Funding approved for snowmobile trails near Lake Tahoe

Friday December 06, 2002

ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) A state commission has approved $200,000 to open and maintain 300 miles of Sequoia National Forest trails east of Fresno and east of Bakersfield.

The trails near Lake Isabella are the southernmost in the state, drawing from as far as the Los Angeles area.

The decision comes two months after the Off-Highway Motorized Vehicle Commission rejected $400,000 sought by the U.S. Forest Service for trails used by more than 50,000 snowmobilers in the Lake Tahoe Basin and along Highway 88 both east and west of the Kirkwood ski resort and Carson Pass.

That decision brought protests from snowmobile enthusiasts during a public comment period Thursday, but no reversal of the October decision. Some of the trails had been groomed annually since the 1980s.

While commissioners approved the Sequoia funding, they rejected another $16,000 in administration costs sought by the Forest Service.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)