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Parks staff shares plans for county preserves

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Future plans for more public access to county-owned preserves in Ramona was the focus of a presentation at Ramona Trails Association’s (RTA) March meeting.

County Parks and Recreation’s District Manager Dave Holt talked about the work underway in the Ramona Grasslands Preserve for a staging area and trail off Montecito Way, the success of docent-led hikes on Old Survey 97, plans for public meetings on the Boulder Oaks Preserve, and a call for volunteers to help with trail maintenance.

RTA has been seeking more public access for non-motorized trails in the grasslands and its officers recently met with and received support from Congressman Duncan Hunter.

RTA said the county Board of Supervisors promised equal access to the grasslands when it approved the purchase of the last parcel.

“Our tax dollars were used for the purchase of this land,” said RTA past president Don Wendt. “We just want to make sure the promises made are actually kept.”

According to Holt, county parks and recreation is waiting for the permits to manage the Stephens’ kangaroo rat, an endangered species found in the proposed staging area off Montecito Way on the former Davis-Eagle ranch, and then can move forward with construction.

“Once we get the go-ahead, it will happen fast,” he told RTA members.

An RTA member questioned whether the Stephens’ kangaroo rat was still endangered. An official with U.S. Fish and Wildlife told the Sentinel that the agency has kept the species on the endangered list following a review last fall.

Holt said an old house at the three-acre staging site has been demolished. The old rodeo arena will remain but will not be available for public use. Plans call for parking spots to accommodate about 10 horse trailers, in addition to cars, a portable bathroom, an automatic solar gate, five corrals, a 60-foot round pen, two large shaded picnic tables and a bike rack. An an on-site volunteer has already set up temporary residence, he said.

Although water was not planned for the staging area, some RTA members asked that a spigot be installed.

The project’s phase 1 will consist of a 2.8 mile trail that will stop shortly after the hill where there is a vacant yellow house that will be removed, he said. That spot will serve as an overlook, and a scope has been installed.

“It’s just gorgeous,” he said. “You guys are really going to like it.”

Two additional phases will link the trail with the Oak Country trail off Highland Valley Road.

Jennifer Price, land use/environmental planner III with the county’s parks department, talked about the findings in the second year of a three-year study on possible impacts to the golden eagle and other raptors in the grasslands, targeted to be completed in August. Biologists conducted 24 surveys, she said, and of the 13 raptor species observed, five are considered either federally or state sensitive: bald eagle, golden eagle, American peregrine falcon, Swainson’s hawk and northern harrier. In the northeast portion, bald eagles were observed all seasons, and in January a golden eagle was seen in a nest in the Bandy Canyon area, Price said. Details about the study are available at www.sandiegocounty.gov/parks/openspace/RamonaGrasslands_RMPUpdate.html.

Michael Harrison, Hunter’s deputy chief of staff and a Ramona resident, told the Sentinel that the congressman’s office is holding Fish and Wildlife to its survey timeline, and wants to make sure the agency is using sound science and taking the public’s comments on recreational access into consideration.

According to the county, the early survey information confirms that the preserve is functioning well for raptors, and its management plan is effectively balancing resource protection with public access and passive recreation.

From October 2015 to early January, county parks offered docent-led excursions by foot, bike and horse in the northwest section of the grasslands on Old Survey 97 with the help of volunteers from Ramona. Holt said at least 116 people signed up for the 13 hikes.

“For the first time, I consider that an absolute success,” he said. Holt said they hope to do it again this fall.

Holt also said they are looking for volunteers to help with trail maintenance in the Ramona area.

“We just can’t do it all ourselves anymore,” he said. The county will provide the materials, he added.

Environmental studies on the Boulder Oaks Preserve, 1,268 acres just north of the San Vicente Reservoir between state Route 67 and Mussey Grade Road, are complete, said Price, and county staff plans to hold two public meetings on plans for the preserve with the first one possibly in April.

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