Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 1

Los Padres Times President’s Message: Hi Everyone,

Well, we are on the downside of summer. The weather has been wonderful for riding. A reminder that we

are in very high fire danger; please take the time to make sure your property is clear and you have an

evacuation plan for yourself and your animals. Some of our members have been closely affected already by

some fires in Shannon and San Miguel. Please know that BCHC is always here to help any of our members

that need it. Please let us know.

Our Rolling A tour last month was wonderful and it was suggested by them to come earlier in the year for the

babies. Dr. John gave a little talk about being in the backcountry and some do’s and don’ts on first aid for

our animals. He gave us a print out so we will pass it along at the meeting, website or this newsletter.

We need rides!!! Think about hosting a ride somewhere for the unit. We are planning to have a Moonlight

ride at Los Flores, we will keep you posted.

We had our first Class A prep class at Paloma Park in Atascadero. I think everyone got some information

they can use and some tips that will help. We will be planning another one probably in July or August.

Please let us know of any ideas you would like to see the unit do for you as members. Maybe a packing

clinic, Dutch Oven cooks off or demo, basic animal rescue or evacuation, ride or packing trip in the Sierra’s.

More tours of different places. It was suggested we have a tour at Cal Poly (working on it).

This newsletter is yours so if you want to put an ad for selling, a want ad, or your business card. Or you want

to put an article in, send it to Kris Pimentel @ krisp22@charter.net.

Shirley Rasmussen

Inside this issue:

Presidents Message 1

Board and Committee Members 2

Philosophy & Purpose 2

Membership and Application 3,7

Trail Updates, Workdays, Classes 4.5

Bits and Pieces 6

Meeting Calendar 8

HAPPY TRAILS

General Meeting

July 17, Wednesday—6pm at Santa Margarita Park Hwy 58 and H Street

Dutch Oven/Potluck—Paper goods/silverware will be provided.

BYO Drinks!

Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 2

Los Padres Unit 2019 Backcountry Horsemen

Officers and Committees

President – Shirley Rasmussen shirleyjras@gmail.com 805.610.0934

Vice President – Greg Feinberg feinberg.greg@gmail.com 805.458.2879

Secretary - Kaye Bruns kowgrl@charter.net 661.803.5075

Treasurer – Cheryl McGray cmcgray@msn.com 805.714.0931

Public Lands – Kathleen Phelps kathleenrides@gmail.com 805.266.9198

Education – Greg Feinberg feinberg.greg@gmail.com 805.458.2879

Newsletter – Kris Pimentel krisp22@charter.net Programs – Shirley Rasmussen shirleyjras@gmail.com 805.610.0934

Forest Service Liaison – Melody Fountain melodyandbob@gmail.com 805.438.5384

Membership – Kaye Bruns kowgrl@charter.net 661.803.5075

Historian –

Members at Large – Angela Thompson thompson_bros@yahoo.com 805.331.2313

Janis Tremper kipppa@aol.com 805.239.3209

Los Padres Unit 2019 Backcountry Horsemen

Committees

Public Relations – OPEN

Work Parties – OPEN

Rides – OPEN

Philosophy and Purpose of Backcountry Horsemen of California

To perpetuate the common sense use and enjoyment of horses and mules in America’s back country and wilderness.

To work to ensure that public lands remain open to recreational stock use.

To assist the various government and private agencies in their maintenance

To educate, encourage, and solicit active participation in the wise use of the back country resource by horsemen and the general public commensurate with our heritage.

To foster and encourage the formation of new units of the organization.

Concerned Men and Women Dedicated to Gentle Use of California Trails and Back Country

Mule Days Story

Rich & I made it to our first Mule Days in Bishop over Memorial Day weekend.

We saw fellow BCHC‐LP members Gail Perez, Barb Riley, Beth Brockman & Otis

Calef there. It was pretty amazing & a lot of fun. I’d encourage anyone who

likes horses & mules to go. The daytime clinics, poetry, music and merchant

displays are all free. The shows are only $15. Pretty cheap entertainment.

They have camping there, reserve your spot after July 1!

Otis did a chariot mule tram barrel race. He & Annie & Honey took 4th place!

He took a first in log skidding. It was really fun to know someone in the

competition. We hope to go again next year, see you there, Kathleen Phelps.

Note from Editor: Pictures were available, however, it was sent as a “movie”

format which can’t be posted in the newsletter.

Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 3

MEMBERSHIP NEWS WELCOME ALL NEW MEMBERS! A GENTLE REMINDER OF

MEMBERSHIPS COMING DUE FOR THE FOLLOWING -

Past Expirations July/August Expirations

Backcountry Horsemen Los Padres Unit on FACEBOOK !

CHECK OUT OUR WEB SITE:

http://www.bchc-lpunit.org

Save as your favorites!

Los Flores Ranch Park in the Santa Maria Valley has over 14 miles of trails. Open Thursday—Sunday 9-5pm Fall/Winter hours. Call the visitors center for information at 805.938.7618

Last First Expiration

Allen Larry 5/11/2019

Anzini Joseph 6/14/2019

Ashworth Lee 4/17/2019

Blank Irving 4/30/2019

Forren Christina 3/23/2019

Foy Gordie 3/25/2019

Garringer Kathleen 2/13/2019

Handwork Christine 4/10/2019

Kline Rick 5/28/2019

Lee Ed 3/12/2019

Mahony Victoria 4/30/2019

Meyerink Michele 3/6/2019

Nisbet Jeff 3/31/2019

Phaklides Peggy 5/5/2019

Rigoli David 4/1/2019

Rockwood Phyllis 4/15/2019

Stadler Susanne 4/25/2019

Wenzel Teresa 5/20/2019

West Barbara 5/15/2019

Gleason John 6/4/2019

Merenda Helen 5/3/2019

Last First Expiration

Porhola Janet 8/15/2019

Thielman Susie 8/24/2019

Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 4

A NOTE FROM YOUR NEWSLETTER EDITOR!

Please send your articles, stories and ads to Kris at krisp22@charter.net

Please send in a Word document and JPEG picture format. Thank you! Deadline for BCHC Los Padres Newsletter is August 20 for Sept/Oct edition.

This newsletter is published six (6) times per year, in January, March, May, July, September and November. Deadline for submissions is the 20th of the previous month.

Trail Updates and Workdays Copied from Atascadero Horsemen Club with permission from Kathy Redden

Proposal for Horse Camps at Santa Margarita Lake

On June 3, myself and Kathy Longacre met with senior Park staff. They have requested additional details and a more comprehensive site layout, which I plan to submit within the next month. To help with maintenance, as a club we will need to volunteer at least one weekend a year to help with mowing, repairs, etc. This will be part of the Adopt‐a‐Park agreement. Once I submit the additional documentation, it will then be reviewed by Park Planners for any en‐vironmental concerns, then on to County Parks Commissioners. I am unclear if it then goes before the Board of Su‐pervisors, or whether the Director of County Parks can make the final decision. Slow going, but progress is being made!

CCCMB Workdays

• Montana de Oro – July 21, 9:00. Meet at Park Headquarters above Spooner’s

As always, dress appropriately for trail work with long sleeves and pants, boots, gloves, hat, etc, and bring a snack

and some water.

Reminder: If you experience a trail hazard at a County or State park, please report it. If you don’t know who to

report it to – then send it to me and I’ll make sure the right connection is made.

Class A Trailer Report Our first Class A Prep Class was held on Tuesday, June 25th at Paloma Park in Atascadero. The law required all trucks and trailers over 10,000 GPWR (loaded) have a Commercial Class A License. To do this you must pass written tests to get a learners permit, do a pre‐trip inspection and then the driving skills test.

4 people brought their trailers to practice and 1 came just to learn some information. Most of the time it seemed to be fun! Skills were sharpened and I think everybody left feeling positive that they “Can Do It”.

Booklets were passed out with lots of information and a Commercial Booklet from DMV.

We did a physical walk around (pre‐trip inspection) for a truck and trailer. Talking about what was needed to express to the tester. Then each driver got to take their rig and drive around the course, which were a docking (backing) skill and the most fun Parallel parking. At the Docking spot you had to back your rig into the allowed space (12’ wide and be straight) which was lined with cones then pull forward and proceed to back into the lane next to it.

Then the Parallel parking, where drivers had to learn where to position the rig, when to start moving the trailer into the area and when to follow the trailer into the area set up with cones. Key point was slow everything down.

Happy to report no cones were seriously harmed! Greg

Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 5

In June I met with the Trail Alliance of San Luis Obispo. This is a non‐profit group under the umbrella of SLOPOST (the San Luis Obispo Parks, Open Space and Trails Foundation) that was organized to provide a forum for non‐motorized trail users to collaborate on & advocate for sustainable trails in and around San Luis Obispo County. There are about 10 founding member organizations, of which the BCHC Los Padres Unit is one. We are working on a Trail Alliance web site that will include a:

• Calendar ‐ Google Calendar where the various trails groups can post different events/projects

• Links to member organizations

• A Countywide map showing trails separated by user groups with Links to already existing trail maps

• Our Vision & Mission statement

• Stories & pictures of trail projects We are requesting a donation of $50/member organizations in order to fund the web site development, checks to be made out to SLOPOST/Trail Alliance. Our BCHC Unit voted to make this donation at the June meeting, thank‐you! The Mapping Project is being created by Craig Campbell and will be a Countywide map showing trails separated by user groups. CCCMB has a map using Trail Forks, similar to what Craig will do but just for mountain bikes. Open Street maps is his favored map program, Craig needs to input Nipomo trail maps from Ride Nipomo. Anyone having GPS info can be used. Craig will show us how to use our cell phone to map trails to help with this effort. If you want to help, contact Kathleen Phelps at kathleenrides@gmail.com and I will let you know when Craig will be giving this training. Due to the very limited parking available at the Pismo Preserve for horse trailers, The Trail Alliance agreed to send a letter to the Land Conservancy requesting equestrian parking only 1 day/week and one equestrian Parking only day/month on a weekend. We also requested that the hiking, running and biking communities be allowed to do special event days for their user groups. We are hoping that this collaborative request of mountain bike, hiking, running and equestrian users will take some of the pressure off the Land Conservancy for limiting parking on certain days. Pismo Preserve Update: This link to a questionnaire was just sent out asking Pismo Preserve Users how and when they would like to use the Preserve. Please fill out that questionnaire so Equestrian users will be heard! Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/lcsloenews?blm_aid=30989 Your participation in this survey will allow us to get a feel for general use patterns, so we can better prepare to man‐age the parking lot and our trails once fully open. The Pismo Preserve is designed to accommodate hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Knowing when each of those groups is most likely to use the Preserve will help us manage parking expectations and special events. Trail Work Update In April, the Los Padres Forest Association & BCHC members opened the Trout Creek ‐ Seller Potrero trail. In May there was a highly successful Lopez Lake trail day with CCCMB mountain bikers and equestrians, they completed the entire Duna Vista Trail re‐route. CalFire crews worked the Florence Hart trail, they did great work at a very low cost. The Canyon View trail at MDO is complete. The Los Flores Ranch trails are open. West Cuesta Trail NEPA is in the works, it will be a long process. Even though this great trail work was done, trees continue to fall down so be pre‐pared to either saw open, go around or turn back if a tree is blocking a trail you are on.

Public Lands Report By Kathleen Phelps

Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 6

Riding Warehouse Will now give a 15% discount to our members when we order using the BCHC discount code. Shop today! Please contact Shirley for the dis-count code. shirleyjras@gmail.com or 805.610.0934

Newsletter Advertisement FREE — Members can place a business card size ad FREE! Non-members $30.00 for the year (6 issues) for a quarter OR smaller page ad.

Don’t forget to check these websites for all the important things being done by Backcountry Horsemen!

http://www.bcha.org/

http://www.bchcalifornia.org

EASY TO GET AND PRINT YOUR CAMPFIRE PERMITS ON LINE!

Here’s the link -

http://www.preventwildfireca.org/Campfire-Permit/

Bits and Pieces

Los Padres Unit Merchandise Contact Angela Thompson 831.331.2313 or thompson_bros@yahoo.com

Check the website for availability Merchandise is a non-profit status and provides for our unit members to purchase and display our unit’s

logo and promote membership for BCHC-Los Padres Unit. Please help and support your unit.

If you use ZamZuu shopping site; BCHC earns “easy money”

www.ZamZuu.com

To get discounts on Travel, Hotels, Shopping and

More, go to—http://www.ytbtravel.com/bchc

A percentage of sales help BCHC

Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 7

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Volume 28, Issue 4 July/August 2019 Page 8

Backcountry Horsemen of California http://www.bchc-lpunit.org Los Padres Times BCHC Los Padres Unit C/O Shirley Rasmussen 84502 White Rd San Miguel, CA 93451

Current Meeting Calendar 2019 Board & General Meetings OPEN TO ALL

July 17 General Mtg. 6:00pm @ Santa Margarita Park

Dutch Oven / Potluck

Aug 21 Board Mtg. 6:00pm

Sept 18 General Mtg. 6:00pm

Oct 16 Board Mtg. 6:00pm

Nov 20 General Mtg. 6:00pm—Elections

Dec 15 Christmas Party at the “Barn” - 1pm to 4pm