I'm actually the Cycling Columnist for the Marin IJ for the past 5 1/2 years and these unfortunate incidents happen every once in a while. Usually the argument that's given against building bicycle trails is that they may not preserve the land. We get A LOT of rainfall - A LOT - where whole houses slide down hills. Marin County tries to do a good job in preventing erosion so maybe they either felt this guy was increasing erosion - OR they were equestrians. Just like most locations, equestrians and cyclists don't usually get along. Considering equestrians do way more damage to trails, I don't see why they should get any rights, but whatever. Oops, did i just takes sides? not good as a writer - haha!
Oh, and china camp has only two singletrack "loops" so i could see why they wanted to make more. For a while it seemed that every month one of our singletrack trails was taken away. Pity because the riding there is really really good - especially when you theoretically incorporate all the illegal trails.
On a side note, the marin ij is VERY supportive of cyclists. Even as the paper downsizes (like all papers due to the internet) they continue to keep my Sunday cycling column. I wonder if any other paper in the USA has a cycling-specific columnist...