FTA News February 2001 February Meeting: Tuesday, February 27th, 6:30 PM, Foresthill Divide Middle School, Rm 15 March Meeting: Tuesday, March 27th, 6:30 PM, Foresthill Divide Middle School, Rm 15

Brief Summary of January's Meeting

Placer County Supervisor Rex Bloomfield, along with Vance Kimbrell, County Senior Parks Planner, met with twenty members of the Foresthill Trails Alliance to discuss the FTA's desire to build a trail head staging area adjacent to the Patent Road waste transfer station in Foreshill and to clear a trail to connect the site with the Western States trail. The proposed staging area is to the left and just before the gate to the transfer station. A short trail connecting the site to an existing trail that runs down to the Western States trail will need to be cleared. We discussed that this should be a "small" and "primitive" staging, that could accomodate 10 or so horse trailers or 20 vehicles without trailers. The parking area would be gravel, so no lines would be drawn. Vance said that Foresthill has less than $100 in recreation development funds available at this time, so development costs will have to be kept to a minimum. Rex said that if we wrote a letter requesting financial assistance for the project, he may be able to help us. Lore Lunsford wrote the letter immediately. Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting and is helping drive this project forward.

Patent Road Staging Area Update by Jim Larimer
Larry Mobley and I met at the staging area site on Feb 1st and measured the working area that could be graded moving the least amount of material. It looks like we have an area that would be 100 ft. by 300 ft. that includes the northwest part of the county parcel. Larry has someone lined up to get a couple of clean topo maps so we can finalize the plan proposal to the county. The Robie Foundation has purchased the Topo CD program for the pacific west region and I have been playing with the proposed trail dropping down to the Western States trail. It looks like a 500 ft. drop in the last 1/4 mile. I will bring a print out to the next meeting. So, the wheels are slow, but they are turning. Marc Van Zuuk (a surveyor) was going to work up a site plan last weekend, but there was too much snow so maybe next weekend if the weather cooperates.

FTA Success Story
And it only took five years
In October of 1997 Lore and Larry Clarke responded to an environmental impact report and requested a trail through the property referred to as the Monte Verde Estates (located just below the Monte Verde Inn on both sides of Foresthill Rd). We stated that there was an existing trail through the property and we felt it was important to keep it open. In February of 1998 the developer's response was that they intended to keep large animals out of the project and there were no trails known on the project site. Lore then read the Final Environmental Impact Report (about 3 inches thick) and, as a member of the Forum, she attended the County Planning hearing and explained the true facts and the importance of the trail linking the Middle Fork and the North Fork of the American River. At that meeting, after some arm-twisting, the developer was required to work with the Trail Alliance to design a trail through the property. At that point the County stepped in and helped keep the developer on track to make sure they didn't ignore the requirement. Larry Mobley and Larry Clarke went to the meeting with the County and the developer. All went smoothly and the trail is now part of the project (on paper at least). Now we need to monitor the project to be sure the trail is not blocked by construction as the homes are built or the residents after they move in. The key is, like everything else in life, you just keep moving forward and good things happen. Happy Trails... Larry Clarke