And Who is Mike Berg?

By Patric Hedlund
Internet Defamation, Mountain Sport

To report about recent efforts to re-open Mil Potrero Park campground (just west of the Pine Mountain community), it is necessary to raise a subject The Mountain Enterprise has published about before. That is the use of the internet by local people to defame neighbors who are working to create projects that may benefit the community. Such attacks have in the past gained intensity just when it appears a local project is gaining momentum.

Such an attack was launched in 2005 on those who helped to create the Mountain Communities Boys & Girls Club, which has now been open for a full year, providing services to children and families.

This month, emails with accusatory questions written in legalistic prose were sent out on numerous email networks around the mountain and down to Bakersfield, directed at raising questions about Michael Berg, a 13-year mountain resident who is attempting to organize support to re-open the Mil Potrero campground. This report is a quick introduction to his activities and associations, along with an update from District Ranger Tom Keukes.

Berg, 44 moved to Frazier Park in 1993 and then to Pinon Pines in 2001. He is a computer network technician and project manager who went back to school to study business administration four years ago. He currently sells computer networking maintenance services for a company in Bakersfield. He has volunteered with the U.S. Forest Service and state parks for 17 years. His passion has been vintage motorcycles and perfecting his skills at writing grants to create ecotourism-related services on the mountain.

After a few false starts, Berg appears to be gaining traction toward achieving his goals. In October he will hold his Fourth Annual Festival of Vintage Motorcycles in Pine Mountain Village. In 2005 and 2006 it was held adjacent to Fiesta Days in Frazier Park.

What’s in a Name?

Berg’s activities have generated some confusion because in the past he organized his festival under a for-profit entity named Grapevine Adventures LLC, while conducting nonprofit (grantwriting) community efforts as the Grapevine Adventure Association. The nonprofit’s former name was retired at the end of 2006 and replaced with "The National Forest Association–Los Padres" (NFA-LP)."This tells who we are, where we are and what we do," Berg said in an interview June 11.

The California Trail Users’ Coalition (CTUC) is the financial sponsor for Berg’s National Forest Association–Los Padres. CTUC was organized in 1998 as a coalition of all users of national forest trails, including horseback riders, mountain bikers and OHV enthusiasts. "We support all legal forms of recreation in the forest," Berg said, "including bird watching, fishing and hiking."

Grants derived through funds collected from California’s mandatory off-road vehicle "green sticker" registrations funded CTUC’s efforts to rebuild trails, restore remote campgrounds and add bathrooms to trailheads in California. In 2006, for instance, King’s Campground in the Gold Hill Valley on Alamo Mountain was given a $55,000 face lift by volunteers coordinated by CTUC.

The Visitor Information Kiosk Passes Plan Check

Under The Grapevine Adventure Association, a project was begun to build a visitors’ information kiosk on the northwest corner of the Flying J property, just off Interstate 5. That project is now operating under NFA-LP. The kiosk effort has gained the collaboration of the Kern County Board of Trade and numerous local business partners. It will feature an interactive video system to acquaint tourists with the offerings of the Mountain Communities. The goal is to establish these Mountain Communities as "The Gateway to Kern County."

"The Visitor Information Kiosk just sailed through plan check today," Berg wrote The Mountain Enterprise on June 7, "one more step closer to our permit with L.A. County."

Indeed, Berg seems to be making progress toward many of his goals. "For me personally, after 27 years as a computer project manager for large companies, driven to get things done on-time and in-budget, I’ve had to wake up to the fact that I wasn’t very much of a ‘people person.’ I am learning a lot more about working with people now," he laughs. Four years ago he and his wife Colleen had a son, Ross, who starts kindergarten in August.

Group Wins $4,000 to Build Amphitheater

On June 7 Berg announced NFA-LP had been awarded a $4000 grant for materials to construct an amphitheater at the Mike Foster Native Plant Garden near the Chuchupate station of the U.S. Forest Service in Lockwood Valley.

"We are very excited to honor the memory of Mr. Foster, botanist for the Mt. Pinos Ranger District," Berg said. The Bakersfield Californian Foundation made the award.

Mil Potrero Park

In 1964, during the heyday of the Taft oil industry, Mil Potrero Park was constructed on USFS land. The buildings, restrooms, showers, meeting lodge, 52 campsites, horse stalls, corral and water system were managed by Taft Westside Recreation District until two years ago, when the park was closed.

Mt. Pinos District Ranger Tom Kuekes has been seeking firm applications from groups which will comply with the "broad community use" policies he has outlined for reopening the park as a public facility. But, he said, there has been little concrete action by Taft sources or others to make a formal application to take responsibility for opening and operating the park.

In a telephone interview on Monday, June 11, Kuekes said, "I gave a July 16 deadline to the Westside Park and Recreation District in January 2007, after two years of inactivity. The bottom line is that we need to be making progress. In the next four weeks I need to see somebody seriously pursuing a permit application."

If Kuekes does not find an appropriate organization to run the park, he says, he will have to dismantle the buildings, and return the forest to its natural state.

Berg, through NFA-LP, is trying to put together the partners and the funding to acquire title to the buildings from Taft Westside and to file the application with the USFS. That may be one reason why he is now coming under scrutiny; and may be the reason for the internet attacks mentioned above.

Berg’s association with off-roading has raised some concerns that Mil Potrero Park might be used for OHV purposes. Berg has repeatedly denied this. Kuekes confirms that the USFS-which defines how the property will be used-is confident that Berg’s proposed uses for the park are compatible with USFS goals.

"I have invested considerable time with Mike Berg in looking at the opportunities. He understands, and I have been emphatic, that we have plenty of off-road opportunities in other parts of the Mount Pinos District of the Los Padres National Forest. Mil Potrero Park is not an appropriate place for that," Kuekes said.

Plans for use of the park have been outlined to The Mountain Enterprise in a series of confidential dialogues with Berg. His vision provides family camping and a venue for community events that could be a significant asset to the ecotourism objectives that were energetically voiced at the Synergy Summits in November 2006 and February 2007.

The Synergy Summits, sponsored by The Mountain Enterprise, The Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce and the Mountain Communities Town Council, seek to mobilize economic development of this region as a "host community" for nature-based ecotourism activities and festivals.

Mil Potrero Park is an attractive place to provide accommodations, special uses such as festivals and a lodge for meetings and events.

Kuekes says he is actively receptive to all good ideas to re-open the Mil Potrero facility. "I had a productive meeting last week with a regional chapter of a national youth organization that is moving forward, but that is at a tentative stage right now," he said, adding, "There are others who are also expressing interest. I am optimistic that prior to that July deadline we will see something that gives us sufficient hope for a workable solution."

This is part of the June 15, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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