San Rafael, CA – After 10 lengthy community meetings, each with 70-80 participants, the Marin County Open Space District (MCOSD), part of Marin County Parks, has completed a draft plan that presents a set of policies to make recreating on roads and trails in the open space preserves fair, safe and sustainable.
The Draft Road and Trail Management Plan (DRTMP) and its companion Draft Tiered Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (DTPEIR) have been released for a 60-day public review and comment period to seek and promote harmony among hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians, dog walkers and anyone else using the preserves’ roads and trails, all while protecting the natural habitats important to the treasured wildlife. Subsequent meetings to provide public comment on the DTPEIR will be held later this fall. The official comment period ends Dec. 2.
“Our open space preserves are our extended backyards here in Marin, where thousands of us go to be in the sun and fresh air, and to exercise immersed in a natural setting close to home,” said Marin County Parks Director Linda Dahl. “The collaboration that this process has initiated is still taking shape, but the mutual understanding, respect, hard work and leadership that we already see gives us confidence we are on track for a new era of trail courtesy and care for our natural environment.”
The plan is not a set of new trail and restoration projects. Rather, it presents policies and a decision-making framework to make changes to an imperfect trail system. The plan lays out goals that include: improving visitor experiences and safety on the roads and trails; establishing a sustainable system of roads and trails that are feasible to manage; reducing the environmental impact of roads and trails on sensitive resources, habitats, riparian areas and special status plant and animal species.
The DRTMP and the DTPEIR will be introduced to the public in a special joint meeting of the Marin County Open Space Board of Directors and the Marin County Parks and Open Space Commission at 5 p.m. Oct. 1 in the Board of Supervisors chambers. Once comments are considered and adjustments made, final documents will be presented to the Board of Directors for approval in the spring.
The MCOSD’s 34 open space preserves were acquired over 40 years and are dispersed throughout the county. Most are in eastern Marin and separate the developed communities, but there are several preserves in West Marin, including in San Geronimo Valley and the Bolinas Lagoon.
The DRTMP and DTPEIR are available for public review …
• as of Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Marin County Parks office, 3501 Civic Center Drive, Suite 260, San Rafael
• as of Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Marin County Parks field office, 18 Jeannette Prandi Way, San Rafael
• as of Friday, Sept. 27, at Marin County Free Library branches
The copies at the Parks offices are available weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In addition, copies are available by request on compact disc and USB flash drive, and online starting Thursday, Sept. 26, at http://www.marincountyparks.org/depts/pk/our-work/os-main-projects/rtmp. Copies of all documents incorporated by reference into the documents are also available for public review at Parks Civic Center office.
Learn more about Marin County Parks at www.marincountyparks.org.