Chino Hills is growing

And Leon is getting larger!

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herzalot said:
And, if you are like me - which in many ways it seems you are - you never will. :thumbsup:

I think I am more likely to FLoop before I Chino. :cool:
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Word. My first 10 mountain bike rides were on Floop ... but it will be a long time before my next 10. :laugh:

Article:

Legislation expanding Chino Hills State Park by about 1,600 acres approved by a key state Senate committee this week would eliminate the threat of homes popping up on the southeastern ridgelines, while preserving rare walnut trees and protecting threatened animal species.

Senate Bill 266, authored by Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, would require the California Department of Parks and Recreation to incorporate purchased or donated parcels into the park, reversing a policy of not accepting additions to state parks. The measure was unanimously approved by the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water on Tuesday, March 16.
A couple leave after taking in the view from Lower Aliso Canyon Overlook in Chino Hills State Park in Chino Hills on Thursday, March 18, 2021. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Newman, as well as Hills For Everyone, a Brea-based nonprofit that created the park piece-by-piece in the 1980s and sponsored the bill, have been frustrated by the state’s refusal to accept new land into the 14,107-acre park bordering Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties.

“It is time they started fulfilling their mission,” said Claire Schlotterbeck, executive director and co-founder of the Hills group.

By reversing that state policy, the habitat would be protected and the park — an oasis of rolling hills and hidden canyons for hikers and mountain bikers in the midst of 19 million people — would have finished borders on the eastern edge in the city of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County and on the west in Brea in Orange County.

“The wonderful thing about this park: There aren’t that many places in Southern California where you can be sequestered from development,” said Newman on Wednesday. “In this park you can.”

Parcels to be added include: On the east, 1,200 acres of a former cattle ranch; an additional 400 acres of a nearby eastern ridge, of which 320 acres have been purchased by an environmental group and the remaining 80 acres are scheduled in May to be purchased by the Wildlife Conservation Board (a division of the state Department of Fish and Game); and 11 acres donated in Brea, a swath of land containing walnut woodlands, a rare stand of native trees, explained Schlotterbeck.

The Hills group is pursuing federal and state grants to buy parcels not already purchased. Also, it will have banked about $1.4 million by the end of the year to pay for management of the land, most likely by the Mountains and Rivers Conservation Authority, the same group that oversees the vast Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Schlotterbeck said.

Some of that money comes from a settlement with Metropolitan Water District which built a road through the park to access a water treatment plant. The road took out dozens of rare Southern California black walnut trees, requiring the wholesale water agency to pay $700,000 to the Hills group, which it is using to save trees by buying and managing these nearby parcels, Schlotterbeck explained.

“The funding, the management has been secured, yet the Department of Parks has not accepted these parcels. It (SB 266) would make it a legal obligation to accept them. This requires no new costs to the state,” Newman said.

The bill is similar to one written by Assemblyman Phillip Chen one year ago that did not get adopted. Chen, R-Brea, has agreed to co-sponsor Newman’s bill, which will need to pass out of the Senate, then the Assembly and gain the governor’s signature.

Both legislators have seen attendance at the park increase during the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday and Sunday, March 13-14, overflow crowds had to be regulated and cars entering the park were limited. Many were there to view the wildflower bloom.

Ian Vergara, 31, a Chino Hills resident, goes hiking and mountain biking in the park about once a month, he said.

“It feels like another world. Sometimes I’ll stop and just listen to the wildlife; you can feel some solitude. It’s an escape,” he said Wednesday.

The new parcels may include burrowing owls — cute, furry birds that nest underground in squirrel holes, Schlotterbeck said. The owls, listed as a species of special concern, have been driven out of Orange County and are found in Chino and Ontario. Some areas also may contain the California gnatcatcher, a threatened species.

End Article.
 
Good to see not all land being developed. Weird things when State Parks won't take land.
Article also mentions burrowing owls being gone from OC.
A quick search shows an article in the same Register from 2019 talking about them in Banning Ranch.
I swear I've seen some in the last year or so, just can't remember where.
 
The Floop has more fun bits to session and Chino is definitely more fire road and smooth single track. Just a few steps to negotiate. Chino is a gravel rider paradise. It reminds me a lot of the area around Redlands for the Strada Rossa. And Faust29 is spot on about the green hills and potential elevation - climbing Coal Canyon is no joke.
 
Don't live in SoCal anymore, but when I did, I enjoyed getting in at least one long ride at CHSP each year, always when it was green and not yet overgrown. Hard to imagine expansion of the park when the North Ridge trail between Telegraph and Gilman has been closed for, how long? I've lost count of the years. Yes, I know we're dealing with a pandemic. I've read the FAQs and understand the plan, but it makes no sense to me why it remains closed until funding is secured and an entirely new alignment is created. I know that it's susceptible to erosion, but I don't remember anything about it being dangerous in the state I last saw it. Anyone connected to the local trail advocacy know if any progress is being made with this main artery in the park?
 
fos'l said:
I love it; must be for old people like my wife and me. Activity on the Green River side is sparse, there are plenty of fun ascents (it's not called Chino Flats) and it's beautiful. Just ask the coyotes; they seem to enjoy it too.
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CHSP is one of my favorite places to ride as well. When I ride, I like the feeling of getting away and I get that at CHSP. Many other places feel like Disneyland to me. I personally don't care about technical descents at all, so the trails don't bore me. Also, when everything is green, it's one of the more beautiful places too.
 
I used to ride from Brush Canyon park by riding along the tracks and in lower Aliso, but last time I tried I got turned away by a security guard who was guarding the containers on the parked trains. If anyone knows a way around send me a PM please.

Some of you old timers might remember the Brush Canyon trail that connected to Skully. It was erased after a fire about a decade ago. That was a great non disneyland entrance.
 
beartooth said:
I used to ride from Brush Canyon park by riding along the tracks and in lower Aliso, but last time I tried I got turned away by a security guard who was guarding the containers on the parked trains. If anyone knows a way around send me a PM please.

Some of you old timers might remember the Brush Canyon trail that connected to Skully. It was erased after a fire about a decade ago. That was a great non disneyland entrance.
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Yeah, I’m sure the locals didn’t like us going up Brush Canyon.

I got turned around by the rent a cop last year.
 
Rode there today and Brush Canyon is starting to live up to its name. Also, better take a trip on Fenceline while you still can. Immense fun today on Skully clockwise. Couple of hills make an old guy pant a little but knowing my wife, 17 years my junior, was flattening them behind me kept me "charging" (usual glacial pace).
 
Great…..even more acres of land that CHSP will refuse to maintain.

some of the trails and roads out there are not passable due to the overgrowth of Russian Thistle. And it’s only gonna get worse when they turn into tumbleweeds.
 
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