Re: Fw: RE: [RC] Cronin Ranch restrictions - Dana B.
Hold on a minute, Lynelle. I understand that you are upset, but you are making personal accuasations against someone you do not know regarding a situation you seem to know nothing about. I do not know you or how long it has been since you moved from the Bay Area, but here in El Dorado County we have attempted to create a situation where we can all work together.
On the other hand, I do know Gail very well. Gail has been working as a private citizen to develop Cronan Ranch since long before it was available for public use. She had devoted years to working with Jeff Horn (whom I also know personally) at the BLM long before she was employed by the Conservancy. Gail and Jeff (and Sheila and I) and other riders and hikers and cyclists and hunters and runners and rafters and kayakers and environmentalists worked for years, meeting with the American River Conservancy and the BLM to create a plan that involved cooperation among all the groups. Gail was one of the original horsemen to start the Divide Trail Patrol at Cronan Ranch and it's expansion to include the cyclists. She has devoted hours and hours of personal time into making it the great place it is now. Gail's response is not "PC" as you accuse, but rather from someone who has invested
a great deal personally and been there, done that, and knows that the BLM has too few resources to play policeman to sqeaky loose cannons. Gail has spent days and days at hard physical labor working on the trails. Gail has paid her dues, BIG time. And Jeff has always been more than happy to work with Gail and others to find solutions to problems when they are presented to him nicely with solutions in a spirit of cooperation.
Over the past years the BLM has been very cooperative in working with all users of the land *as long as we all work together nicely.* If we become a burr under their blanket, they *will* shut it down because they do not have the resources to be policemen. Period.
If you really are interested in doing some good, then I would suggest you join the DivideTrail Patrol (affiliated with the Divide Horsemen's Assn) and work with them on communicating constructively with the BLM. If you "take them on" and "don't let this go" then you are going to do nothing but make horsemen look like complainers who do not play well with others (which sadly is often the case). Forget the "enlightening politics," the political fact is that the BLM controls Cronan Ranch, the BLM suffers from budget problems and the BLM cannot babysit trail users. If we become a problem, the solution is to remove us. And *that* is what Gail was nicely trying to say.
Settle down a bit, and play nice with the system that is in place. Or we will all lose.
Dana Baldwin,
who also loves Cronan Ranch
PS As to "who appointed Gail", I believe it was Ranelle who brought her name up because of her past participation in the Divide Trail Patrol and you who contacted her. Gail's reply was out of consideration for your concerns. I'm guessing she was trying to be helpful out of habit given her long standing work with Jeff and the BLM. So much for trying to be helpful.
PPS In case anyone is interested in seeing the parcel in question, here is a link:
--- On Tue, 7/1/08, Lynelle Robertson <purplehorsebarn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Lynelle Robertson <purplehorsebarn@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: Fw: RE: [RC] Cronin Ranch restrictions To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 1:08 PM
Well folks read the response from Gail Zeigler at the conservancy. Lets see can we read between the lines. First of all who appointed her to be a spokesperson for creating a compromise for all of us. By the sound of this response it is not a compromise for anyone but the equestrians. Does she mean if we don't comply that horses would loose any access to the park because of the rafters. She did not address why dogs are not restricted from the area where food is prepared and eaten. She has sided stepped the questions I asked. This is one of the most "PC" correct emails I have ever gotten. I have never so much as sat down at one of there tables or used one of their porta potties nor have in all my rides in this park for the last 4 years seen any equestrian using there equipment. I don't intend to let this go. I am going to start trying to find out what this is really about I am sure it will be enlightening politics.
--- On Tue,
7/1/08, Gail Zeigler<gail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Gail Zeigler <gail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: RE: Cronin Ranch To: purplehorsebarn@xxxxxxxxx Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 12:12 PM
Hi Lynelle,
Thank you for the e-mail and your input about the seasonal trail closures at Cronan Ranch. I reread my initial e-mail and feel it is self-explanatory as for the reasons for the closure. If there is something or some part of the e-mail that you don’t understand please let me know as I’m sure you would not be the only one who didn’t understand it. The BLM has also posted a sign at Cronan Ranch explaining the reason for the temporary seasonal closure. Again, I believe it is fairly self-explanatory.
The BLM has provided access to the river for equestrians on the upstream and downstream sides of the closure. These are marked with signage. I find the access acceptable. The S. Fork of the American River is a dammed river and its water levels are controlled and fluctuate. Areas that are sandy one day will not be the next depending on the rise and fall of the river. If you are an endurance rider I am sure you are very experience at finding water for your horse in extreme conditions, which the locations at Cronan are not.
Cronan Ranch is a wonderful addition to our trail corridor. It can be a very busy park that is utilized by many recreations user groups. The groups all have different needs, wants and desires. Compromises are sometimes required when different user groups may have conflicts.
In addition to recreation Cronan Ranch hosts many educational and research projects. There are also stewardship programs that ARC hosts at Cronan in partnership with the BLM. If you are a frequent user of Cronan you may want to consider volunteering for one of these events come this fall. By volunteering with other users groups of the park you can gain insight as to other users groups activities and it’s a chance to provide non-equestrians with insight about horses.
My work/travel/volunteer schedule is pretty hectic right now so I’m not sure when I’ll have time to ride. August is looking like a GREAT month so maybe we can hook up then???
**If you woke up breathing you're already having a pretty good day**
From: Lynelle Robertson [mailto:purplehorsebarn@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 9:45 AM To: Gail Zeigler Subject: Cronin Ranch
Hi, my name is Lynelle and I hope you saw my post on "Ride Camp"about the changes out at Cronin Ranch. I live off Rattlesnake Bar and ride there conditioning my mare after work at least 3 days a week and sometimes on Sunday's. Ranelle Rubin suggested I contact you and see if you would like to ride some time out at Cronin. I have only located one water access for horses and found it unusable and dangerous. Pretty setting but the sand was muck and felt with more use it would only get worse. I do not understand how all this has happened and why there weren't any hearings for public input. Why are we hearing about it after the fact. Please let me know if you would like to ride. I would love to see the other equine access points. Thanks
