gibson and chief
ranger Larry Froley.  They are headquartered at the California State
Parks, American River District, 7806 Folsom-Auburn Road, Folsom, CA
95630.  The telephone for the office is 916-988-0205.

As outraged as I am by this, I find that I really don’t have the time to
peruse this matter as it should be.  I would like to see these gentlemen
answer the following questions.  1.  Why was this regulation made.  2.
If sanitation is the issue, why wasn’t ride management allowed to bring
in portable units for the night.  3.  What can we do as park users to
get a hearing on this matter.

Somehow in talking with these public servants you get the feeling that
they would really just like for everyone to just stop using the parks so
their job would be easier.  Is there someone on ride camp who has the
time to contact this office and see of these rangers have e-mail?  Then
post it on ride camp so those who wish to be heard on that matter can
easily make their feelings known to them.  Perhaps a hundred or so
enquiry’s into this would make a difference.  This is something where
ride camp and the power of the internet might make a difference.

We the citizens of California have hired these people to administer our
public lands.  They are our employees, we are not their guests.  When
they make an error in judgement, it is our duty to call the matter to
their attention.  How about it ride camp, can we get something going
here?!

Phil Gardner