What's Growing On

by Jason Lopez, Resources and Trails Manager

"Re-Opening Trails"
March, 2008

Since the fire, San Dieguito River Park rangers have been working non-stop to take steps necessary to balance the needs of wildlife populations devastated by the fire, recreational needs of the community, and public safety. No small task considering that the Park had 36 miles of heavily used trails burned and thousands of acres of land not currently open for recreation also burned.   Unfortunately, our patrons – the users of the trails – are very impatient and don’t understand why the trails can’t be re-opened faster.   If you are one of those impatient trail users, please read on to understand why it is taking longer to re-open the trails than you would like.

The good news is that approximately 16+ miles of trails in the Lake Hodges area have been re-opened for trail use.  We are very pleased to be able to offer this much recreation after such an extreme change in the trail system, Park operations, the watershed, and wildlife habitat. More trails will be opening soon!

I'm sure the community will be glad to know that much of the south side of Lake Hodges, North Shore Trail, Mule Hill Trail, and some of the San Pasqual Valley Trail is open for trail usage! SDRP does not intend to permanently close any trail but there has to be a balance between habitat recovery and recreational use. I recommend checking our website www.sdrp.org for information regarding the status of the trail system.

The SDRP Rangers have redefined my definition of “stepping up to the plate”. While the Park was still burning, Rangers were busy assessing the damage, inventorying the burned assets, protecting and documenting wildlife survivors and making sure the public was not entering into situations that could cause them harm or further damage the Park. Park rangers have worked long hours and immediately after the fires based their operations out of a storage shed rented in order to safely store tools and trucks. Park Rangers were left with one truck in the shop, one at the dealer, and no tools, office, or equipment. We felt very fortunate to have the two trucks and not have to use our personal vehicles. The Park Rangers, SDRP volunteers and office staff, and the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy’s reaction to the fire has been inspirational.

All of Santa Fe Valley, Lake Hodges and San Pasqual and portions of Del Dios burned, including retaining walls and several small bridges and also the bridge over Green Valley Creek and the bridge over Santa Maria Creek (12 total bridges). Most trail signs and fences burned. Many drain crossings have blown out after the recent rains. The River Park is focused on minimizing further damage to the natural lands along the river and other sensitive areas. At this point we are working quickly to take the required measures in order to open a trail.

The Park’s trail system will be fine. We can fix our fences and replace our signs. We can build new bridges and picnic benches. We can reconstruct trails damaged by erosion. In a year or two when we are done with our fire recovery projects, I am confident that we will have a better trail system and better visitor amenities.

Park Rangers are constantly reminded of the severe impact the fires had on the community and the Park’s neighbors. On the way to do fire recovery projects, we pass by football field size areas that are now leveled and once contained a neighborhood. The Park lost our office but we can only guess what it is like to have your home burn, along with all your possessions. Many of the Park’s neighbors lost everything and barely had time to escape safely.

Much of the wildlife of River Park lost everything also. The hawks, bobcats, butterflies, and king snakes lost their homes and also their food source. Just as the park neighbors can’t come back until their “shelter” is constructed, the same is true for wildlife. The greatest ecological impact of the fires may be to the coastal sage scrub (CSS). This non-descript vegetation type is quickly disappearing from our region and the loss of CSS in the Lake Hodges and San Pasqual Valley may result in the permanent loss of certain species. Not many people realized that while they hiked the trails or looked out towards the lake from their deck that they were in an area that contained significant biological and archeological resources and the loss of habitat will have great consequence. There were threatened species living in the vegetation adjacent to many homes!

Although everyone wants the trail next to their neighborhood open so that they can walk from their house to the trail, we have to prioritize our work. Considering the extent of damage and the impact to the area’s wildlife, for the near future regular hikers and mountain bikers may have to drive a few miles to access some of the approximately 16 miles of trails in the Lake Hodges area that are open and wait for regular routes to reopen.

At this point we are working quickly to take the required measures in order to open a trail because we know that people want to return to the Park as soon as possible.  Our goal is to open all the trails as soon as possible. That’s right,   ALL THE TRAILS.

Park Rangers are professionals. They are college educated and skilled at many different disciplines. SDRP Rangers have a great deal of experience in biology, geology, invasive plants, archeology, construction, erosion control, hydrology, interpretation, maintenance, etc. etc. etc. There are not many professions that require such a wide range of skills. We do not install fences or close areas on a whim. It is very well thought out and consultants are often hired to assist in making decisions. Ideally, we would be able to communicate to all Park users the purpose of a sign or fence or yellow caution tape but the reality is that SDRP has many other equally important tasks. We can only hope that the trail users will understand and accept that what the Park is doing is logical and well thought out.

The San Dieguito River Park is a government agency. Staff is paid to implement the mission statement:

"To preserve and restore land within the Focused Planning Area of the San Dieguito River Park as a regional open space greenway and park system that protects the natural waterways and the natural and cultural resources and sensitive lands and provides compatible recreational opportunities, including water related uses, that do not damage sensitive lands.”

Below are our criteria:

Before a trail can be opened, the following actions should be completed:

• Evaluate public safety of trail and surrounding area.
• Determine if the use of the trail will affect the natural processes and cause further habitat damage, and take necessary steps to alleviate that impact.
• Fence unauthorized trails and install erosion control measures as needed.
• Post the trail area with basic signage that informs trail users of the need to stay on designated trails and out of recovering habitat.

Trails targeted to be opened include:

• Non-designated trails that are sustainable and have less than 10% slope for most of their length, as long as their use will not adversely affect habitat recovery.
• Trails that provide access to the shoreline of Lake Hodges and are sustainable.
• Previously designated and maintained trails:   North Shore, Piedras Pintadas, Mule Hill Historic, San Pasqual Valley, Highland Valley, Bernardo Mountain, Santa Fe Valley, Del Dios Gorge.

Trails targeted to be closed include:

• Trails that bisect areas that contain/contained healthy stands of native vegetation or cultural resources and for which management of trail use would be complicated and costly.
• Trails where bridges burned.
• Unsustainable trails that exceed 10% slope for most of their length.

How can you help?  

Spread the word that the Ranger staff is diverted from the work that they need to do in order to open the trails when they have to contact trail users who disregard the closures. Ranger staff is also diverted when they need to repair and replace fencing. When we see off trail use, Park Rangers have to address that problem which can sometimes result in more fences and signs. We don’t put up fences and signs because we like to do this sort of work, in fact we don’t like to do this sort of work. Mountain Bikers also need to understand that when they go off trail, their track is well defined and sends a negative message to the public in general. The negative feeling may last and effect future trail access. Concerned Mountain Bikers need to police themselves because there are only a few SDRP Rangers and the Park is huge.

The Park is yours and the ultimate responsibility of the recovery of the wildlife is yours, not the few people that work for SDRP. The Park is yours and do not hesitate to educate fellow trail users as to the need to stay on the designated trails, follow the rules, keep pets leashed, and enjoy the Park. Without citizen involvement the enforcement of rules and regulations is unlikely.

Volunteers who are willing to work hard and learn trail building skills are also needed.   If you want to help, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Barbara Baker, at 858 674-2275 x 14 or email her at barbara@sdrp.org.

Some information from Conservation Biology Institute about the sensitivity of the habitat around Lake Hodges:

The conserved lands around Lake Hodges and in San Pasqual Valley have been core population strongholds for gnatcatchers and cactus wrens in San Diego County, supporting 235 pairs of gnatcatchers and 90 pairs of wrens in the 1990s.   This geographic area supports major source populations of these and other coastal sage scrub species, dispersing to the north (Multiple Habitat Conservation Program, MHCP) and south (Multiple Species Conservation Program, MSCP).   Much of the coastal sage scrub in San Diego and Orange counties has burned over the past decade and, where monitored, the populations have declined immediately after the fires (Mitrovich and Hamilton 2007, Wirtz et al. 1997, Mayer and Wirtz 1995).   Some of this same scrub burned during the 2007 fires in both counties, further exacerbating the problem, as both species prefer more mature habitat (generally at least 3-4 years old) for nesting (Atwood et al. 2002, Minnich and Dezzani 1998, O’Connell and Erickson 1998, Rea and Weaver 1990).   Thus, the fate of the River Park’s populations will have regionwide implications for the MSCP and MHCP, and possibly the Southern California NCCP program as a whole.   In fact, we are facing the very real potential for local extirpation of populations of gnatcatchers and cactus wrens, 2 of the 3 focal species initially prioritized by the State of California’s Natural Community Conservation Program (NCCP) in Southern California!  

In addition to this area’s importance to gnatcatchers and cactus wrens, the Lake Hodges/San Pasqual Valley area represents one of the largest continuous blocks of habitat in the MSCP area and provides habitat for 27 MSCP target species, including 1 federally and state-endangered species, 1 federally–threatened species, 2 state-endangered species, and 2 state-rare species, as well as several endemic plant species.   This area represents one of two centers of distribution for Encinitas baccharis (Baccharis vanessae) and the only occurrence of sticky dudleya (Dudleya viscida) in the MSCP area, as well as some of the largest populations of wart-stemmed ceanothus (Ceanthous verrucosus) in the county.