Little Sluice scheduled to be "paved" Friday!

[Ty.]

I learned about this on Pirate, and thought I would pass it on.



The famous Little Sluice on the Rubicon trail is set to be majorly altered this Friday. They are planning of flying in tons and tons of fill rock and cracking up to 13 boulders in this small 100' section of the Rubicon trail.

We are trying to stop this from happening and can use all the help we can get.

Here is part one of the plan.....

Email El Dorado County and ask them to halt all alterations of the world famous little sluice.

Send El Dorado County Supervisor Jack Sweeney and his fellow Supervisors an email and CC it to the other contacts below. It is important that this be made known to as many people as possible, they need to be pressured into stopping this!


Please send emails to:
El Dorado County Board of Supervisors
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

CC:
[email protected], [email protected]
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

 

[zukkev]

Damn...Just saw this---May be too late, but I fired off emails to all in the list anyhow....That Sucks...JUST did the 'con a couple weeks ago as passenger, and as planning a run in my own rig in the future sometime...

 

[Indefatigable]

This is such old news, why the panic now?

All the notice and plan to do this was finalized (public consultation etc) back in 2010. Only about 10 years of consultation to get to that point. The only thing not set in stone was the exact date of each pieces of work being done. They just work away at it as they go. Equipment has been on the trail the last two years working on the rest of the CAO and the equipment finally worked its way to LS.

I was there in July and they had worked their way to Soup Bowl and just past. They were putting in a fairly large amount of gravel to constuct a good sized camping area.

Of course the alternative to doing the work for the CAO is to close the trail.

 

[crash2]

Unfortunately this is WAY too late(when posted).....

What was to happen was already well on its way to happen....

 

[PHILLBILLY1]

That would be lame to pave it. We recently went down there and ran the rubicon too, and even attempted the little sluice. Fun obsticle, but they have already altered it a bunch in the last couple years. Besides, wouldn't sidehilling the slab next to it be more fun anyhow? :redneck:

There was tons of improvements to the entire trail, and if it means a little here and there to keep it open, so be it. There is still the big sluice and old sluice :awesomework:

 

[Dave W]

Del Albright from BRC on how things are going on the Rubicon. This is not encouraging:

IS GOVERNMENT LISTENING TO THE USERS?

I left my leadership position in Friends of the Rubicon (FOTR) and the Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF) a few years back, thinking that we had laid a positive foundation to continue these incredible efforts to keep the Rubicon Trail open to all of us...all year; for all types of rigs; with challenges for us all.

NOT THE CASE!!!

I am sorely disappointed in the way the trail has changed in the last few years, and I am not afraid to step up and say that government is NOT listening to the users. Not in this case. Something is wrong and we need to bring some slap down on the deaf ones who "govern" our use of public lands in the case of the Rubicon Trail.

From the blowing of the Gatekeeper, conducted like an ambush in war, unbeknownst to users and unspoken in public forums beforehand; to the resizing and near paving of Little Sluice in spite of comprehensive surveys and public input against such maneuvers behind the scenes; to the changing and possible closure of Soup (Bowl, Kitchen). It is NOT what the users have asked for and have said in public forum. Government is NOT listening.

And do we have some of our own supporting these insidious, sneaky, behind the scenes moves? I'm not sure; but I am sure that the folks I talk to, do NOT support these radical changes to the Rubicon Trail.

Oh, let's ask ourselves who has invested tens of thousand of hours in hard work, sweat, blood and back-breaking work in making this trail a trail for all? Friends of the Rubicon (FOTR), that is who. Since the first work party in the summer of 2001, and hundreds of work parties since then, every summer....FOTR has earned the key to this trail. Why does Government think they know best on this one?

FOTR earned tens of thousands of dollars in grant money for government agencies to help us manage the trail, maintain the trail, and mitigate the issues with erosion and use. So why would not government LISTEN to the users in how the trail should look in the future? YOU GOT ME.

Here's my suggestion for you if this does not wrap your winch the right way: 1) make sure your membership is current in fighting outfits like BlueRibbon Coalition and Cal4wheel; 2) make sure you're participating in Google groups for FOTR with your voice being heard; and 3) donate to those groups fighting for access THE RIGHT WAY, for you.
More on BRC here at http://www.sharetrails.org
More on Cal4 here at http://www.cal4wheel.com
More on Del at http://www.delalbright.com

Whatever you do; do NOT let your voice go unheard. Back it with donations and memberships. Be in the game. It is OUR public lands we are talking about.
Del