Santa Monica Mountains Trail System Threatened
Action Alert
For Immediate Release
04-28-05
Contact: Mark Eller, IMBA communications specialist
303-545-9011
Canyonback Trail is a critical access point to the Westridge-Canyon Back Wilderness Park, in Southern California's Santa Monica Mountains. It connects two major trail networks within the public parkland and is an important gateway to a network of trails within the "Big Wild," a 21,000-acre urban paradise that extends from the San Fernando Valley to the Pacific Ocean.
IMBA and the locally based Canyon Back Alliance urge you to protest the possible disruption of the Canyonback Trail. Please consider sending an email today, in order to secure trail access to this valuable resource.
A section of the Canyonback Trail is also a public street, Canyonback Road. In 2004, a Homeowner's Association (HOA) tried to privatize and gate the northern section of Canyonback Road, which would have restricted access to public lands. Thanks to tremendous public opposition, including input from the IMBA-affiliated Concerned Off-Road Bicycle Association (CORBA), construction of the Canyonback Gate was terminated before the gates were installed. Construction of the barrier, however, has recommenced, and the threat to continued access is again upon us.
To preserve trail access, IMBA urges mountain bikers to:
- Write a protest letter and email it to the Canyon Back Alliance, a
concerned citizens group supported by CORBA and IMBA, at
; or fax your message to 310-201-2110. A sample is
available at http://www.canyonback.org/Help.htm
- Attend a public hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, 2005 10:30 a.m., at Los Angles City Hall, 200 North Spring Street, Room 1020
Read on, to learn more about the access problems bicyclists would face if the planned gates are installed.
A real estate development is being planned along Canyonback Ridge, to the south of existing Canyonback Road. The developer wants to privatize the area, replace the existing public access trail with a private road, and restrict access by gating the trail/private road. While the developer promises to allow "pedestrian access," nothing in the plan would prevent future residents or their HOAs from restricting or perhaps even prohibiting public access.
Another concern is that the HOA at the north end of Canyonback Road have renewed a plan to privatize and gate the street. They have proposed re-routing the existing trail from a stable ridgeline to a landslide-ridden slope. But the 2-mile bypass would not be sustainable trail, and is therefore unacceptable.
Losing this trail would sever northern access to the popular Whoops Trail from "Dirt" Mulholland and the Canyonback Trail. The Mulholland and Canyonback access points are widely used by those residing in the Valley and those from other areas who access the trails conveniently off the I-405, which is close to the trailhead on Canyonback. The planned gating of the Canyonback Trail would also destroy the historic "loop" trail connecting the popular Westridge and Canyonback ridge areas.
What is the the Whoops trail like? Watch the video. 
(13MB .mov file)
