Healing the land is second nature

RPV: Area mountain bikers put their best conservation efforts forward for Trails Day.

By Dennis Johnson

DAILY BREEZE

Just like any other nature lovers, they thrill at the smell of purple sage rubbed between two fingers, the tart tanginess of the lemonade berry and the sublime view of Catalina Island, on a clear, haze- less day.

Only they opt to do so from atop two knobby tires and a shock- equipped bicycle frame rather than a pair of well-worn lug soles.
 

As part of National Trails Day on Saturday, a group of local mountain bikers took part in an effort to repair trails, weed out invasive nonnative plants and control erosion at the Forrestal Preserve in Rancho Palos Verdes.
 

With a committee of community volunteers set to announce its recommendations about trail usage a decision that could close them to bicycle use on Wednesday, the local cyclists set out to prove that they, too, are good stewards of nature.
 

“We love this place. This is the smell, ahhhh, of mountain biking said Rancho Palos Verdes resident Troy Braswell, rubbing a bit of sage and holding his fingers to his nose.
 

“We’ve been doing the trail (repair) stuff for years, so it’s nothing new to mountain biking groups. In turn, we hope they let us stay here and ride these trails. “We love this place like any hiker or equestrian, so we work to keep it up:’
 

About 50 members of the Palos Verdes chapter of the Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association fanned out across the 160-acre preserve to help maintain the vast stretch of coastal land.
 

CYCISTS/Al 3

Daily Breeze
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• CYCLISTS:

While Saturday’s trail effort along with help from the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and REI sporting good store, was part of a day devoted celebrating the country’s trails, was also a show of support.

There is a bit of contention surrounding Wednesday’s vote, with a minority of preservationists questioning whether the trails should be open to bicyclists and horses at all.
 

The upcoming decision has rallied a mountain biking community that is facing the rapid decline of ridable trails in this portion of Los Angeles County. In fact, Forrestal and the neighboring Portuguese Bend slide area are the only places South Bay residents can go to for an after-work ride.
 

Rancho Palos Verdes resident and mountain biker George Hicks said it wasn’t reasonable to expect one stretch of nature in the middle of a metropolis to be shut off to a large section of the public.
 

“Trying to boot everybody out just so you can have some serenity is not realistic said Hicks, who rides in the area about twice a week. The goal, he said, is to work for equal access for everybody.
 

While there are a minority of lunkheads who damage native vegetation by cutting new trails and ride dangerously around hikers, most people use the trails because they enjoy the natural setting.
 

“They don’t think we come up here and smell the sage... enjoy the scenery:’ he said. “We love this stuff as much an anybody, as evident by us coming up here today.”
 

By noon, the group had loaded a huge metal container with non- native shrubs and pounds of ice plant. Some had helped repair a badly eroded trail that rounded the upper lip of the former Livingstone Quarry.
 

Barbara Dye, executive director of the Land Conservancy, said the main issue of the day was trail use, with the mountain bicyclists show that they’ll help maintain the trails.
 

While the committee that has studied trail use for more than two years will submit its recommendations to the City Council on Wednesday, there will be a meeting June 14 to review these suggestions.
 

The goal, Dye said, was not to close off trail use for anybody, but rather to protect the preserve and keep enough trails open to get a wide variety of users.

“Look at today:’ she said. “It shows that you can engage the community. The bicyclists are here to show they can help and that’s OK. To me it shows good faith”