Why would the Club oppose a park expansion?

Should Tesla Ranch be sacrificed to ORVs or made into a recreational/historic park?

Ordinarily, when the state wants to add hundreds of acres of undisturbed land to a park, the Sierra Club is enthusiastic. When the park in question is the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA), however, there is a problem.

Carnegie, which straddles the border between far eastern Alameda County and San Joaquin County, is a park not for hikers and picnickers but for drivers of off-road vehicles (ORVs), who roar at will across the landscape, scarring the land and smashing plants and animals.

Before Carnegie was acquired by the state, it was already an ORV park, and the land was severely damaged. The Sierra Club is not enthusiastic about this use of the land, but a case can be made that it is better for ORVs to be concentrated on one already damaged parcel rather than spread out over the state's wild lands. In fact, the park staff has made almost heroic efforts to limit erosion damage to the land.

Despite budget cuts, the state Department of Parks and Recreation has purchased the old Tesla Ranch and wants to add it to Carnegie. This property contains hundreds of acres of undisturbed land, including the Jimtown ghost town with its old Livermore stage-coach road, an abandoned cemetery, archeological sites related to Native Americans, and areas of exceptional wildlife habitat.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have a better plan for the Tesla site: to turn it into a low-impact recreation/historic park with no ORV use.

What You Can Do

Write to the state at:
OHMVR
Attn: Jennifer Buckingham
13300 White Rock Road
Rancho Cordova, CA 95742-6700
Re: Carnegie SVRA Initial Study, General Plan Amendment, and Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan

Urge the state to establish a low-impact recreation/historic Tesla State Park separate from the Carnegie SVRA, and to study this in its Environmental Impact Report. Point out that the state needs to address the cumulative negative environmental impacts of ORV use at Carnegie and that the Tesla Park would be an excellent way to mitigate those impacts.

The Bay Chapter needs volunteers, especially in the Livermore area, to work on this issue, particularly for writing letters and attending meetings.

To volunteer, contact Norman La Force, chair of the Chapter's East Bay Public Lands Committee, at (510) 526-4362 or: n.laforce -at- comcast.net