HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/9/2021 Item 4a, Holzhauer
Delgado, Adriana
From:Ruth Holzhauer <ruthe805@gmail.com>
Sent:Wednesday,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Re our environment ITEM 4A
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
Please help protect San Luis Obispo's wildlife & their habitat:
The City Council will be voting on a wildlife degrading precedent setting proposal
to weaken a long-standing wildlife protection in the City's Open Space
Ordinance.
Your staff report does not include a quality environmental report.
Other POINTS TO CONSIDER:
THIS IS NOT A CITY PARK. IT IS A NATURAL RESERVE.
THE WILDLIFE ON CERRO SAN LUIS ARE LANDLOCKED due to our small fragmented
Morros. THE Wildlife CANNOT MERELY RELOCATE TO ANOTHER AREA.
THE CITY’S EXISTING HOURS OF USE FOR MOUNTAIN BIKING AND HIKING IN OUR NATURAL
RESERVES GIVES WILDLIFE SOME TIME WITHOUT HUMAN INTERFERENCE which is necessary
for their survival, foraging, procreating & safety. Even on the shortest day of the year the users
have 11 hours of daylight to mountain bike & hike.
NIGHT MOUNTAIN BIKING AND HIKING IN NATURAL RESERVES CREATES DISTURBANCES TO
SENSITIVE NOCTURNAL AND OTHER WILDLIFE DURING WINTER WHEN SURVIVAL IS
PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT FOR WILDLIFE.
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INCREDIBLY BRIGHT LED LIGHTS ARE USED FOR NIGHT MOUNTAIN BIKING
WHICH ADVERSELY AFFECTS WILDLIFE.
It has long been City policy that the USE OF NATURAL RESERVES DURING HOURS OF
DARKNESS SHOULD ALSO BE DISCOURAGED DUE TO ISSUES WITH VANDALISM, SAFETY AND
POTENTIAL FOR FIRES. THIS WILL DIRECTLY IMPACT ADJACENT NEIGHBORHOODS.
INCREASED NIGHT RESCUES BY OUR FIRE DEPARTMENT AND OTHER EMERGENCY
PERSONNEL CREATES INCREASED RISK TO THEM AND INCREASED COST/ LIABILITY FOR THE
CITY.
MOST NIGHT BIKERS AND HIKERS DO NOT ACCESS CERRO SAN LUIS AT THE FERNANDEZ
TRAILHEAD. THE MOUNTAIN HAS MANY ACCESS POINTS WHICH THEY FREELY USE
UNPERMITTED BY GOING THROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS. THE PERMITS ISSUED ARE MERELY A
FRACTION OF the actual USERS.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CITY’S WILDLIFE . THEY HAVE NO VOICE SO WE NEED
TO SPEAK FOR THEIR PROTECTION.
THANK YOU.
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