Lake Calavera path plan a thorny issue

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Saturday, August 19, 2006 10:36 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Rather than planning to improve what are now "unofficial" trails at Lake Calavera, Carlsbad should create paths in more appropriate locations, a federal agency and a local environmental group has recommended.

In letters sent to the city recently, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Preserve Calavera environmental group wrote that the city's plans may result in a serious, long-term maintenance problem at the 262-acre lake region in the city's northeastern corner.

"We are concerned that formalizing some existing trails may result in an unsustainable trail system that is subject to excessive erosion and maintenance in the future," Therese O'Rourke with the Fish & Wildlife office in Carlsbad wrote in a letter dated Tuesday. "Existing unplanned trails do not have the benefit of planning to ensure that they have been appropriately placed in the landscape.

"There are examples throughout the county, such as (San Diego's) Mission Trails Regional Park, where existing roads and unauthorized trails have been converted to 'official' trail status only to become a constant maintenance problem and the cause of chronic damage the adjacent habitat."

In the Preserve Calavera's letter of Aug. 6, group member Karen Merrill wrote that her organization thinks the city's plan for the lake region is a "good start," but that much more work needs to be done.

"Our biggest concern with the trails that they're using ... is the impact to the wetlands," she said Thursday.

The popularity problem

The two letters came in response to the city's request for comments on its plans. The public comment deadline was Tuesday, and the city is now reviewing the information it has received, a city associate planner, Scott Donnell, said Friday.

In order to proceed with part of the trail project, the city will need the Planning Commission to approve a conditional-use permit. The issuance of that document is in part based on the environmental paperwork that the federal agency and the environmental group have criticized.

"Our job now ... is to look at all the comments that have come in and determine if we need to respond to them," Donnell said.

He stressed that Carlsbad is trying to reduce environmental problems caused by unofficial trails at the lake. Five miles of unofficial trails will become permanent under the city's proposal. That's 50 percent or less of what's there now, Donnell estimated.

He added, however, that there are some unofficial trails through environmentally sensitive wetland areas that are so popular with local walkers and bikers that the city wants to keep them, despite the environmental issues. One example is the Lake Calavera trail that connects the lake area to Oceanside's Oak Riparian Park, he said.

"We felt it would be best to recognize the popularity of that trail ---- not to close it down, but to build a wooden boardwalk so (people) won't wander off the trail," Donnell said.

Concerns about walking dogs, fishing

The lake was created some 70 years ago by putting a dam across a creek. It sits in a bowl-shaped valley under the skull-shaped Mount Calavera. The city stopped using the lake when it was incorporated in the 1950s and joined the San Diego County Water Authority.

For years, there was little development around the lake, but now, part of the massive Calavera Hills housing development overlooks the area. The place is popular with everyone from dog walkers to mountain bike riders.

Unofficial trails have existed on the city-owned property for decades. Now, the city has hired a trail coordinator and begun to turn what was once a pretty much forgotten region into an official city parkland.

Preserve Calavera and the federal agency wrote that they have concerns about a number of issues related the area's use in the years to come. Neither likes the city's plans to put an eight-car parking lot, portable restroom and trash containers in a habitat conservation area near the Tamarack Avenue/Strata Drive intersection.

"To be consistent with the (city's habitat management plan), the proposed staging area should be relocated to outside the preserve boundary," the federal agency's letter states.

Meanwhile, Preserve Calavera is asking for more information about whether fishing and dogs will be allowed at the lake, among other topics

"The trail plan provides no places for fishermen access," the group's letter states. "Without planned access, it should be expected that unplanned access will continue."

Carlsbad is currently researching what do to about the fishing situation, Donnell said.

In its letter, Fish & Wildlife asked for details on how animals such as the California coastal gnatcatcher ---- a songbird that is federally listed as an endangered species ----- will fare under the city's plans.

A spokeswoman for the Carlsbad office of Fish & Wildlife said agency biologists plan to walk the site with city officials. She called the agency's letter a list of recommendations, rather than orders by the agency.

-- Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.

7 comment(s)[-]Go to Top

Steve wrote on Aug 20, 2006 9:01 AM:My wife and I have long enjoyed walking our dog and mountain biking the Calaveras area. I don't think this would be such an issue if we would stop paving San Diego county. Stop developing on every square foot of space that's out there and people will have more places to go and enjoy the outdoors. It's no wonder that the Calaveras area is so over utilized. It's one of the last open spaces left in San Diego county. Now the city wants to control where people can go in the "park" so to speak. That'll be real nice, the planners going in on some half baked plan when they should just leave it alone and let people utilize the area on the peoples terms. I wonder how long it would be until the city started charging for day use passes or seasonal passes to line their pocket books. If the city council really wants to help, stop letting developers put up condos on every inch of available land. Try to leave some of San Diego county wild, keep the "planners" out of Calaveras.

blm wrote on Aug 20, 2006 3:09 PM:Why do the trails have to be "official"? The ones that are there are great as they are. I've never been traveling one and thought "this would be so much better if it were official". If the trails are left alone, they already go where people would like. The surrounding area has already adjusted to the presence of that trail and people using it. The idea of starting an construction project to build wooden pathways in order to protect the surrounding area is absurd, and would cause far more impact to the area and would detract from the beauty and simplicity of a natural footpath. As soon as the trails become "official", then there has to be special maintenance, such as stairs to prevent people from slipping, hand rails to keep them from stepping out of bounds or falling over the edge, signs warning the the surface may be uneven, people complaining that there are ruts, roots or rocks that are an impediment to safe hiking, retaining walls, etc, etc, so the City can protect itself from people succombing to their own stupidity and then trying to sue the City. The way I see it, the only benficiaries of official trail constuction are the companies who might profit from receipt of such contract, who generaly would like any way to start construction in a protected area. I'm a hiker and biker in the area; I don't need or want the city to do anything to the trails. Leave it alone, go repave some sidewalks, but leave some wild space just the way it is.

Al wrote on Aug 20, 2006 6:55 PM:Well said. Over the last 5 years, our city and county governmeat beaurocrats have O.K.'d the paving of thousand sof acres of open land in SD County. It seems if a greedy, money-hungry, developer makes a request, it gets approved! Look at San Marcos, Escondido, Vista, the area around Palomar Airport Road, Rancho Bernardo. It is totally insane. We have become just another OC and LA county and that is a shame.

blm wrote on Aug 20, 2006 7:46 PM:Why do the trails have to be "official"? The ones that are there are great as they are. If the trails are left alone, they already go where people would like. The surrounding area has already adjusted to the presence of that trail and people using it. The idea of starting an construction project to build wooden pathways in order to protect the surrounding area is absurd. As soon as the trails become "official", then there has to be special maintenance, such as stairs to prevent people from slipping, hand rails to keep them from stepping out of bounds or falling over the edge, signs warning the surface may be uneven, people complaining that there are ruts, roots or rocks that are an impediment to safe hiking, retaining walls, etc, etc, so the City can protect itself from people succumbing to their own stupidity and then trying to sue the City. The way I see it, the only beneficiaries of official trail construction are the companies who might profit from receipt of such contract, who generally would like any way to start construction in a protected area. I'm a hiker and biker in the area; I don't need or want the city to do anything to the trails. Leave it alone, go repave some sidewalks, but leave some wild space just the way it is.

vistajoyce wrote on Aug 20, 2006 10:05 PM:High 5in' Steve. You tell em !!!

NC Rsident wrote on Aug 22, 2006 8:54 AM:If it ain't broke......don't fix it. Leave well enought alone folks.

Michael G. wrote on Nov 22, 2007 6:36 PM:My family has lived about a mile from Calaveras lake for 48 years. I can tell you histories about every one of the so called "unofficial trails". I have hiked them thousands of times, fished the lake hundreds of times, camped all over the area and in the past 15 years I've mountain biked the trails may hundreds of times. I watched when the gnat catcher conservation area was installed (talk about environmental impact setting a mile of K-wall in a big circle on the side of a mud hill.) I've seen roads rebuilt and later erroded into ruin. I also watched when the conservation groups took a small tractor and butchered the old mining road that led from the south side of the mountain up to the quarry. What an errosion disaster that was/is. Wait 'till the next el nino! The best trails out there are the oldest roads (where my Dad once drove his '59 Chevy pickup). The loop around the lake was driveable for many years as was the entrance just west of what is now Oak Riparian Park. Trails move, and change and the ones that have lasted 50+ years with little or no maintenance are the best ones. They have stood the test of time. The new poorly constructed ones wash away in bad years and become abandoned. A kind of natural selection. I say leave the area alone. The good "unofficial trails" will hold with little or no maintenance just as they have during my life time. If you want to reduce usage just limit bikes to even numbered days and hikers/horses to odd numbered days. Forget the staging areas. It just brings more people into a highly pressured ecosystem. As for the wetlands, get rid of the illegals living, bathing, washing clothes, defecating, etc. in the creeks. That will do a lot more good than building a bunch of boardwalk.

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