For more on preserving trail access, read "Trails and Tribulations" in the January 2005 issue of Practical Horseman magazine.

HOW TO NEGOTIATE WITH RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPERS
From a major residential developer, tips on how advocates for equestrian trail access can work with developers to preserve trail access.

By Anastasia Burke

Open-space and trails advocate Craig Miller gazes down on the rooftops of Rush Creek, "a great example of how developers and horse people can work together."
Photo courtesy of Anastasia Burke
"Trails and Tribulations" in the January 2005 Practical Horseman details the efforts of successful trail advocacy groups such as the Atherton Community Association (ACA) in Novato, Calif., to preserve equestrian trail access. Here, a developer with whom ACA devised creative land-use solutions offers some insider tips on how to work with, not against, land developers to everyone's benefit.
Now a partner in Presidio Land Company, which annually builds about 1,000 new homes in California, Rich Garlinghouse was senior vice president at Southwest Diversified when that company was negotiating with ACA. He has some advice for community groups when it comes to bargaining with developers for trails and land.

Related Resources
* Trail Riders' Rights and Regulations
* Courtesy for Our Crowded Trails
* Benefits of Trails and Greenways

Listen. Rich says that the most important aspect to talking things out is that both sides need to listen carefully. "I can't tell you the number of great ideas I've heard--and never would have thought of--by sitting down with community members. Because I was willing to listen to Craig Miller [horseman and a founder of ACA], Rush Creek became a better development," he says. But listening is a two way street, and Rich advises advocacy leaders to "give the developer's concerns as much respect as you want given your own."

Be Reasonable. It's important to appreciate that the developer has certain entitlements, for which he has paid. "You need to govern your demands based on the reality that those entitlements are sometimes not flexible," advises Rich.

Explain Why. When requesting changes or amenities, Rich says don't just demand; make sure you explain why this particular issue is an important one to the neighborhood. "Make it real to the developer," he says.

Don't Make Assumptions. Both Craig and Rich say that you should not make assumptions that all developers have come to rape the lands and ruin your neighborhood. "As with anything, you should really try to come to the bargaining table with an open mind," advises Rich, whose completion of a Chatsworth, Calif., development in 2004 resulted in 4 1/2 miles of dedicated trails with a connection to open space in the nearby Santa Monica Mountains.

Compromise. Rich says that when developments go bad, it is often because people simply refuse to try for middle ground. "Great developments with trails and an eye towards the equestrian lifestyle always, without fail, come about because all parties were willing to compromise," he explains. "And quite frankly, in this day and age, a willingness to make concessions and hear the other person's point of view is really the only way to accomplish anything. This goes for developers as well as advocacy groups."

 

'UNSTABLE SITUATIONS'
Excerpts From the San Francisco Chronicle Friday, February 21, 28, & March 7, 2003
Special thanks to Jim Doyle, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer, who spent a great deal of time interviewing numerous equestrians in the Bay Area. And more thanks to the Chronicle for publishing Jim's three in-depth articles describing the challenges facing equestrians if they are to preserve barns and trails in the Bay Area.
E-mail Jim Doyle at jdoyle@sfchronicle.com.

The following excerpts are taken from each of the three articles; e-mail BABTT@earthlink.net if you would like to have us get the complete articles to you:

'Unstable Situations'
Lack of money and space are nagging problems for equestrian centers
Byline Jim Doyle, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
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"Just give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above, Don't fence me in. Let me ride through the wide open country that I love, Don't fence me in." Cole Porter .

'Plenty of shovels and spades were sold to Gold Rush pioneers, but not much shiny yellow rock was found. Just lots of raw land. Word spread, tracks were laid, a flood-tide of settlers moved West. Virgin forests gave way to towns and cities. Cars arrived. The taming of the Bay Area accelerated.
It's still a work in progress. One by one, hillsides are dug up. Barns and trails lose more ground to urban sprawl. A valley here, a stream there. Private lands are sold, subdivided, developed to make room for new houses. Trees are toppled. Brush is cleared. Aging barns are torn down. Fences go up. Trails are closed. All bits and pieces of our heritage.
So here we are, caught in the middle of crosstown traffic in a megalopolis of more than 6 million strong. What's a poor horse to do? Equestrians and conservationists have begun joining forces, speaking out and -- heaven forbid - - even working together in frets and starts to stem the loss.
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"The quality of life in the Bay Area depends on opportunities for wildlife, farming and outdoor activities to continue and be supported by public agencies and the voters," said Barbara Weitz, founder of Bay Area Barns and Trails, a Marin nonprofit.
"If people don't have an opportunity to get out and breathe fresh air and restore their souls, then we'll be just another cog in the wheel," Weitz said. "Everyone who is able to get out and take a hike or bike ride or horse ride on these Bay Area open lands improves the quality of their life."
-…Weitz bristles at the notion that only rich folks ride horses. "There's a perception that horse people have a lot of money," she said. "The ordinary trail rider does not have a lot of money as a rule. If they did, they'd be out there buying all those lands. Instead, they're selling land and moving up to places in the Sierra foothills."
Weitz grew up in Marin. "As a kid, I used to ride everywhere on my horse. That was my life," she said. "Now there are very few people who have horses that I can ride with. Fences go up. Opportunities are lost. Someone comes in and buys an old ranch, where the family let everyone use the land. Someone new comes in and locks the gates . . .

"Love of the land is the primary thing. Sitting on top of a horse overlooking the Pacific is the greatest thing," she said. "Even the horse enjoys it."
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But it's hard times for horses:
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Since 1978, the Westwind Community Barn has run a 4-H riding program for disabled children. The barn, which has a large arena, also runs an Ohlone camp to teach children about American Indian ways, as well as two summer riding camps. And it offers Pony Club lessons and pilot programs to introduce children to horseback riding. But the barn has had to struggle to keep its doors open. Maintenance has been deferred on its Mansard roof, and erosion on the road that leads to the turnout paddocks is a constant battle. Last year, town officials seriously considered selling the property to pay for a town hall and other pet projects. Town officials, looking to pony up cash for city agencies, eyed the property a year or so ago for potential sale.
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In the horse town of Woodside, a group of equestrians are scraping the barrel for dollars to restore the historic yet dilapidated Folger Estate Barn next to the former country home of coffee mogul and hydroelectric developer James Folger II. Ten years ago, Woodside was home to 1,200 horses. Now, there are only 600. Atherton used to be filled with horses. There don't appear to be any now. Folks used to joke that there were more horses in Los Altos Hills than people. Not anymore.
"We're going to do our darndest to make sure the numbers don't continue to decline," said Susan Lang, who is among those spearheading the drive to save the Folger Estate Barn next to the 942-acre Wunderlich County Park. "Part of what makes Woodside so special is that you can see horses walking down the road." The Folger Estate Stable Committee raised $120,000 to conduct a preliminary assessment of the barn, which is owned by San Mateo County. The restoration project - which will include roof work as well as seismic and code improvements - is expected to cost millions of dollars.
"This building is too valuable from an historic perspective to let it fall apart," Lang said. "The county has so been so hit with budget problems that this can't be a priority for them. We understand that. I think the county hasn't known what to do with this. There hasn't been a long-term vision for the facility."
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-The (65) year-old Alum Rock Stables in San Jose was closed in 1999. Bay Area Barns and Trails is attempting to purchase the site, then turn it over to a nonprofit group with similar conservation interests.
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-- In San Francisco, the Golden Gate Park Stables closed last fall. City officials have vowed to reopen the long-running concession, but those efforts have been moving along at a bureaucratic snail's pace.
For decades, the Golden Gate Park Stables offered riding lessons on dozens of horses, including lessons for children and "lead-line" lessons for tots. There was a summer riding camp for kids. Parents could throw a birthday party with pony rides for groups of children. And at Christmastime, boys and girls could go on a trail ride that ended at a horse trailer where Santa Claus was waiting.
"It was a fantastic place. It had a good environment, a good feel," said Sarah Mallas of San Francisco, who manages the Westwind Community Barn in Los Altos Hills. "I taught (at Golden Gate Park Stables) for a while, and it was so much fun to have the urban people come and ride and be able to enjoy the horses." But, she said, the facility's three arenas get muddy in the winter. There is no covered arena. Its three barns are in fair condition. Its grandstand is deteriorating rapidly. Politics and business factors, including the enormous cost of liability insurance, led to the facility's closure in September.
"There are quite a few people who've been left with nowhere to ride, and that's their chosen activity," Mallas said. "There's virtually nowhere via public transportation that you can go to ride."
San Francisco officials formed a task force, which included veterinarians, equestrians and experts from the horse industry. They hope to put the concession out to public bid this year. The San Francisco Stables Foundation is preparing a proposal to operate the facility.
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-"There's an e-mail stream of equestrians who are panic-stricken because most of our trails are being taken away from us," said Nancy Dupont, the founder of Heritage Trails, a group based in Walnut Creek that, among other things, wants to increase public access to trails on public parks.
Dupont complains that many public parks are not horse friendly. "I think they perceive a horse as a pain to deal with," she said. Park rangers voice concerns about erosion from horses, the introduction of alien plant life (such as weed seeds found in grains fed to horses and deposited on trails via manure), and point out that only a small percentage of park users are horseback riders.
Still, the Mount Diablo State Park gets rave reviews from equestrians. The park preserves trails for horsemen, who play an active part in clearing trails. ..
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-"The concern I have is disappearing ranchlands," said supervising park ranger Shelly Miller, who looks after the Shadow Cliffs, Brushy Peak, and Tassajara parklands. "I grew up in Livermore, going to the rodeo and working in the rodeo every year. And basically, my concern is that everything is being built on, all the hills surrounding Livermore. Regional park officials are searching for conservationists and equestrians who wish to become partners in an effort to preserve a historic ranch just outside the city limits of Livermore that includes hay barns, a grainery and a blacksmith shop. Established in 1870, the Samuel Laughlin homestead (later known as the Bosley-Weaver ranch) was operated as a cattle ranch for 130 years. "So many things that I grew up with are gone. The old dairy that I used to go to as a kid is now a shopping center. There's nothing for the kids to grow up in this valley to see as far as ranches. I'd like to preserve the old ranch site for kids to go on tours and see and to learn the living history of agriculture in this valley. Livermore was founded on ranching. A lot of these lands in the Livermore and Pleasanton valleys were ranches not too long ago."
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-- In Marin, development of the French Ranch subdivision in the 1990s crowded out the horses in San Geronimo Valley. Some were relocated to historic barns at or near Dickson Ranch in Woodacre. But those lands are also vulnerable to future development.
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- Since 1937, the Marin Stables in Fairfax has been on the trailhead of the Deer Park Area. The land is now owned by the Marin Municipal Water District. "I've had a lease here since 1980," said Jim McDermott, the proprietor of Marin Stables, "and I would hope that the district will continue to see the value of keeping horses here for many years to come."
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-The number of horses at the Golden Gate Dairy Stable at Muir Beach has fallen from 35 to 11 in the past several years due to federal park regulations to prevent overpasturing in an environmentally sensitive area, which includes coho salmon. The old barn, built before the 1920s across from the Pelican Inn, needs refurbishment.
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-On a positive note, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area has backed the restoration of the Miwok Stables at Tennessee Valley near Mill Valley, adding an indoor arena and new stalls.
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-In Napa, an old barn and riding facility is operated by a nonprofit organization at the Skyline Wilderness Park, located on land owned by the city of Napa.
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-The Greater Vallejo Parks and Recreation District is looking for ways to restore and open the McIntyre Ranch, for trail use. There are no horses on it now.
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-"Like everywhere in the country, barns are disappearing," said West Marin historian and author Dewey Livingston. "They're expensive to maintain, and they often outlive their usefulness. Almost all these barns were built as milking barns, and they haven't been used as milking barns for 50 years or so.
So the venerable California barn still seems to be endangered.
"It can take a lot of money just to re-roof a barn," he said. "If it's not cost-effective, it may be just torn down." Livingston credits the National Park Service with trying to maintain barns on its Marin lands. "But elsewhere in the county, it takes the landowner to have some dedication to the barn to keep it from falling down," he said.
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-Children are among those hit hardest by barn and trail closures.
"There's something about a kid, when he works with a huge animal. It transforms the child. They develop a partnership," Weitz said. "You can't do it with a bicycle or a baseball bat. It works with disabled kids, at-risk kids, emotionally disturbed kids and ordinary rich kids."
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-…Many of the Bay Area's barns and trails are situated on public lands. That sounds good in theory. But public agencies are increasingly ambivalent about the need to protect these natural and cultural resources. Most people don't ride horses. Open space is scarce, and there are competing uses for it. Cyclists, hikers and others are vying for trail use and program funds. Equestrian facilities and trails on public lands "may be subject to the whim of that particular public agency," Weitz said. "The public at large does not recognize equestrian activities as a bona fide public recreation benefit. And if there's a dollar to be spent, there's a desire that it be spent on a baseball field, skateboard park, tennis court or swimming pool -- and not an equestrian facility."
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-As one solution, Weitz's group is encouraging its affiliated projects to form partnerships with hiking groups, bicycle groups and nature groups. "Partnership is a key. Equestrians can't do it alone."
Too often, preservation attempts are hobbled. Grassroots organizations can easily become mired in their own local campaigns and lose sight of the big picture and fail to seek support from, or take advantage of, the knowledge gained from similar efforts in the next valley. "A key issue I think is communications. With the Internet and e-mail, you'd think it'd be better," Weitz said. "The equestrian trail groups have been so focused on the internal that there isn't much awareness of what's going on. "It is our goal to help all these stables and barns survive and thrive in the Bay Area. However, our function most of the time has been publicity, outreach and networking. People tend to be kind of like islands in their own territory and not reach out . . . (or) learn from others." ….

'Unstable Situations'
Excerpts From the San Francisco Chronicle Friday, February 21, 28, & March 7, 2003
Byline Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer

A WAKE UP CALL
Coming Crisis For Eventing: No Land
Excerpts from USCTA News - Vol. 29, Issue 2, 2000
If one takes projections about the impact of development on land over the course of the next 25 years – the period during which you and I can expect to be personally involved in the sport – the horse faces a future of being a glorified lawn ornament. In that future, we will need to call upon every horse whisperer in the country to teach us how to help our horses adapt to life without gallops and turnout. We will also be calling psychotherapists to help us, the riders, deal with a life in which we don't get to hack out into the countryside.

The Equestrian Land Conservation Resource believes that such a future can be prevented. Just like in a 12-Step Program, the first step is to stop being in denial. We all need to understand that the current rate of loss of land to development in this country is close to exponential.

For example, let's look at Arizona. John Lyons (speaking of horse whisperers) grew up in Phoenix. He talks about cutting school and grabbing a horse to go ride around town, tackless, of course. But for several years now, rural land outside Phoenix and Tuscon, the kind of scrub desert where you can ride for days and days, is being developed at the rate of an acre an hour!

As another example, in Montana just one of several hardware stores sells at wholesale prices a million dollars worth of housing materials every three days. If you have ever built a house, you know that materials represent only a fraction of the total cost. This should give you a sense of how many houses are built in just one rural county each year. I can assure you that the mix of dot.com cash flows and local libertarian values mean that long range, environmentally sensible development plans are not part of the picture.

It is important to realize from these statistics that this crisis does not solely concern the increased development of urban and suburban areas. Even areas that constitute our national "outback" are being turned into picket fenced backyards that no event horse could call home.

There is a lot we can do, much of which is disarmingly simple. Our challenge boils down to three straightforward tasks. First, we need to stop taking for granted access to land. Second, we need to develop and practice a collective ethic of care for the land and for landowners. Third, we need to creatively, aggressively and proactively pursue every means we can to preserve open space and access for the long term. This includes not just conservation easements, but also land purchases, promotion of trail associations, and forming alliances with other user groups (even non-equestrian ones!).

- Excerpts published with permission of the author, Sophie Pirie Clifton. This exceptional article can be viewed at www.eventingusa.com Click on USCTA News.

WILL AMERICANS STAND UP FOR PARKS AND OPEN SPACE?
An Op Ed piece published in the San Jose Mercury News, June 19, 2002.
By Huey D. Johnson

"The Los Altos Hills City Council is discussing the possibility of developing the Byrne Preserve. As Councilman Bob Fenwick said, ``It's an extremely valuable piece of property. We could do other things with the money.''
This is the first time in nearly half a century of environmental work that I've heard of a city developing its parks because it ``needs'' the money.
That leaves the rest of Los Altos Hills, one of America's wealthiest communities, with a moral decision, a choice between principle and profit. Is there value beyond dollars? That's the question posed by the proposed development of a piece of the Albert Barnitz Byrne Preserve.
Byrne was a very principled man, with a love for humanity and wild nature. He was a medical doctor who led a fascinating life. When I met him some 35 years ago, he lived like a hermit in a wild, remote canyon in the brush hills of Texas. He said he lived in isolation because he had contracted tuberculosis and didn't want to spread the contagious disease. (He may have caught the disease when chained in one of Franco's dungeons; he was a surgeon in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.)
He agreed to donate the land that he inherited, but wanted me to promise that it would remain undeveloped forever in its entirety. I promised him that the Nature Conservancy -- the group I represented at the time -- would save the land in perpetuity. The Conservancy sold the 55 acres to the city for a fraction of its value and I put a deed restriction in the title so it could never be developed.

Another adjoining 15 acres was given to the city later by another donor. It came with a stable on it. Westwind, the non-profit organization using the stable, helps handicapped children there. The smaller parcel is described as being part of the Byrne Preserve by the city.
Dr. Byrne's fears have come to pass now that the land is worth several million dollars an acre. Today's city council might or might not move the barn to the Byrne site. But sell the 15-acre site and tomorrow it will be homes.
That's what happens when a preserve and principles are compromised. Speaking for my organization, Defense of Place, we would oppose any development or sale there, in court and out. I believe The Nature Conservancy would as well.
The question is one of permanence. What is our obligation to continue to preserve parks created by past generations? When we promise to preserve such spaces in perpetuity, how long is forever? How do we respond when the value of land has risen exponentially and the pressure for development increases?
Will Americans be strong enough to stand up for our parks and open spaces, for Yosemite and Yellowstone, for wild rivers and wilderness? Is their value beyond and above money?
This is a global concern. Great Britain, for example, has met such challenges, and matured to the point where no one in that nation would consider development in a park that had been donated for preservation.
New Zealand recently passed a law that puts all of that country's remaining old-growth trees on public lands into permanent preserved status, never to be cut. New Zealand's parliament concluded that there are values that go beyond dollars, and that those forests are too valuable to lose.
In the United States, the city of New York has faced such challenges many times -- so many that Central Park would be layered 17 times over with buildings if all the proposals for development since its creation had been allowed. The preservation of Central Park says volumes about the culture of New York.
And what of the nascent culture of Silicon Valley? Today, the region is widely recognized for its culture of innovation. Tomorrow, will that culture be recognized for its betrayal of past commitments, or for honor?
The British, New Zealanders, and New Yorkers know how to preserve their heritage for the future, and I have no doubt that we are up to the task. That's why I hope you'll agree that we must protect the Albert Byrne Preserve from shortsighted greed. Dr. Byrne and our children deserve nothing less.
Excerpts from San Jose Mercury - Tue, Jun. 18, 2002 - Chuck Carroll (650) 688-7598.
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Huey D. Johnson is the founder of Defense of Place, a watchdog organization monitoring the preservation of donated heritage.

CONSERVATION-MINDED CITIZENS ARE BANDING TOGETHER
Industry Watch - Land Conservation
Paint Horse Journal, Sept. 2001
If there were a single demographic trend that characterized the last decade of the 20th Century, it was Americans heading West, both to take advantage of the burgeoning high-tech economy and to enjoy a quality of life typified by wide-open spaces and recreational opportunities. According to the United States Census Bureau, the intermountain West is America's growth hot spot-populations in the six-state Rocky Mountain region are up an estimated 20.2 percent over the past ten years, compared with a national growth rate of 2.2 percent. Though much of that growth is taking place in prosperous cities such as Denver, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Salt Lake, it's the outlying rural areas that have doubled, even tripled in populace and size. Demographers refer to these areas as "exurbia:" rural enclaves that surround metropolitan cities.

But the exodus isn't limited to places like Pahrump, Nev., Park City, Utah, and Parker, Colo., all located within commuting distance of major cities. Any place with a landing strip for private planes or at a bare minimum, decent communications infrastructure to support "modem cowboys" (high-tech workers who use computer internets to link to the home office) has development potential.

In many rural areas, farmers, ranchers, and conservation-minded citizens are banding together to thwart development and preserve open space. And one of their main weapons is the conservation easement -- basically, a purchase of development rights (PDR) that prevents the land from being subdivided or sold for non-agricultural purposes in perpetuity. In the mountain towns of Crested Butte, Colo., Park City, Utah, Jackson, Wyo., and Steamboat Springs, the development rights to ranch lands long used to raise cattle and horses have been bought up to staunch the creeping growth of development.

But land preservation isn't limited to land within site of a ski resort: rural areas of Boulder, Colo., and ranching communities throughout sparsely-populated Southern Colo., Utah, and New Mexico have also organized to acquire PDRs, often in conjunction with state programs (eighteen states currently have active PDR programs) or with the help of conservation-minded organizations with "land trusts" such as the Elk Foundation. In areas where development is taking place, agricultural property values tend to be much lower than the value for development. When the owner sells his development rights, he receives a lump sum based on an independent appraisal; the organization or government entity that now owns the development rights then retires any future option to develop the land. The property owner typically reaps a tax reward, too, because the land's valuation is reduced when development rights are subtracted.

Selling PDRs doesn't mean the property owner gives up other rights, such as the right to restrict public access or to sell the property. About 400,000 acres of land has been placed in conservation easements since 1974, when the first PDR program was established in New York. Because keeping and raising horses is considered an agricultural pursuit, horse owners in communities being pressured by urban sprawl may reap the same benefits accorded to vegetable farmers, wheat growers, or cattle ranchers. In fact, because horse properties tend to be aggregated around the very communities that are rapidly expanding, horseman may be the first and best line of defense in slowing urban sprawl. While zoning has been one means of controlling urban growth, it is invasive because it deprives the property owner of some of the value of his property. In the conservative Western states, zoning that restricts property rights can be politically untenable. Building moratoria has similar legal, social and economic disadvantages. However, PDR programs are voluntary and allow landowners to profit from the value of their lands.

Therefore, horsemen and ranchers concerned with development may prove to be important allies of conservationists, environmentalists, local and state governments
in preserving our nation's precious open spaces.

-This article appeared in the September. 2001 Paint Horse Journal, a publication of the American Paint Horse Association. Reprinted with permission of the author Gavin Ehringer