"Surface water runoff was determined to be the dominant erosion mechanism acting on the park trails. Erosion generated by horses, bicycles, and hikers was determined to be a minor erosion mechanism on established park trails."

WLA, page 9

"The watercourses in Joaquin Miller park were found to be in excellent condition. The four main creeks that drain the redwood forest in the southern portion of the park have steep channel gradients, deep v-shaped canyons, and often flow on bedrock...We noted no major effect of recreational land use on these channels."
WLA, page 10



"No extraordinary conditions were observed with regard to tree vigor, mechanical damage, and tree pathogens."

" Overall, no significant differences were observed in growth rates between redwood trees growing immediately adjacent to trails and with exposed roots in the trails, and trees not adjacent to trails and not affected by trail use compaction and disturbance."
WLA, page 12

"Properly designed and maintained, the trail system can serve the needs of park visitors as well as minimally impact the extraordinary natural environment of Joaquin Miller Park."
WLA, page 26

Joaquin Miller Park Trails Working Group
The City of Oakland is developing a Master Plan for JMP which will determine the fate of mountain biking for the best single-track in Alameda County. Councilwomen Jean Quan invited the community to participate in a planning process to develop a vision for the park and set priorities. The first meeting was held on January 8th where the information gathered from the User Questionnaire circulated by Jean's office was presented. The second meeting was held January 29th and an Action Matrix of projects and priorities was developed.

The first meeting stays positive

There were over 120 participants and cyclists were well represented. When it was asked how many participants were mountain bikers, there was a noticeable gasp from the crowd when a huge number of hands went up. Bike hating was very well contained by the meeting facilitator. The Break out groups that were formed all agreed on similar long-term objectives which mainly focused on future maintenance, preserving the park as-is, and providing activity to as many people as possible. There were some negative remarks made about mountain bikes, but nobody *directly* spoke in favor of a ban on mountain bikes. The overall atmosphere was not contentious, and several MTBers spoke in favor of sharing trails or simply a policy of inclusion. (Very Positive)

The second meeting stays on track

The meeting was similar to the earlier one in format with an introduction and review of the first meeting, and then breaking into discussion groups to work on an Action Plan Matrix. After the breakout sessions the entire group reconvened and discussed the document. Then each person was given 8 stickers and asks to mark a large version of the Matrix (that was posted on the walls) with our most important actions. The #1 priority chosen was "preserve all current trail uses" having received 46 votes. (Through a quirk in how the facilitator added additional actions to the large preprinted Matrix, the #2 priority turned out to be “Extend park hours into the evening” which received 37 votes. However a majority of those votes were most likely intended for the "preserve all current trail uses" category.)

Areas of concern

While people were civil, there were definitely those who want mountain bikes out of the park and off the singletrack. The planning process has now convened into a small working group of hand picked representatives from park-user groups and City staff. Unfortunately BTCEB was not given a seat at the table as the City discusses trail access in the park. There's no guarantee that the access issue will not rear it's ugly head with some members wanting to limit bike access. We've already seen a plan from park managment that proposes to significantly reduces access on Sequoia Bayview.

Background: The Trails Working Group

In mid-1999, a small group of citizens began complaining about bicycle use in Joaquin Miller Park. They claimed that bicycles were destroying the park and could not peacefully coexist with other trail users and consistently called for a ban on bikes.

In response the Oakland Parks and Recreation Department formed a Trails Working Group (TWG) of concerned citizens to identify problems and propose solutions. The issues were not limited to bicycles, but included erosion, safety, and trail plans.

An environmental review

In 2001 the TWG reached the consensus that an environmental review of the park should be undertaken and the City of Oakland commissioned an independent assessment from William Lettis & Associates (WLA) to study the parks health. In part the study found:

  • Surface water runoff was determined to be the dominant erosion mechanism acting on the park trails. Erosion generated by horses, bicycles, and hikers was determined to be a minor erosion mechanism on established park trails.
  • They found no discernible difference in degree of impact on the Redwood forest understory by cyclists, hikers, or horses.
  • The Redwood trees are healthy, whether they are next to trails or not.
  • The predominant problems identified during the field survey were trampling of the vegetation, soil compaction, invasive weed infestation, and a loss of species diversity and native plant components. The vegetation trampling resulted from all types of off-trail traffic (pedestrian, equestrian, and bicycle) with no distinct difference in degree of impact between the types of off-trail traffic.

TWG Staff Proposal

After the "environmental" claims were show to be unsubstantiated some members of the TWG moved on to "safety" issues and continued to call for a ban on bikes which keep the TWG from issuing a final report. Instead staff from Oakland Parks and Recreation made several proposals including permits to ride in the park, reduce access to odd/even days (no bikes every other day), designating Sequoia Bayview Trail for pedestrian and equestrian use only, and restricting bikes to trails over 8’ (Castle Park Trail and paved roads). Luckily for cyclist non of these proposal were formally adopted, but only because the process quietly died (while BTC stay active).

Park work continued

The Trails Working Group is long concluded and for the last several years park management has tried to implement the suggestions of the environmental review.

Between 2001-03 former Council member Dick Spees worked with the City to budget $475,000 for a series of projects that expanded public uses in the open space between Woodminster Cascade and Joaquin Miller's historic cabin.

Volunteers from the Friends of Sausal Creek partnered with the Parks & Recreation Department and build a native plant nursery and environmental education center near the upper part of the Woodminster Cascade. The native plants have been used to revegetate Sausal Creek in Dimond Canyon and the ongoing renovations of the garden along the cascade. BTCEB continues it's trail work and bike patrol programs while maintaining access (with the noticeable exception of seasonal closures).

But the work has never been coordinated under a long term plan and all sides agreed that a comprehensive master plan would be in the best interest of the park.

Joaquin Miller Park Strategic Master Plan

In November 2004 Council member Jean Quan send out notice that the City was going to undertake the development of a master plan for Joaquin Miller Park. Several workshops were held in January to discuss the information gathered from the User Questionnaire she circulated.

At the first public meeting the results from the user survey were presented and the action Matrix was presented during the second meeting. Although it was clearly stated that the survey was not statistically accurate it did show that almost 45% of the park user who did fill out the survey are cyclists. It was also clear from the Action Matrix that the vast majority of park users want to maintain ALL current multi use trails as multi use.

What can you do?

If you live in Oakland, your voice is especially important and it's imperative that you participate in the Master Plan process. Without your voice others will make access decisions for you. If you want to continue riding in JMP you need to stay atop the planning processand let the TWG know how important JMP and trail access is to you.

Why your voice is so important

Unfortunately we can be assured that the same groups that tried unsuccessfully to ban bikes in the park several years ago will continue to call for limiting bike access. In the past they hired lawyers, formed bogus front groups masquerading as environmental and safety organization, made ridiculous statement about cyclist killing native trout, and photographed sticks in the dirt as proof of “bicycle damage”.

They also elicited help from traditional and respected environmental organizations like the Sierra Club and Audubon Society whose views will carry a great deal of weight in the final decision. When the Sierra Club or the Audubon Society writes a letter asking to keep bikes off the park's trails, the city will take notice. We need our thousands of reasonable voices to counter what may be a serious push to remove us from the park permanently.

More information

For additional information contact Brent Englund. Visit www.jeanquan.org and signup for Ms. Quan's weekly newsletter. Need more information before writing? Email your questions to the talk list, btcebtalk@topica.com, so others can quickly chime in or respond individually as appropriate. Get yourself and your neighbors on this list serve and join BTCEB to stay informed, updated and ready to act.