War declared on off-roaders
Michael McCabe, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...6/MN203885.DTL



It may sound like something out of the Vietnam, but on the San Mateo County coast, locals and sheriff's deputies are declaring war of sorts on infiltrators they call "the defoliators."

Sheriff's deputies are cracking down on increasing numbers of road vehicles -- motorbikes, all-terrain 3-wheelers, 4-wheel-drive cars, SUVs and trucks -- that are crisscrossing the area's once-pristine hills and back roads that wind through them.

The off-roaders are wrecking native vegetation, and spooking horses and endangering their riders, locals say, and the noise alone is like the Indy 500.

March Madness is the 'defoliators" favorite time of year, the season of mud,

when their vehicles can slide down sideways and wallow in the brown goo. Mud is cool.

Worst of all, according to sheriff's deputies and local residents, their mechanized beasts are disrupting the entire ecological landscape, even scattering birds and animals and obliterating their habitat.

Among the creatures at risk are the juicy little rodents that the local raptors -- hawks and falcons -- desperately rely on for meals. There are even reports that some of the fleeing rodents are seeking refuge in residents' homes. And that won't do.

In the eyes of the law, the off-roaders are trespassing and "defoliating" the hills and meadows, the technical term for tearing up the land with their machines.

After more than 300 warnings over the past several months, San Mateo County sheriff's deputies are adopting a "zero-tolerance" policy, using their own 4- wheel-drive vehicles and Kawasaki dirt bikes to intercept them. They are now handing out citations. The fines can run between $200 and $500, and in egregious cases, up to $1,500.

"It's a nightmare," says Lt. John Quinlan of the San Mateo County sheriff's office. "People buy these off-road bikes and vehicles, but there is no place (set aside) to ride them unless you go to Tracy or Hollister. Everything in San Mateo County is owned by someone. This is totally illegal and destructive."

Particularly hard hit is the 4,262-acre property known as Rancho Corral de Tierra, one of the largest undeveloped tracts remaining on the San Mateo County Coast. Most of it is owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust, which announced in May 2001 that it had reached an agreement to buy the land for $29. 75 million.

Rich Allen, who owns the 100-acre Moss Beach Ranch inside Rancho Corral de Tierra, has run out of patience. For awhile he was willing to get his tractor to help pull off-roaders out of the mud. Now he is picking up the phone and calling the cops.

Most of the 106 horses he boards on his ranch are thoroughbreds and are quite temperamental, Allen said. The sight of an off-road bike or SUV roaring by "upsets" them.

"I was on my horse Pretty Boy a few weeks ago when we crested a rise and a dirt bike came out of nowhere," Allen says. "All the horse saw was a white T- shirt, reflected sun glasses and a white helmet. Pretty Boy went up in the air like a corkscrew and I landed on my butt. It's a real safety problem here now."

Others say the off-roaders appear to be taking over the land, like squatters, bringing with them their own alien culture.

"They like to bring their own furniture up and off-load it from their trucks, things like love seats, lawn chairs, and then they play their music from loudspeakers," said Patti Firpo, who trains people to ride horses at the Renegade Ranch on Sunshine Valley Road in Moss Beach. "It's the so-called music and the noise of the bikes that gets to me and the horses, a constant boom boom, roar roar, boom boom, day and night."

Keeping the off-roaders out of Rancho Corral de Tierra is complicated by the fact that there are at least a dozen ways to reach its back areas, some secret, said Sgt. John Diggins of the San Mateo County sheriff's office. There are yellow signs aplenty warning that the area is private and motorized vehicles are strictly verboten.

Rancho Corral de Tierra is a vast swath of land that nearly surrounds the towns of Moss Beach and Montara. It includes two of the four main peaks of Montara Mountain -- Montara **** and South Peak, which offer sweeping views of the Bay Area. Scattered farming and equestrian use are expected to continue through special easements after the land trust secures title to the entire property.

The land supports the endangered peregrine falcon, San Bruno elfin butterfly, San Francisco garter snake and the threatened red-legged frog. Because of the ocean influence and rapid altitude changes, plants grow on the property that are found nowhere else in the world. Native vegetation includes the endangered Hickman's cinquefoil and the unique Montara manzanita.

More than four miles of the property's boundary are contiguous to existing public lands -- state and county parks, the San Francisco Water Department and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

"We are always concerned when there are illegal uses of our property," said Paul Ringgold, director of stewardship for the land trust. "There is a plan to install gates at certain access points, but with a piece of land that size you will never be able to keep everyone out."

Ringgold said that the land trust, as a broker to secure properties for open space, is not in a position to manage the lands it acquires. The intention is to eventually turn Rancho Corral de Tierra over to the state, county, or perhaps the federal government for inclusion into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

That time cannot come any time too soon for many on the Coastside who want no more to do with the off-roaders.

"It's going to get worse," says Quinlan. "The word is getting out among the cowboys from as far away as Palo Alto that this Coastside is the place to slip and slide. We'll be waiting."

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