Local hiking trails, were damaged by the fire and then the rains and need to be cleared.
Hiking trails were badly damaged in the City and State parks surrounding Pacific Palisades. The fires destroyed the vegetation, burning everything to the ground, and then the February rains, after the fire moved dirt and sediment, leaving trails unusable.
The Eaton Canyon Natural Area Park in Pasadena was also badly damaged by the Eaton Fire, but plans are already underway to bring trails back to hike-able condition, rehabilitating the flora and welcoming both wildlife and people back to this 198-acre county park.
Where are the plans for the parklands surrounding the Palisades?
A resident Lynn Miller wrote an email on July 23 to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
“I enjoyed regularly hiking the Rivas Canyon Trail for years. Sadly, I tried to hike the trail this past weekend, and it is overgrown with weeds, adjacent to burned trees and ash, or washed out due to the loss of shrubs.
“The bottom of the trail looks like a dried-up riverbed from the rainwater that had no shrubs to contain it,” Miller wrote and noted in some areas the trails were overgrown with weeds.
Miller, who worked on the Palisades Dog Park and is familiar with funding, asked the MRCA to apply for Measure A funds to repair trails.
“There is $58 million available in grant money for Parks and Open Spaces, administered by the Regional Parks & Open Spaces District (RPOSD). Here is a link to the Grant Requirements: click here.”
Grant proposals are due by October 30, and Miller told the MRCA that if they needed help from the Palisades Community to reach out to her and she would help or locate people who could help.
“It is another devastating loss to the community to not have access to these beautiful trails,” she told them, seeking to have the Temescal Canyon and Rivas Canyon Trails fixed.
Miller told Circling the News on August 19, she had never heard back from the SMMC or the MRCA, “despite my offering to round up Palisadians to help with the grant writing process or whatever was needed.”
CTN reached out to the MRCA spokesperson Dash Stolarz and also did not receive a response. The trails need to be cleared and reopened. There are people living in Pacific Palisades, now, why is no action being taken?
To see what’s happening in Eaton click here.
Hiking trails around Pacific Palisades need attention.
Santa Ynez County Park needs a lot of help too as well as Trailer Canyon in the highlands
So much complaining. Being able to use these trails is very low on my list of priorities and I’d bet it’s the same for the majority of those who lost their homes.
Michael,
It’s an opportunity to receive Measure A money to repair trails and the dealine is October. I don’t think that’s complaining, I think its a good piece of information to have–
Sue
The Leacock Trail is open and in good condition. And it’s OK all the way to the El Medio Trail. In the other direction, towards Skull Rock, it was worked on and it is open. Bienveneda is still closed.
All good information from those who are actively involved.
*I recommend that all trail users get a blood test for lead. Early on, I was hiking up Rivas Canyon. I’d never had a test for lead. So, maybe the over-the-preferred limit was before the disaster. However, I am going to remediate as necessary.
It’s a heavy metal. There are ways to get rid of it.
Best,
K.C. Soll
What drives me crazy is when good people work their tail off to inform the persons responsible – the MRCA & SMMC – of a funding opportunity… something they should be working on anyway … and then are ignored with a “no response”. Why? It’s demoralizing. I’d like to hear from MRCA & SMMC beginning with an apology.
Lead comes from the paint in homes and also from the old “leaded” gasoline. Since the fire burned from the brushland to the residences (and not the opposite direction), I’d be suprised if you find lead. Additionally, people who live in the Highlands did test for lead in their system– nothing.
Sue
Michael, this is not complaining, this is using the power of the press to shine a light on an issue that someone might see and take action on. Sue is correct, there is a window of FREE MONEY available NOW, so this needs to be acted upon, or we can wait and 5 years from now we’ll be looking for money, trying to fundraise, and the weed overgrowth will take 5X as much work. You may not be a hiker, but I was and used that trail 5 times/week. I saw many other Alphabet residents on that trail regularly. I appreciate Sue’s raising this to the town’s attention, since contacting the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which we both tried first, resulted in no action, not even an acknowledgment of the issue.
Joe Edmiston said his media person is on vacation and that they have been super busy clearing the land–see his letter tonight.
Sue