Tahoe-Pyramid bike path gets its 1st extension through private land
BY MAGGIE O’NEILL • MONEILL@RGJ.COM • MAY 4, 2010
from:http://www.rgj.com/article/20100504/TT/5040324/1047/tt
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A two-mile section of the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway that opened last week in east Sparks sets an example for private corporations to open lands and help finish the 116-mile trail.
“This is the first time the bikeway has been allowed to go through private property,” Janet Phillips, president of the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway Association, said. “This is huge.”
The new section is a gravel path along a small piece of land squeezed between Interstate 80 and the Truckee River. The path mostly is surrounded by sage, but along the river and a nearby pond, a few slender aspens reach high.
NV Energy and the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center opened their lands for the path and contributed to the development of the trail and banks.
Lance Gilman, owner of the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, said he sometimes sees wild mustangs nearby.
“There’s a lot of wildlife here,” said Clif Usher, returning from a ride on the two-mile stretch. “You’re right next to the water.”
Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway Association member Bill von Phul also rode the new trail.
“The more little bits that we have linked together the more possible it is that the whole thing will someday be done,” he said.
The two miles don’t serve the larger goal unless they can be connected on either side to larger portions of completed trail. Phillips said that is why she is so conscientious about thanking private contributors.
Mars Petcare, further west on the trail, has agreed to be caretaker of the two-mile stretch.
Phillips envisioned the bike project, which started in 2002, as a five-year project. Sixty-two miles remain to be completed.
“Some of the easy parts are done, and the hard parts are left to be done,” said her husband, Mike Phillips. “It involves a lot of arm-twisting. And in some cases, it may even be a different generation of people that are needed to accept bicycle trails through their land. It’s getting there.”
Janet Phillips said access issues exist with Storey County and Union Pacific. The Truckee River runs through Washoe County land on the newly opened trail, but further east heads into Storey County, where Phillips wants 20 miles of the path. No work has been done in Storey County.
Storey County Commissioner Bob Kershaw said some of the land Janet Phillips wants to use belongs to private landowners.
“Let’s make one thing clear,” he said. “It’s not a case of Storey County not wanting to make the land available. It’s that we’re not going to force it down someone’s throat.
“You’ve got to look at something that is agreeable to the property owners and, from a Storey County standpoint, what services we can provide if we have an incident or something back there,” he said. “We’ve got be able to get back in there.”
A 400-foot-wide corridor along Union Pacific rails limits construction of the bike trail, Phillips said.
An adjacent part of trail to the west could open within the year on land either owned by the Nature Conservancy or operated in joint management with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Conservancy director Mickey Hazelwood said when one issue is resolved, that portion can be completed, and more than six miles can be connected to the two that opened April 26.
Downstream at the 102 Ranch, also cooperatively managed by the Nature Conservancy and the BLM, another mile will be added when river restoration is finished.
Storey County Commissioner Bob Kershaw said some of the land Janet Phillips wants to use belongs to private landowners.
“Let’s make one thing clear,” he said. “It’s not a case of Storey County not wanting to make the land available. It’s that we’re not going to force it down someone’s throat.
“You’ve got to look at something that is agreeable to the property owners and, from a Storey County standpoint, what services we can provide if we have an incident or something back there,” he said. “We’ve got be able to get back in there.”
A 400-foot-wide corridor along Union Pacific rails limits construction of the bike trail, Phillips said.
An adjacent part of trail to the west could open within the year on land either owned by the Nature Conservancy or operated in joint management with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Conservancy director Mickey Hazelwood said when one issue is resolved, that portion can be completed, and more than six miles can be connected to the two that opened April 26.
Downstream at the 102 Ranch, also cooperatively managed by the Nature Conservancy and the BLM, another mile will be added when river restoration is finished.
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