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Your Comments & Email Needed! Draft Santa Barbara County Recreation Master Plan Now Available!

Santa Ynez Valley Riders Information

Happy 2025 everyone and please read to the end!!!!

The Draft Santa Barbara County Recreation Master Plan Notice of Preparation (for an EIR) and Project Scoping document (project description) is now available to view online.

As expected, equestrians need to hit the ground running NOW to protect our Live Oak Trail.


Just last Friday the County Park Division released the draft Santa Barbara County Recreation Master Plan. This document has a significant impact on whether we will be able to keep the Live Oak Equestrian Trail safe for trail riding.  There will be several steps where we will have opportunities to provide comment letters or attend public meetings.  We'll provide reminders and follow-up info for your use.


Here are some important dates that will require more email letters from you and the February 6th meeting, please plan on attending!!!


Thursday January 23rd - Park Commission Special Meeting on the Rec Plan, Planning Commission Hearing Room,  123 E Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara.


Thursday, February 6th - A virtual EIR scoping meeting will be held online using Microsoft Teams at 5:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to present the project and receive input on the scope of the environmental issues to be addressed in the EIR. 

To join on your computer or mobile app, please click the link below:

Join the meeting on 2/6

To call into the meeting on your phone, please use the numbers below:

Dial 1-213-267-3760Enter conference ID no. 481 670 356#

Monday, February 10th - CRAHTAC Meeting on the Rec Plan (possible special meeting before, so subject to change), Planning Commission Hearing Room, 123 E Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara 3:00 PM


We hope you'll consider reviewing the attached letter below for the January 23rd Park Commission Meeting by cutting and pasting it into an email to Jeff Lindgren, Assistant Director Park Division, edit it as you wish and then send it.


Please submit your emails before Monday, January 20th at 5:00 PM

Your email will be distributed  to the County Park Commissioners.  There are options here because I've heard opinions on both no hikers/hikers are OK on Live Oak Trail so you make your call and edit accordingly.


The one thing we think we can agree on is no mountain bikes and no dogs.


Here are the details:


On Thursday January 23th, the Santa Barbara County Parks Commission will meet in the Planning Commission hearing room 123 E Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara, 9:30 AM (See the Agenda at: https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/43ed4624-3872-4e3d-bbd8-7a61ecf4bc29).  If you can attend and listen, you would be welcome.  If you would  like to speak that would be great as well.


The Rec Master Plan is in a confusing format, and I cannot link to the projects of interest directly from the web site.  You can view the entire Notice of Preparation and Scoping document at : https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/004c7692f51246d1a24f5a6bba6f2113 .  


Below are the subject projects being proposed as part of the document for Live Oak cut and pasted from the web page:  


Cachuma Equestrian Trails Project


This project would expand the trail network on the north side of Lake Cachuma to support equestrians in balance with other trail users, including hikers and mountain bikers. The trail system would offer scenic routes for riders of various skill levels. Equestrian trails would supplement multi-use trails to support a wider range of users in this scenic recreation area. Where trail conflicts could arise, horse-only bypasses would be integrated into the trail design to ensure the safety and comfort of riders and horses. The new trail system could provide an "out and back" experience or circumvent the north side of the lake.


Trail Type: Recreational


Planning Area: Santa Ynez Valley


Location: Cachuma Lake Recreation Area


Agencies: County Parks & U.S. Bureau of Reclamation


Timing: Near-term (5 - 10 years)


Source: Recreation Master Plan



Cachuma Pack-In/Pack-Out Campground & Equestrian Facilities Project


Pack-In/Pack-Out Campground. This project would create a unique rural recreation experience on the northern shores of Lake Cachuma. From the existing Live Oak Campground, hikers and equestrians could pack into a rustic tent-only campground (or sleep under the stars). The campground would provide an overnight stop for hikers and equestrians exploring Lake Cachuma.


Public Equestrian Facility. To provide a "home base" for horses and their riders exploring Lake Cachuma, this project would provide a public outdoor equestrian facility near Live Oak Campground, featuring an outdoor riding arena for training, recreation, and competitions. Through a fee-based program, equestrians would have access to stables and barns for day use. The facility would include wash racks, tack rooms, and shaded rest areas for horses and riders. If feasible, boarding services for both short-term and long-term uses could be available.


Park Type: Campground/Other


Planning Area: Santa Ynez Valley


Location: Cachuma Lake Recreation Area


Agencies: County Parks & U.S. Bureau of Reclamation


Timing: Near-term (5 - 10 years)


Source: Recreation Master Plan



HERE IS THE EMAIL & DIRECTIONS for your use. Thank you everyone!!!!


Please submit your emails before Monday, January 20th at 5:00 PM

 

Please copy the email below and paste the entire letter into the body of a new email.

In the TO Address: Jeff Lindgren, Assistant Director Park Division  (jlindgren@countyofsb.org)


Please edit it as you wish (don't forget to add your name in 2 places and date it, then send it.  It will be forwarded to the Park Commission:




DATE

Santa Barbara County Park Commission


c/o Jeff Lindgren, Parks Division Assistant Director (jlindgren@countyofsb.org)


VIA Email


RE: Santa Barbara County Recreation Master Plan Scope; Live Oak Equestrian Trail Project, Cachuma Recreation Area


Mr. Chair and Honorable Commissioners:


My name is _____________ and I am a life-long equestrian and have enjoyed the Live Oak Equestrian Trail (Live Oak) for many years. I thank Parks staff for continuing to hear our reports and considering our equestrian’s comments on issues surrounding Live Oak. I look forward to working toward an equitable and fair use of the trail and trailhead area in the future.

 


For the past five years, our equestrians have provided education and examples of the following issues highlighted below and in-depth research into safe equestrian trail riding along with evidence of other County’s recreational equestrian programs for your Commission, the County Riding and Hiking Trails Advisory Council (CRAHTAC) and Parks staff. While the EIR Scoping document includes the Cachuma Equestrian Trails Project, and addresses many of equestrian trail riders’ issues and concerns, it fundamentally ignores the following:


- Mountain bikers and hikers with unleashed dogs pose the greatest threat to equestrian trail  rider’s safety. It is impossible to mitigate high speeds that mountain bikes can achieve at the Live Oak trail as it traverses through hilly terrain with mostly blind corners. Significant erosion associated with bike speed, repeated maintenance to keep the tread to biker standards will be increased with creation of banks on corners, rolling dips and other trail jumps, bumps and crossings as well as amending illegal off-roading. Important to remember since Cachuma is the primary water source for the south-coast.

 


Very often hikers, and their unleashed dogs with no experience around horses, are a danger to themselves and to riders and their horses. Unleashed dog attacks are quite common on trails but often go unreported. Both hikers and bikers often leave the scene of incidents with horseback riders leaving riders and/or their horse injured or worse with no recourse.


-Live Oak is the last safe equestrian trail in Santa Barbara County. All other coastal Counties from Monterrey to San Diego (and even the City of Los Angeles) have at least one dedicated area for equestrian facilities and trails. At the very least, this one trail, Live Oak, is desperately needed to meet the recreational experience and safety needs for horses and riders in the County and regionally. Additionally, it preserves a glimpse of the historic ranching culture of the Santa Ynez Valley.


-Experience from the County’s ill-fated Pilot Project of 18 months. This “Pilot” project was proposed to open Live Oak to hikers and mountains bikers from April 2021 to October 2023 and plagued the area with increased trash, unsanitary conditions along roads and in the Santa Ynez River, illegal motorcycle trespass, and hunters that threatened the livestock belonging to the grazing permittee (managed by the Bureau of Land Management) hikers and equestrian riders on the north shore.

 

Overall, we learned that with societal changes, signs and rules mean nothing, self-monitoring, by those trying to abide by the rules and confront offenders, are subject to threats and often violence. The Parks Division does not have enough funding nor prioritizes trails for staffing, for monitoring or even to place a “trail triangle” sign defining the allowed use(s) and yield protocols at each trailhead. This is the reality of the society we live in and must be accounted for in this EIR.  I support separate trails for equestrians.


I ask that in your comments for the EIR Scoping and NOP of the Recreation Master Plan that your Commission recommend that the Parks Division delete mountain bike and hiker use from the Live Oak Equestrian Trail project description.


I have not seen, in the years of attending CRAHTAC meetings, and  scoping hearings in the Santa Ynez Valley, from any other groups or community networks that have work as hard as our horseback trail riders to stay engaged in this process to educate and provide the Parks Division with what the community wishes to see at Live Oak.  Please help us maintain Live Oak as the County’s only safe equestrian trail now and into the future. Thank you for your time and attention to my concerns.


Sincerely,


YOUR NAME


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