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Saludos, Le anejo la minuta de la reunión que tuvimos con el Superintendente de Parques Nacionales, el Sr. Walter Chavez, para que tengan conocimientos de los esfuerzos que hemos hecho hasta el momento con relación al uso del Morro. Cualquier ayuda adicional que nos puedan brindar será de mucha ayuda y quedo a su disposición. Alberto Colón Morales ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes of the meeting with Superintendent Walter Chavez head of San Juan National Historic Site Date: 01.25.2010 Participants: National Park Service • W. ChavezRepresentatives of the cycling community in San Juan Alberto Colon
Purpose: Explore possibilities to re-allow mountain bikers access to the green areas (“the Grounds”) in front of the El Morro fort (“El Morro”).
Meeting: The meeting started at 11h40 Alberto Colon exposed the purpose of the meeting, and asked Mr. Chavez for the reasons for the recent restriction.
pedestrian in the past and that the mountain bikes threatened to damage the archeological remains buried under the Grounds. Recently uncovered ordnance, allegedly exposed by the biking traffic, had to be removed.
community for over 30 years and that it was the first time damage was mentioned. Brett Finn asked if there was any possibility of finding an acceptable compromise on the use of the Grounds. Walter Chavez stated that he was willing to work with the biking community but that the use of the Grounds was not open to discussions. The fact that the route had been used for the last 30 years did not constitute a valid argument and was in fact a violation that should have been enforced. Riding bikes has always been off limits, it’s only recently that all the signage in the park had been redone and that the park rangers have started to apply the rules. (Post meeting notes: Itwould be relevant to assess the actual amount of damage, if any, that has been caused specifically by biking over this 30 year period to understand whether or not the bikes are actually harming the Grounds.) Ignacio Lopez stated that the purpose of the meeting was precisely to discuss the use of the Grounds given that there are virtually no green areas available to bikers in San Juan and its surrounding areas.
route, developing a biker’s ethics code and helping enforce it, proposing specific hours for mountain bikers when the pedestrian traffic is at a minimum (i.e. early morning or late afternoon) and pointed to independent environmental impact studies that show that a mountain bike cause actually less damage that a jogger or a hiker. Walter Chavez stated that if necessary the entire premises would be restricted to protect the archeological artifacts buried on the
Grounds. Ignacio Lopez stated that the paved road does not allow for sufficient mileage for a mountain bike trail. He further added that the alleged damage issue may be a question of interpretation as the NPS has, in other instances in the lower 48, relied on such independent environmental studies to allow mountain bikes on some of its sites. Walter Chavez stated that he was willing to study the possibility of developing a bike route elsewhere but that the Grounds were not negotiable. He mentioned an on-going project that would allow tour operators to offer bike tours along the waterway around El Morro.
Al día de hoy
National Park no me ha entregado ningún documento en Ley ni --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: El Paseo del Morro - Building the Vision for Trail
Connectivity Liz Smith-Incer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Chávez: Included are the pictures I presented in the meeting and the proof of the damage caused by the vehicles that still rolling in the grounds of El Morro. This clearly shows considerable more damage and is by far more harmful than a bycicle. We still don’t understand why we can’t ride our mountain bikes in El Morro. Regards, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Chavez: I want to clarify that we are truly thankful for your efforts on preserving the areas of the grounds in El Morro, as we all agree that we have to preserve the green areas in all the Island and specially El Morro that for years has given us a way to exercise out of the “concrete jungle” and is a place that we don’t have to deal with traffic, delinquency and smoke among other things. The point here is that we believe that we can work something out that is beneficial for both parties since we haven’t seen any extraordinary damage made by our bicycles that can expose the ordinance as you mentioned and we’ve been riding for a lot of years in El Morro without incidents. Also I like to point out that historically El Morro grounds were cover in dirt and not in grass when the Spanish warriors were here. I will appreciated that you give us a copy of the RULES and LAWS of El Morro and specifically the section and article that you mention that prohibits the traffic to bikes to El Morro to try to work around that and see if we can make a proposal that we all agree but with the common base of preserving the area. If you like you can send me a copy via email of if you preferred I can stop by your office anytime and pick it up. This is very important to us since today we have health and we can still ride our bicycles but tomorrow we don’t know what’s going to happen and to wait for El Paseo del Morro National Recreational trail to be built seems like a long time.
Thanks,
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