Golden State Today

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office is seeking grant funding to maintain patrols and enforcement in areas where illegal off-road vehicle activity is occurring. Complaints have been received about individuals on ATVs, primarily in the Santa Ynez riverbed and surrounding areas near Lompoc, who are damaging private property and the environment. However, these complaints are not confined to this area and are reported throughout the county. The ATV riders are violating various state and county ordinances.

The Sheriff's Office plans to continue enforcement efforts in the Santa Ynez River, Santa Maria riverbed area (Sisquoc River), Cuyama Valley, as well as locations in the south county area.

To support these efforts, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office has applied for a grant from the State of California Parks and Recreation Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) 2026 program. The preliminary application was submitted on February 27, 2025. There is an opportunity for public comment before the final application deadline on June 2, 2025. Public comments can be submitted from March 4, 2025, until May 5, 2025.

Interested parties can view the application by visiting the California State OHV Grants and Cooperative Agreements program at ohv.parks.ca.gov. To submit comments on the application, users should click on “GRANTS” followed by “On Line Grants Application (OLGA)” and follow directions provided on the menu bar.

This marks the eleventh year that the Sheriff's Office has applied for grant funding for OHV enforcement within Santa Barbara County.