Clean-up and Abatement Order (CAO) for the Rubicon Trail

 Thank You to Pamela Creedon and her staff  at the

Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's (CVRWQCB)

for taking on the thorny issue of the Rubicon; it's about time someone did!!!!!

·      When El Dorado County asserted ownership of the Rubicon as an unmaintained county road, they also assumed responsibility for ensuring it doesn't violate water quality standards or other environmental regulations.

·      The State of California provided the County over $400,000 in grants to develop a Trail Management Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report that assured the Rubicon Trail would be managed in compliance with environmental regulations.  Those documents were completed, but discarded by Supervisor Sweeney, who said El Dorado County couldn't afford to manage the trail.  The discarded plan included user fees that would have made the Rubicon self-supporting.

·      Supervisor Sweeney claims it would cost the county $800,000 a year to manage the Rubicon.  Why should the taxpayers of El Dorado County foot the bill for what has become a playground for extreme off-roading? The 35,000 off-roaders who use the trail every year (most from out-of-county) would have to pay less than $23 each to cover the costs.

·      While the Rubicon is a county road, the lands surround it are National Forest lands that are being destroyed by off-roaders who refuse to stay on the trail.

·      The Rubicon passes through high  alpine forests identical to those in adjacent Desolation Wilderness. The difference between the two is appalling.

·      The Forest Service limits use in Desolation through a quota system and a permit fee; why can't the county do the same for the Rubicon Trail?

·      The county asserts it is already planning to do much of what is required in the draft CAO.  That being the case, the requirements of the CAO will not be a burden.  What it does provide is a timeline and incentive to actually do the work.

·      Volunteers picking up their trash are great, but it does not solve the problems caused by inappropriate use. 

·      Water Board staff saw the trail after an asserted 30,000 volunteer man-hours, so it is obvious volunteers with shovels and garbage bags are not going to solve the enormous engineering and reconstruction needs of the trail!!!!!!