By BRUCE & JENNIFER TRENT
Los Alamos
This letter is to acknowledge and endorse the Letter to the Editor by Susan Barns published July 28 in the Los Alamos Daily Post (Link).
It is also written to thank the Los Alamos County Council for passing the motion to develop an expanded evaluation of all bike path options and to provide citizen feedback. The bike path proposals are significant, and it is important to find the optimal solution.
Our family has lived adjacent to Pueblo and Acid Canyons continuously for nearly forty years. The canyons have provided inspiration as we have all grown up under their influence. Similarly, we have provided significant input for decades regarding the development of the canyons, after two major fires, development of land use for the apartment complex, addressing radioactive contamination on the sides of Acid Canyon, removal of Peggy Sue Bridge, and improvements to the trail systems for pedestrian and bike traffic.
Together with our neighbors, we have crisscrossed Pueblo and Acid Canyons thousands of times. It is certainly true that there are no “unused portions” of the upper and lower Acid and Pueblo Canyons. Simply being preserved for walking and personal enjoyment does not render these undeveloped areas “unused,” nor does it render them less valuable to the public. All portions of those areas are profoundly beautiful to those who take advantage of the natural surroundings. The value of preserving these natural resources cannot be overstated, particularly for those of us who enjoy and live alongside them every day.
It would be a mistake to assume the signers of the petition do not represent a significant proportion of the Los Alamos community, and to assume that those signers are all opposed to trails development and maintenance. The bottom line here is that the scope and locations of the bike path options could be extremely disruptive to the established trail system and current utilization by the Los Alamos community. In particular, the location of the Area 1 Basic Skills Park, shown in phase 1, will eliminate or significantly impede access to one of the treasures of the Los Alamos Trails system, namely the upper creek area of Acid Canyon to the walking public. This creek is easily accessible to limited mobility persons and dog walkers from the Aquatic Center. There is also an Eagle Scout Project foot bridge across this creek in this area. We ask that this area, that has been in use for decades, continue to be preserved unaltered, so that it may continue to be enjoyed by walkers wanting to cross or hike our peaceful canyons for decades to come.
We are concerned about the overdevelopment of our canyons and that there has not been enough consideration for the displacement of current recreational users or their concerns. For instance, the assumption that no one will be displaced if an obstacle is placed between existing foot paths, is inaccurate. We would also like to see that any further development in our canyons consider very seriously any noise pollution it will invite, as it has, which would continue to be uniquely amplified. Be assured that these are not frivolous concerns only to those who live close to these proposed projects. Echoes are amplified due to the three-dimensional nature of the canyon walls and floor, as we have heard from noises generated from groups at PEEC and the first skateboard park. Consideration should be given to those sounds that carry into the canyon and into to nearby homes.
Please consider alternate locations and the elimination of the Area 1 Bike Skills Park. Note that more than 50 percent of respondents of both poles May 5 and June 1 DID NOT SUPPORT the Bike Skills Park. Additionally, as stated in Ms. Barns letter, over 90 percent of people polled believe their needs are being met. Therefore, adding a Bike Skills Park to a recreational area that is already generating an overwhelming degree of satisfaction would have an overall negative affect on the vast majority of current recreational users to the area defined in the current “conceptual” plan.
