been working on for some time now. the projects that the puc outlined today i think are wonderful steps in the right direction and i will speak and my group will speak and we all support these projects and these take san francisco closer to the successful and responsible policies of peers in the area and marin and east bay that successfully managed their watersheds and provides much more access than we have right now in the peninsula watershed while maintaining the quality of the water and the integrity of the environment. let me say also i think going forward we need to have a focus on transparency and public input into the planning process. this -- today to my knowledge is the first time that all of the projects have been presented to the public in one place and i think even though many projects have been in the works for many

years, probably a majority of san francisco residents have no idea that these projects exist so i think that is something we should keep in mind going forward and let me say hopefully i think the switch from the dosen lead program to the permit system is especially important. by all accounts the tours are great but i will say if you're a san francisco resident that doesn't own a car it's nearly impossible to take advantage of the tours. they all begin at the southern end of the trail, the farthest side from san francisco on highway 92 and those without cars and this will allow us to treasure the resource and take care of it. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello. i am jason beck and part of the a group of mountain bike enthusiasts and i want to

say personally thank you to the supervisors for moving this forward and thank you to the puc. i guess i want to focus on what an amazing opportunity we have here. we're blessed to live where we are. we're blessed to have these opportunities available and open up more space for recreation and it's amazing and thank you for bringing this forward and i want you move forward and especially with the sense of urgency that was pointed out so thank you. >> thank you. >> my name is iric miester and member of the open watershed movement. i want to thank you for hearing this. my end goal in this regard i am a strong proponent of the mental and physical benefits of getting outdoors. i'm a marine corps veteran and a member of the wounded warrior project and i

can speak to the benefit of having open space and unrestricted access to that open space. while i appreciate the dosen lead program that establish stalled for the san francisco watershed more definitely needs to be done. and the public needs to feel that they have unrestricted access and i completely understand and echo some of the concerns about responsible planning and responsible use of this land and absolutely think that it should be done in responsible and strategic matter that allows for a balance of both sides but we absolutely need more access open to the san francisco watershed. thank you. >> thank you. before the next speaker i will call a few more cards. [calling speaker names] and i think we have him already. next speaker please.

>> good afternoon supervisors. my name is mike ferrara. i'm the conservation chair of the loma prieta chapter of the sierra club and a member of the executive committee, and as some of you may know this project if we call it a project crosses two chapters of the sierra club chapter and the san francisco bay bay chapter and the loma prieta chapter and i am chosen to say the chapters of are one mind and extremely doubtful in going away from the dosen program. we supported it in 2002. and thought it was an excellent idea. we do recall it was the preferred alternative at that time and i was actually on a planning commission on city council at that time and i thought the decision of the board of supervisors was well

considered to take the preferred alternative. we don't see any really good reason to get away from that. we could see possibly expanding it, and we're an environmental organization. john gear was one of our founders and the whole concept of opening up wild places for recreation cuts across the grain. >> >> we think you need to be careful and did a wonderful job with the dosen program and should be commended for that and we hope the pressures to go away from that could be released. we will now get more involved in this. we haven't been involved up to this point. it's our intention to do so in the future because there's a lot here to be saved. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker please.

>> my name is ray hosher and a former bicycle columnists for the san francisco chronicle and author of bay area bike roads" . i have been writing about the area in discussion for 30 plus years and it's given me a lot of inspiration. i wrote this magazine adventure rides in santa cruz mountains, and it's something that i think we need to think about for opening up all space possible. there's a concept called freedom to roam. if you look it up in wikipedia there is a lot of discussion about it and it says we want to give access to everything, all land as much as possible and i think that's the way it should go. consider the marin marin

municipal water district. they allow extensive recreation. they're just to the north of us. liberal minded just like san francisco. and finally i just want to say that if you don't think -- if you think there is plenty of open space already try visiting the sawyer camp trail on a weekend. and one last thing i'm going to do another addition of this. it's called adventure rides downtown san francisco. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> hello. my name is andy house and i started a facebook page called open sf watershed. here in the san francisco bay bay we come from -- bay area we come from diverse backgrounds

and diverse people and have different stories from our parents and ancestors but what joins us together and what is rarely thought of as a political thing is history, and within the san francisco watershed lies lake po seatos and that most of the public don't know exists. this was the first potable water source for san francisco. this building wouldn't be here if that lake wasn't there and [inaudible] to the mountain and [inaudible] red road flume when san francisco was purchasing water by the barrel for gold so within that valley lies the lake and stone dam and great beautiful places that people don't know exists but are important to the history to the city and all of the great rock and roll out of the city and

the things that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the lakes and with history i would like to thank the bay area ridge council for the vision to see that the stewardship of people to manage land responsibly is tied to their emotional ownership of that land in the history of it. thank you. >> thank you very much. before the next speaker a few more cards. [calling speaker names] >> thanks supervisors. i want to thank you for this hearing and also thank supervisor avalos and wiener for their leadership on this issue. my name is sasha mcgee and a member of the san francisco urban riders. i want to under line the urgency that supervisor avalos is giving this issue. this is land that people are crying out for. san

francisco and our neighbors to the south really have limited recreational opportunities within an easy bike ride or quick transit ride of the city and so i think this is a great opportunity to open that up. i always want to address supervisor avalos' question around trail stewardship. off road cyclists in san francisco have put in thousands of hours of construction and hundreds of hours and creating world class trails for hiking and cycling around san francisco is an opportunity that we should not pass by. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> i am speaking for the local chapter of the california native plant society that historically

been opposed to increased access of the watershed. we continue to support of dosen lead walks. we think that is the way to go. there are two commoditys in the world that focused world attention on: oil and water. the quantity and quality of water is a great problem as you know. many nations are in serious trouble because of this. one of those was south south africa which has a government lead program, a lot of funding for control of invasive plant thases are drieg up their streams. volunteers like thousands of people. we don't have that kind of support, but the watershed does need it. this is not a park. people need to understand that. it is not a park. it's a watershed and it

must be protected. this is not an opportune time for people to be pressing for greater access with the dry years we're experiencing. san francisco itself has rows of trees that are dying now from lack of water, and they have not faced up to this problem but they had better soon. we were lucky in 2014. we will not be so lucky this year. we have six, seven, eight months of dry weather ahead of us. humans -- we mess things up. we spread weeds mostly, annual weeds which add to the fuel load. we bring in weeds and envissive organisms and pathogens on boots and clothing. is that it? >> that's it. thank you. next

speaker please. >> hello. my name is vern smith. i work for the bay area ridge area council and speaking on behalf of council today. we have other volunteers and active members and board members in the audience and i will call one out in a moment. the bay area ridge trail's mission is create a 500-mile trail along the entire bay area open to everyone on the ridge lines with views of san francisco bay. i think it's probably obvious to you why we worked for many years and instrumental in getting the ridge trail -- that portion of the ridge trail open in the watershed back in 2003. the development of that trail was partially funded by a grant --

a partner grant that the ridge trail council operates with the coastal conservancy. the funding for the most recent ridge trail work on the watershed, the upper crystal springs trail -- that's the extension that tim talked about, planning and funding was by those groups secured for the puc. the ridge trail idea goes back to the 30's. part of the trail in the san francisco watershed were identified as part of the california riding and hiking trail route back in the 30's and 40's when the state adopted that, so that is in fact the sawyer camp trail is part of that trail. most recently i want to point out some things that we have accomplished right in the vicinity including last year the ridge trail council secured a trail easement from the skyline memorial park for

the ridge trail on portion of the kay hill ridge road and that easement we will transfer to puc as part of this ongoing planning process. we support liberalizing access to the ridge trail through the puc -- >> that was your time. >> and i would like to invite you to take one of the tours. bob if you could hol up your hands -- >> could you finish up. we have another hearing as well. next speaker please. >> hello. i am [inaudible] and cyclists for sf urban riders and our group works to promote cycling and everyone that can enjoy and since we live in this area we drive cars to search

out opportunities and. we want to encourage more [inaudible] (low audio) and do this in participating in habitat trails and workdays and both are needed and working with agencies and hosting rides and events for the members. as a sf resident and open space enthusiast i support access for all users. i want to like to thank supervisor avalos, wiener and others for providing the leadership for access. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. i am charlie and a member of the [inaudible] water county board and the board of the silicon valley mountain bike riders and a chapter in the international biking association

and we are excited what the puc announced and the ridge trail and running the crust of the watershed. we are exciting that the whitening ridge trail will begin the permit process and go across the northern end of the watershed. we feel as a group we would like to do more. we would like to see east-west connections back and forth across the length of the full watershed, maybe a few more connections. they would afford the residents of san francisco and the northern peninsula lots of opportunities to have the spectacular routes out to the coast. if you could hike from san mateo to maverick and to moss beach and loop trails and exciting to the residents of the peninsula and exercise opportunities. now i realize the land has been shut down for 80 years and there's probably

some institutional pressure within the puc that is resistant to allowing people into the watershed. i think it's a rare opportunity i think that we can push past some of that that it's a rare opportunity that so much can be done by one government rule change and make so many people happy and cost so little. i urge you to work with the puc and parks and others to get the trails opened up. thank you very much. >> thank you. before the next speaker a few more cards. [calling speaker names] thank you. that's all the cards. >> chair, supervisors, my name is gary cremein and for identification purposes i'm the elected care of the santa clara water district. we responsible for watershed, flood control

and providing water for the .8 millions residents of santa clara county and. >> >> wholesaler for the water but at the same time i'm a founder of several middle size employers of san francisco. many of our employees complain of how crowded and impacted our recreational resources are in san francisco. i think you're all familiar with it so i am here to support collaborative process to kind of balance some of the environmental stewardship issues, giving full support for ceqa issues and other issues that we will have clearly and access for people. we did a pretty good job in santa clara county. a lot of what we're talking about is existing fire road and opening up a couple of gates and i will cede my time

to others. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> i'm a fifth generation san franciscan and member of open san francisco watershed and the peninsula watershed open space coalition. as we talked about how dense things are getting we have neighbors building second homes in the backgrounds. we don't have the same accessibility in the northern county of san mateo or san francisco for the open spaces that they have in the southern counties south of 92. i come here also as 11 years ago i went through some stuff. i was partially paralyzed. i have some disabilities. having the existing fire roads open in the northern county where i can access them would be a great opportunity for not only myself but a lot of people like myself that can no longer do the hiking that i was doing. my dad was

91 and used to run through the watershed as a child and i listen to the stories and he's raised me to appreciate the world is my classroom and the out door space is god's cathedral. it was great hearing tim talk about the plans and i am thankful to the supervisors here and supervisor dave pine for getting this on a fast track. it's not wait 13 more years and thank you for this opportunity. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> hello. my name is urrie freed man and have a bike shop in the sunset and a avid biker and i want to say thank you to everyone that brought up the issue to be potentially opened up. i think it's a phenomenal idea to have more access and i agree with others that the restriction of the dosen lead tours doesn't allow access to many people especially starting

on the southern portion and allow for a questionnaire required to get your permit i think would be a good way to ensure that people are going to be responsible and understand what is required for them to be there and in particular as a bike shop owner and having traveled around the country and world i feel like california is really at a loss for having more trail and road access that is limited to just cyclists and runners and walkers and prevents them from being in contact with cars and therefore makes it more safe and encourages people of all ages and all abilities to use these networks. people who tour through california definitely have a tricky time navigating through particularly the end of the trail that now stops because of the bridge over the dam not being there. it's wonderful to hear that will open up and there's not a challenging detour with a monster hill for people to get through but most

importantly having access to the trails is a wonderful idea and i look forward to it happening. thanks. >> thank you. >> good afternoon supervisors and members of the public that have committed the time to come today. my name is jim sullivan and a resident and member of the piivegga open space -- pacifica open space council and member of the midtrails council down the coast there but i am here as a private citizen to encourage you to support opening up this access. i would also like to thank all of the agencies that have taken their time to show up today. i think it's really what is going to make this particular study work is to engage all the national parks, state parks, and you have other state parks there that connect all through the upper areas of the watershed.

you have talked about engaging stakeholders and i'm a member of the san mateo county devil slide program which is great group of folks that spend their time up on the trail keeping an eye on the slide. that's one of the major concerns the watershed. every year you read and hear about the pot farms that happen up there and pretty much they have harvested or are in the process and getting eyes and ears up there will really assist in making this a successful venture so thank you for your time. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon members of the board of supervisors and thank you supervisor avalos for bringing this issue to the agenda. i am the policy director at the san francisco bicycleel coalition and here to express our support for looking at ways to open up the watershed for access for people walking,

biking, running and looking for ways to appreciate the outdoors in that space. in addition to being a place for outdoor recreation it's a communicating corridor for -- commuting corridor for people looking to avoid the congestion of san san francisco and the southern peninsula and there is a way to do that and we support the movement going forward and balance all of the needs of stakeholders and i appreciate this opportunity. thank you. >> thank you. >> hi. my name is lena martinson. i ride my bike and hike all over the peninsula with one notable exception, the one currently discussed. it would be wonderful to have the

opportunities we would get for opening the watershed and commuting. it would be great. there are many of us that commute by bike to the peninsula in san francisco and other parts of the peninsula. we would appreciate opening the watershed. and freedom to roam was also mentioned earlier. i am originally from sweden where we have freedom to roam. it means you can go to most places in nature as well as you don't destroy anything you can walk there, ride bike there is and it's a wonderful way for everyone to get out and enjoy nature and this is true for public lands as well as private lands and it includes watersheds, and if that works out well in sweden i am sure there is something we can figure out that addresses the environmental concerns with the watershed and allowing people to have access to it than the much

more limited form that is suggested here. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> . i have one more card and julia miller and come forward. thank you and anyone else that would like to comment please line up as well. >> [inaudible] (low audio). continuing this process and moving forward and thank you -- >> please speak more clearly into the mic. >> you can pull the mic up as well. >> thanks to all of the agencies that did come and show the support for the initiative. i would like to echo the comments said already. as an avid outdoor lover and maintaining the trails and keeping invasive species out of these areas can be very well utilized and using a model of other regional watersheds here in san francisco and the peninsula to open up more territory for the public to

access. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. thank you for this privilege to speak to you. my name is julia miller and i have served on the san francisco bay trail for 18 years and have been a team leader and responsible for opening several miles of the trail including one behind moffit federal air field so when i listen to this hearing, which i am totally in support of, i realize it meets the collaboration of all of the stakeholders and i hope the stakeholders including the puc will include the open watershed group. by working together we can identify the barriers and create solutions for the opening. with moffit field we had to work with the federal government, the united states air force moving emissions,

bunkers, protecting a turtle and boroughing owls so i know they all can be protected and the public can have access to this beautiful land. thank you for your time. >> thank you. we have one more speaker. please come forward. >> hi. my name is rez. i work with trail construction volunteer group, the volunteers for outdoor california, the sa. f bike -- sf bike project and the sf urban riders and we look forward to access as soon as possible. we have been looking at these trail systems. they already exist from publicly accessible crystal springs and it's important that we allow people to have as few barriers to accessible as possible. it's great there is a dosen program but as mentioned those that

don't drive have a hard time getting on the dangerous 92 to meet with them in the morning and we're all looking forward to being able to take greater appreciation of our open space and i think there are environmental issues to keep in mind and i think habitat restoration maintenance happen best when there are members of the public actually out there able to see things and appreciate the dangers of oak death and the drought on our public spaces. >> very good. thank you. are there any other members of the public that would like to comment? seeing none. public comment is now closed on this item. and we will close out this hearing. i think supervisor wiener will have comments as well but i want to thank everyone for coming out and most of all thank the public utilities commission and their work