By Frank P.
Ranger truck and tractor stuck on the San Marcos Preserve. Photos taken on Monday, looks like they were stuck overnight. Entrance from Antone Road.
Ranger Truck & Tractor Stuck at San Marcos Preserve
Anonymous
March 28, 2023, 3:17 am
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Pretty lame. They banned bikes. Probably should ban trucks too.
This truck and tractor has caused more damage in a day than bikes have in the last 20 years…
Nature Fights Back!
All true. And add that our taxpayer-paid County “Ranger” guys pulled this one off. Clearly they jumped the gun on the tractor mowing operation, by at least a month. Everyone makes mistakes but as others have said – when they’re in charge, make the rules, and then look like hypocrites, it’s hard to swallow.
I’m surprised they even allow mowing. How on earth did they get permission to run tractors and mowers on a nature preserve? Normally our community is adamant about accumulating dead vegetation in order to maximize the risk of a fire.
I don’t understand how you and others envision this massive brush clearance and dead tree removal. Would this be a volunteer effort? Local? State/Federal? Space lasers? Are we all supposed to migrate to the hills in the Spring and do some kind of Communist work migration with chainsaws? The last Potus said some bizarre made-up thing about copying Finland and “raking the forests.” The Chumash and other natives had the best system, burning the forests annually to regulate them. But it’s far too late to restart that now. We would destroy billions in private property, air quality would be terrible for a prolonged time, and most of the relatively little forest land we have left would go with it.
That’s hilarious, a ranger nit knowing when the park a park is too muddy to mow. Wow
How embarrassing and ridiculous. Dude, if you can’t WALK in the mud without sinking, what makes you think your truck can drive?! What a stupid choice, especially on the job!
Who’s in charge? Obviously somebody that doesn’t know what they’re doing. Like I said before we shouldn’t pay taxes anymore with Bozos like this.
I came here for the EdHate and I wasn’t disappointed. Wank wank wank.
They banned bikes? The foothill preserve is garbage now.
Hi folks. Ken Owen here from Channel Islands Restoration. We do habitat restoration on the San Marcos Foothills Preserve (SMFP). It’s unfortunate that these vehicles got stuck, but anyone (including park rangers) can make a mistake.
The county mows areas of high grass and mustard (both nonnative and invasive plants) to help keep the weeds from spreading and to reduce fuel loads during fires. The Preserve burned twice in just one ten-year period. The Cave Fire in 2018 was stopped at the grazed areas on the Preserve and prevented major damage to the local neighborhood, according to Rob Hazzard, a chief in the county fire department.
These vehicles are NOT on a trail, so what is pictured has nothing to do with any trail damage. Trucks and a tractor are needed for various tasks on the SMFP, including fixing washouts, and damage to culverts and to bridges. Unlike the constant pounding that trail experience at places that are open to bikes, The county uses the roads in the SMFP in a way that does not damage them. Those pictures show the vehicles off-trail non on any trails. Allowing bikes on the SMFP would not only let some unresponsible cyclists to cause damage, it would also increase the traffic on the trails, just at a time when we are trying to restore the area for the benefit of wildlife.
Obviously, with the ongoing series of storms, it has been a challenge for county parks to do their normal maintenance. I am glad they are trying to catch up, but it was obviously sill too wet to mow that one pasture. This is not a reason to argue that they are causing even a fraction of the damage that some cyclists do. To be sure, this is a mistake, but it’s easy to fire potshots from the sidelines. Have any of you critics tried volunteering at the SMFP?
Ken, thank you for your informative and measured response.
There will always be some layabouts that want to find any opportunity to be critical of others for small mistakes.
They’re useless.
Thanks Ken
The same critics will be back during fire season wanting to know why it wasn’t mowed and the brush cleared away.
What have cyclists done to you Ken? Dogs allowed but cyclists aren’t seems like an oxymoron.
Ken’s talking about wildlife here. You’ll never convince me that an irresponsible cyclist is worse than an irresponsible dog walker.
Ken’s talking about wildlife here. You’ll never convince me that an irresponsible cyclist is worse than an irresponsible dog walker.
BUTTERFLY – not really an oxymoron. Dogs do far less damage to trails than cyclists. Look at any trail in our area that allows mountain biking and you’ll see.
BUTTERFLY- the entire 3rd paragraph, the only place he mentions bikes, is about trails. Here…. “Unlike the constant pounding that trail experience at places that are open to bikes,….”
Not sure what your insistence on ignoring the actual words stems from but it’s clear as day what he’s talking about.
“Allowing bikes on the SMFP would not only let some unresponsible cyclists to cause damage, it would also increase the traffic on the trails, just at a time when we are trying to restore the area for the benefit of wildlife.”
wildlife
Yes, that was said as well, but to say he wasn’t talking about trails (primarily) is just not true. Dogs and bikes both scare wildlife and have negative effects on habitats surrounding the trails, but only bikes are capable of truly destroying trails, especially when human cyclists modify, alter trails for their enjoyment. I love cycling on trails, but to say dogs are worse for trails than cyclists, is not based on reality.
Yes everyone makes mistakes, but this moron gets stuck back there all the time. I was there 3 Fridays ago and he was being towed out by a member of the public. This guys incompetence is a waste of taxpayers money not to mention a liability for the County!