Feel free to lead the charge against LaMalfa. He isn't my congressman so I can't cast a vote to replace him. Good Luck!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph
Feel free to lead the charge against LaMalfa. He isn't my congressman so I can't cast a vote to replace him. Good Luck!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph
You can believe I've been on it! LaMalfa isn't going to budge, regardless, but visitors coming into his district do have a voice.Quote:
Originally Posted by FREEDOM-FLYFISHER
I again called all 4 of LaMalfa offices, got through in Redding I think it was, about 3 weeks ago and got through to an office worker. She didn't want to hear from me as I am not one of his constituents. If you are not a constituent you can't even email him and his website will block you if you don't enter the correct zip code I believe it was.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph
We are fighting against losing car top launching access at Jenkins and Cow Creek. If they want to allow us to continue to launch at Jenkins/Cow Creek as we have been doing without crowded crammed parking and not stop car top launching but want to charge a fee then that is ok with me. What can I/we really say to that? They charge fees everywhere these days, every state park, Yosemite, Yellowstone, camping fees everywhere, boat launching fees etc. They are doing developments all around Davis lake that is getting paid for by somebody....City of Portola doesn't want to pay, Plumas COunty doesn't want to pay, who is going to pay for all that development, the parking lots, roads being paved, camp grounds, and boat ramps etc?
They are going to squeeze money out of somebody to pay for all that. It's either going to be the residents of Plumas County with higher taxes or users. If it was up to me, if I were king, I would rather the entire lake to be undeveloped like it once was. I don't need a paved road. I don't need a concrete boat ramp. I don't need camp grounds, I don't need a paved parking lot, I surely don't need a useless boondoggle disabled fishing jetty that is high and dry 95% of the time anyway and no one can use even if they wanted to. As much as I don't like it if I have to fork out money for some launching pass then that is that and I will pay if the lake is fishing halfway decently as it has been in the past.
I/we (car toppers) just don't want to lose those launching areas of Jenkins/Cow Creek as they are vital to getting to fishing areas safely.
LaMalfa may steer USFS direction to a certain extent but we also have our voice too and input and right now the USFS is finally listening and researching car topping needs at Davis Lake so we need to speak up and see what plays out. If flyfishermen/women speak up and email and/or call the USFS contacts I provided (particularly, USFS Forest Supervisor Christopher Carlton Christopher.Carlton@usda.gov p:530-283-7810 c:530-927-7713)
we just might actually succeed. We'll see. So I encourage everyone to do so.....
GOOD LUCK! GOOD FISHING!
Nice post, nice rebuttal!!!! .... You know what?....I would LOVE IT if you put your writing skills, intellect, and opinion to use and take a few minutes of your time to send an email and/or make a phone call to USFS Forest Supervisor Christopher Carlton, Christopher.Carlton@usda.gov p:530-283-7810 c:530-927-7713 helping your fellow flyfishermen/women regarding the closures of car top launching access at Davis Lake, Jenkins Point/Cow Creek/Camp 5 etc. Can we count on you? We need your HELP. We need all the help we can get. Fight the USFS closures.Quote:
Originally Posted by tcorfey
GOOD FISHING!
You know what's really sad??????.....Flyfishermen/women that are too gutless or lazy to support their fellow flyfishermen/women. That's SAD!Quote:
Originally Posted by Odonata
Have you sent an email or made a call to USFS Forest Supervisor Christopher Carlton, Christopher.Carlton@usda.gov p:530-283-7810 c:530-927-7713 on behalf of your fellow flyfishermen/women? We need YOUR HELP. Fight the USFS, not your fellow flyfishermen/women.
GOOD FISHING!
Okay FF, I will send out an email this weekend.:)
Awesome! Thank you very much! We need all the help we can get. Every voice counts and helps. The more people that contact the USFS the better.Quote:
Originally Posted by tcorfey
GOOD FISHING!
UPDATE DAVIS LAKE ACCESS CLOSURES
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.......
Hello my fellow flyfishermen and women!
I hope all of you are enjoying this fall/winter weather we are experiencing and getting out there and into the fish with these cooler temperatures.
First of all I would like to thank everyone that took the time to email and/or call the USFS on behalf of yourself, your fellow flyfishermen/women, disabled veterans/persons, car toppers etc regarding the access closures at Davis Lake.
So, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!.....it's GREATLY APPRECIATED.....and is actually helping the cause! The more voices the better!
I wanted to give an update on what has transpired between myself and the USFS Plumas County regarding my ongoing efforts to negotiate a result on behalf of all "car toppers" interested in fishing Davis Lake. Sadly, the closure at Jenkins Point remains so if you have plans to fish the lake and need to offload close to the lake shore it is a no go at Jenkins. In the past when the lake was fishing well at the top of its game there would be 30+ cars parked on Jenkins point. That has been reduced to room for maybe 8-10 vehicles squeezed together at best. They created a tiny gravel parking area and have placed signs stating that you must be parked in that parking area and can not drive anywhere close to the water to offload.
I recently contacted Christopher Carlton the Forest Supervisor and he informed me that a new acting district ranger has been appointed, Rachel Bauer is no longer in the position and that person now is Matthew Waterston matthew.waterston@usda.gov. So if you want to type up your first email or forward an email you have already sent to Rachel Bauer or Kelli Ward that is a person to contact as well as Forest Supervisor Christopher Carlton christopher.carlton@usda.gov. They are rotating in new acting District Rangers on a monthly basis until they hire a person on a permanent basis. This has been their excuse for inaction regarding addressing Jenkins Point and other access areas that the NEW District Ranger will be making a decision. It appears Carlton the Forest Supervisor has passed the responsibility downward for whatever reasons which I do not understand. Why he refuses to make a decision is beyond me. Christopher Carlton also stated that in addition to Matthew Waterston, Erika Brenzovich Recreation Program Manager erika.brenzovich@usda.gov will be reviewing and working on the issue. My question becomes why can't the current acting District Ranger address the situation or the Forest Supervisor? A former acting District Ranger this past summer enacted the closure so why can't that be reversed or addressed by the current acting district ranger? It is a lot of BS and run around and excuses but when dealing with government bureaucracies this is what must be dealt with if you want a change. Christopher Carlton also informed me that he is instructing "Outdoors in Plumas" the USFS contracted concessionaire to look into the matter. I am curious to what role exactly they are playing in this.
I was hoping to get this resolved prior to this years Veteran's Day of Remembrance November 11, 2021 on behalf of our severely disabled veterans that need any access they can find but sadly that appears will not happen. You would think that the USFS would want to preserve, restore, create access and welcome disabled veterans to Plumas County area lakes like Davis or Frenchman's but that is not the case at all. In fact, they could careless as they have made Frenchman's completely inaccessible for a severely disabled person/veteran as far as an area to launch where in the past there were areas all around the lake where one could drive down to the water and park and offload and leave your wheelchair sitting at the waters edge waiting for your return. They are doing to Davis what they have done to Frenchman's. I feel bad for the newly injured young man or woman veteran that becomes severely disabled that loses their legs at the hip to an IED or suffers a spinal cord injury and will be using a wheelchair or is severely mobility impaired and wants to kayak fish either of these lakes independently. That freedom and independence I and others have enjoyed for decades is fading fast in Plumas County. I will be sending off many emails this coming week on behalf of our disabled veterans but so far it has fallen on deaf ears of the USFS Plumas county personnel.
I'd also like to mention that if any of you know of any disabled veterans (severely mobility impaired/wheelchair user) or anyone severely disabled in northern California or Nevada that might be interested in getting into fishing from a kayak or where they might find some access at a lake please have them contact me through this website and I would be more than happy to give them all my decades of knowledge and information on where and how and the few spots at lakes that I know have access or to personally take them out fishing and guide them.
.....anyway keep the faith....we shall triumph..... and GOOD FISHING to my fellow flyfishermen and women!
HELLO MY FELLOW FLYFISHERMEN AND WOMEN!
I hope all of you are getting out there and doing some great fishing with a cool early fall!
I have been busy dealing with the USFS Plumas COunty hammering them on this issue relentlessly. I will try and UPDATE when I get the chance and let you know what has been going on. I have the USFS Forest Supervisors Christopher Carlton's ear although he does everything he can to pass the buck on this issue to the acting district ranger which they then of course blow it off and try and pass the buck by saying no decision will be made until a District Ranger is hired or some such bs but nonetheless I keep putting the pressure on. It's lots of BS and bureaucratic game playing but it is what it is.
IF you fish davis and car top and care about car top launching access I strongly suggest you do the same and write Christopher Carlton Christopher.Carlton@usda.gov and Erika Brenzovich erika.brenzovich@usda.gov because now is the time before it is too late. Come spring they are either going to shut down Jenkins for good and then that's it we won't be able to reverse it and then they will close Cow Creek next if they don't get challenged on Jenkins and no more car top launch access at those nice west shore wind sheltered leeward launching areas we have enjoyed for 50+ years that get us to all the close by fishing spots safely and quickly.
I have also been appealing to the USFS on behalf of disabled Veterans (as Veterans Day of Remembrance is approaching November 11, 2021) for access which these spots are nice flat hard packed dirt areas which are nice launching areas for the mobility impaired. These are my go to spots when I guide a disabled person Veteran or non-Veteran as they are the safest spots for a first time kayaker and easy for anyone with some sort of mobility impairment which I work with. If you are a Veteran or not right now is a great time to send an email on behalf of our disabled Veterans with mobility impairments that need any and all access they can find. That's the tough part for some newly injured Veteran double amputee or spinal cord injury now having to use a wheelchair or crutches or prosthetics etc to find easy access that gets their independence back and gets them out there in the outdoors. It's very good for their mental health as some 6000 Veterans take their lives each year and any Freedom and Independence of the severely disabled Veteran in the outdoors really does help and can save lives.
I would like to remind persons reading this thread that if any of you know of any disabled Veterans or non-Veterans that have some sort of mobility impairment and might be interested in getting into kayak fishing have them contact me here as I will try and check here every few weeks as time permits.
GOOD LUCK! GOOD FISHING!
BAD NEWS
WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD and WHAT I DETERMINED READING BETWEEN THE LINES>
I Spoke with Erika Brenzovich for 48 minutes on November 12. I have been advocating for access for disabled veterans (Veterans Day November 11), on this issue of access at Davis Lake and its impact on disabled veterans/persons, so I got a call from her.
BAD NEWS>The USFS has dumped a pile of boulders at Jenkins Point but she stated they have not been placed, (YET). She stated they will do a field access assessment with me weather permitting in early December to make a final determination or if not this December then next spring. I don't believe anything they say. They have lied over and over and each person passes the buck to someone else. I have this time (since Jenkins issue) directed everything at Christopher Carlton ultimately holding him responsible as he is the Forest Supervisor. They do all these decisions by committee and initiate plans over a period of years. She told me their plan was (they are still reviewing) to close off ALL shoreline access at Davis Lake. Cow Creek is their planned next closure. Their reason is because people have driven down to the water at Lightning Tree with the low water. So people were driving down to the waters edge there as the boat ramp is high and dry and this bothers them. That is their entire reason for now closing Jenkins and COw Creek which they are hell bent on doing. So what they have done at Jenkins so far is they have put in a little gravel parking lot right at the very top of the road in. You drive through the trees and pop out on the top of the point and that is as far as you can now go. You can't drive to the end of the point or the north or south side of the point to launch. Right now they just have signs but I imagine they are just going to encircle that gravel parking area with those boulders and then that is it. They can't really boulder off to the north or south sides with boulders from the treeline down to the water as it would require hundreds of boulders and then the water comes up and those boulders are submerged and a boat prop can hit them so they will just leave this little parking lot that might hold 8-10 vehicles and that is it. No shoreline launching.
I have been advocating on behalf of disabled veterans/persons as I work with various non profits that provide assistance in various ways and also outdoor adaptive recreation so that has gotten their attention. BUT the fact is they really haven't cared in the past. They are hell bent on closing off the lake to all shoreline access no matter the impact. They are still taking input and (THEY SAY) they are considering the issue of access for users, general public "car toppers", disabled veterans/persons.
We'll see what happens here. As I mentioned above, Erika stated that she, Christopher Carlton, perhaps others from USFS and myself will do a field assessment at Davis and Frenchman's (they made this lake entirely inaccessible for disabled persons/veterans with closures).
So this is it. It's crunch time. If you are a "car topper" and have any desire to continue to launch at Davis Lake you better speak up now while they are still listening, because once they start placing boulders that's it, Erika stated this. If you aren't a "car topper" or maybe you don't even fish Davis lake perhaps you care about disabled veterans or your fellow flyfisherman/women and the flyfishing community. You don't have to be Shakespeare here or write an essay. A short quick simple email on behalf of disabled veterans stating you would like the USFS to preserve, restore, create access for disabled veterans at Davis Lake/Frenchman's would be great. Or for instance you would,like to see "car topper" access remain open at Davis Lake as it is needed for people launching prams, canoes, pontoons, kayaks and non motorized craft that would be great. Any view point on your own behalf or any others would be great. It's not a lost cause, but it is crunch time and now is the time to speak up.
If you do wish to help on behalf of disabled veterans/persons, yourself or just the general flyfishing community I suggest you direct your emails to #1 Christopher Carlton #2 Erika Brenzovich and name them in your email and include all above USFS email links to other USFS personnel I have included in this thread.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!
IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!
GOOD FISHING!