Robb and Tom's excellent visit with the NFS

[Robb]

Today Tom Pipkin and I had a meeting with Charlie Robinson, the Recreation Officer for the Forest Service in the Ojai Ranger District. Our fifteen minute meeting lasted over an hour and then he introduced us to the head of the Ojai Ranger District, John Bridgwater (yes, that John Bridgewater. Keep reading!)

When we sat down with Charlie I outlined the four main points I wanted to discuss:
1. Introduce the SCPA; who we are, what we do, our membership, what parts of the NFS we fly from and over, and myself as the President (it sounds so prestigious…). I also spoke in general terms about the SBSA and our combined membership, and also about USHPA, pilot certification, and our insurance.
2. Forest Management Plan. We discussed the plan and what it means for Pine, Chiefs, and Skyport – no impact expected for the next 10 years. Then we learned about “Wilderness” and the US government definition of “Wilderness” and how “Wilderness” differs from “General Forest”. Skyport and all our launches are in the General Forest; if the areas get reclassified as “Wilderness” there will be no motor vehicle access, and no launching or landing. Be careful if you’re asked to sign a petition to “Save the Wilderness” – that will shut down our access! One area at risk is bounded by Jamison Lake on the north, Snowball on the south, and east to the 33. They call this the “White Ledge roadless area” and were in favor of keeping it General Forest. Also, “Wilderness” areas can not be flown over at less than 3000 ft. agl. So if you go over the back at Pine towards Lockwood, make sure you stay at least 3k above the ground.
3. Support the Forest Service. I asked if our groups could help the NSF in any way. Charlie told us about an effort by the Ojai district and the Ojai Conservancy to open up access to the area to the south and east of White Ledge. I haven’t had the opportunity to spend the night out there (yet) so get the details from Tom. At this point he told us about the Open House at the Wheeler Gorge ranger station this Saturday from 11-5. So please stop in and get your adventure pass and all your maps (you all have maps of the Sespe don’t you??)
4. Claude Fiset: I told Charlie about the article in the Ojai newspaper about Claude coming back to Ojai and gave him Claude’s background as I understood it. My message was there is a large and solid local flying community, and Claude was not part of it. Further, the local community is very concerned about Claude’s business and safety practices and want to avoid a repeat of the Malibu closures. I have given Charlie my contact information in the event our local or national organizations need to be involved.

The meeting went very well, and I think Charlie was happy to have a visit from a group that uses the forest on a regular basis, doubly so since we knew about the FMP. On the way out he introduced us to John Bridgewater, the top dog at the Ojai Ranger District since 1999. Before that John was head of the Santa Barbara district and instrumental in getting Skyport donated to the NSF and getting the fence removed. John is clearly a fan of free flight – “you take three steps and then you’re gone. What could be better for the environment?” and made sure we had copies of the FMP and the 1964 “Wilderness Act”

We can give more details at the SCPA meeting.
Tom - please add anything I missed, or correct any mistakes.
Thanks,
Robb

[Fast Eddy]

Good Job you Two

It is Nice to hear we are still so accepted after all these years. With the original Topa fliers and others leading the way to gaining access to the mountains here locally.

Keep up the good Work...

[Marty DeVietti]

Bravo!

I know there are several (many?) of us hoping to be pro-active about dangers to our privileged flying areas, and you both led the way. Nice work.

[Ramey]

In your short bio of John Bridgewater, you neglected to mention that it was he who gave us permission to make the north launch at Pine Mountain. I didn't think he was still there.

Good job on making this visit to stay ahead of the game should some "incident" occur.

Robert Ramey

[Knut Aakhus]

If one reads the actual federal code about prohibitions in National Wilderness, it's very clear how some free-flight elements are directly forbidden. Read 36 CFR § 261.18:
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0239f7057de306eb1c8b1ff335f88ec3&rgn=div5&view=text&node=36:2.0.1.1.19&idno=36#36:2.0.1.1.19.1.29.20

But for curiosity's sake, I wonder if there is precedent that groups paragliding into 'hang gliding' for subsection (b), or 'aircraft' for subsection (c)? And of note, § 261.2, Definitions, does not define 'aircraft.'
Maybe someone knows?

Since it literally takes an act of Congress to create National Wilderness (even though there are now 704 areas), it's probably not a pressing concern for the aforementioned decade.

The more relevant law would appear to be 36 CFR § 261.50(a), which empowers high-up Foresters/Supervisors to make specific prohibitions by Order, in their domain of National Forest. So if a District Ranger or Recreation Officer made an HG/PG-prohibitive recommendation because of free-flight caused/associated headaches, it probably wouldn't be too hard for a Supervisor/Forester to justify.

Thanks for helping to make sure that NFS local leadership does not feel the need to invoke such authority!

[andy dainsberg]

awesome dudes. way excellent.

[andy]

Good job guys!! Way to represent!

Keep us posted on the "what we can do " to build our relationship with the Forest Service,and others. May be that we can find some aspect of our presence in the field that can help them and make for a symbiotic relationship.

Where else can we get adventure pass?


Andy