Advertisement

Groups seek public access to state-owned property

Share

Ramona community groups united in their stand to gain access to public land want to recoup the ability to hike and ride horses on property closed by the State of California.

Stakeholders interested in opening at least parts of roughly 4,000 acres of Ramona land for non-motorized trails are the Ramona Trails Association (RTA), San Diego County Parks Advisory Committee, Lakeside Frontier Riders and the Holly Oaks Ranch Community Improvement (HORCI) organization, a neighborhood watch and improvement group of the Holly Oaks Ranch subdivision.

One property being closed off by the state for a decade was formerly named Monte Vista Ranch. The property covers land south of Barnett Ranch, which the San Diego County Parks and Recreation owns, and extends to the Barona Indian Reservation and the border of the San Vicente Reservoir owned by the city of San Diego.

RTA Trails Chairman Don Wendt said in years past, the former owners of Monte Vista Ranch, the Johnson family, allowed RTA and other groups such as the Back Country Horsemen to use the open space for recreational rides, poker rides and occasional fundraising events.

Things took a turn when the Johnson family sold its property in 2006, first to The Nature Conservancy, which subsequently sold it to the State of California. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) renamed the property Canada de San Vicente and put up “No Trespassing” signs.

Ramona Trails Association members John Degenfelder, Don Wendt and Ed Spaeth seek access to part of a 4,000-acre property purchased by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
(Julie Gallant)

RTA contends the state has not lived up to its promise to create an outdoor educational center on several acres of Canada de San Vicente. Its members claim that in 2006 the state desired the Monte Vista property to include several buildings, a pool and conference center that the Johnson family wanted retained as an educational center for schoolchildren. The state, they said, never followed through on providing an educational center.

“The state has not lived up to their promise to create an outdoor learning center, however, they have a nice retreat and offices for CDFW staff,” Wendt wrote in an email to the San Diego Trail Alliance.

The San Diego Trail Alliance lists its three main goals on its website as keeping trails open for equestrian, bikers, hikers and dog walkers; fostering good communication between all user groups, the community and government agencies; and to maximize the use of recreational facilities for all user groups.

David Pallinger, chairman of the San Diego County Planning Commission, negotiated the sale of the 4,000-acre property when it was known as Monte Vista Ranch in 2006. He said the transaction involved selling the property to The Nature Conservancy, which then sold it to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Nature Conservancy held onto the property temporarily until the state funds become available for its purchase, he said.

Pallinger said the compound included a ranch house, three guest houses, a barn and an Olympic-size pool that the three Johnson brothers and a sister wanted to be used for visitor and educational centers after the sale was completed.

“They had the hopes that Fish and Wildlife would allow access for educational purposes,” said Pallinger, who was vice president of asset management for the asset management company that owned the property on behalf of the Johnsons.

According to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife Land Management Plan, Canada de San Vicente Reserve was acquired by CDFW to conserve, protect, and restore core habitat areas, and provide crucial wildlife linkages in the San Diego County Subregional Plan, under the Multiple Species Conservation Program.

In June 2008, CDFW acquired 4,056 acres from The Nature Conservancy for $15.9 million using a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service section 6 grant of just over $6.2 million and a State Coastal Conservancy Subgrant of $9.7 million.

“The land was purchased for the protection of the natural resources, including threatened and endangered species within San Vicente Reservoir watershed,” the CDFW Land Management Plan states.

In June 2010, CDFW purchased an additional 311 acres of Canada de San Vicente property formerly owned by the Spitzbergen family for $2.1 million using a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service section 6 grant.

“This acquisition protected undisturbed grasslands, chaparral, oak woodlands, and riparian habitat along the San Vicente Creek watershed,” the CDFW Land Management Plan states. “It also enhanced existing federal, state and local Natural Community Conservation Plan efforts to secure key wildlife linkage and preserve core areas of habitat within the Multiple Species Conservation Program.”

Community groups are also interested in gaining access to the portion of Canada de San Vicente property formerly owned by the Spitzbergen family. The property is located between the Holly Oaks Ranch subdivision near Luelf Pond and Barnett Ranch.

RTA President Glen Morgan said San Diego County Parks leaders were interested in buying some of the Spitzbergen property to make a critical link between Luelf Pond trail and the Barnett Ranch Trails, but the land was instead bought by the CDFW.

“The county wanted to link two county properties - Luelf Pond and Barnett Ranch - but the state outbid them,” Morgan said.

Connecting the trails was a pipe dream, he said, as the CDFW put up fences, posted “No Trespassing” signs, and closed all public access.

Ed Spaeth, a Ramona Trails Association member, said the San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation owns Barnett Ranch and Luelf Pond Preserve, but cannot link the areas.
(Julie Gallant)

Ed Spaeth, District 2 representative of the county Parks Advisory Committee, said even though San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation owns Barnett Ranch and Luelf Pond Preserve, it is unable to link the two areas because CDFW refuses to grant access to even a portion of the property.

“Trails to Barnett Ranch exist, but they stop at the gate where Fish and Wildlife property is at,” Spaeth said. “We need access to a piece of road which is next to houses already disturbed by traffic.”

In 2010, RTA and the Holly Oaks Association negotiated with CDFW Reserve Manager Jason Price and state lawyers and had a three-page agreement to open the quarter-mile of trail on a dirt access road to connect the county properties at Luelf Pond trail and the Southern Oak Road pathway to allow that loop to connect. As negotiations continued, Wendt said Sacramento review lawyers asked RTA and HORCI to indemnify the state of California for that portion of their property. Unable to comply with the request, county Supervisor Dianne Jacob offered to indemnify the state. The state refused, insisting it had to be RTA and HORCI.

As recently as November, RTA tried to get access to these lands for a memorial hike and ride to honor Ramona community volunteer Arvie Degenfelder, a founding member of the RTA who passed away when she was 88 years old on Sept. 21, 2017. The Degenfelder family have been avid equestrians and sponsors of outdoor activities for children.

In a Nov. 7 letter from RTA to Ed Pert, regional manager of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wendt and Morgan reminded Pert that he had indicated in a phone conversation “a desire and ability to open this state property of Canada de San Vicente to special event use by public citizens of Ramona.” Included in the September 2017 phone call were Wendt and Richard Burg, environmental program manager of South Coast Region 5 for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We are asking you to direct Canada de San Vicente be opened to the public for a single day so the Ramona Trails Association, the Degenfelder family and Ramona citizens may hold a memorial hike and ride honoring the memory of Arvie Degenfelder,” the Nov. 7 letter from Wendt and Morgan to Pert states. “I am asking that you appoint a contact staff member to coordinate details of the event.”

One month later, Burg responded in a letter to Wendt and Morgan that use of California Department of Fish and Wildlife lands are dependent on regulations that need to be adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission. Unfortunately, he said, regulations are very specific on the matter of allowing public use on department lands.

“According to Title 14 CCR 550, all department land, except for fishing access and public access lands, is closed to visitor access and use until and unless the land is opened for a use or uses through regulations adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission,” Burg’s Dec. 7 letter states.

Burg said a request to adopt a regulation for a reserve needs to be placed on the California Fish and Game Commission’s agenda for adoption.

“The Commission has not adopted regulations for Canada de San Vicente as of yet and the Department is currently working on a regulations package to place before the commission,” the letter states.

Burg continued that a request for a special use permit may be submitted once the commission adopts regulations for the reserve. In the meantime, members of the public can petition the commission and information is available at the website, www.fgc.ca.gov/public/information/petitionforregulatorychange.aspx.

Spaeth said he is frustrated that the California Fish and Game Commission has not put the request for access to these public lands on one of its meeting agendas yet.

“We’re complaining about them not making a decision and the question is why,” Spaeth said. “There’s no reason not to make the decision except some bureaucratic technicality. If enough people say we want this done, I can’t imagine a government agency saying ‘no.’”

According to Price, an environmental scientist who has managed the Canada de San Vicente Reserve property since December 2007, the property is being used for research and managed for wildlife. There are a few Department of Fish and Wildlife employees living on the property, he said.

In an email reply to questions, Price cited California Code of Regulations for public use on all Department of Fish and Wildlife lands as an explanation for the restricted public access to Canada de San Vicente.

“All department land, except for fishing access and public access lands, is closed to visitor access and use until and unless the land is opened for a use or uses through regulations adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission,” he wrote, referencing specific sections of these regulations. “The commission determines whether proposed designations and uses are consistent with the authorizing and reference statutes listed at the end of this section and the purposes for which the lands were acquired. Each proposed designation or use is subject to review pursuant to state and federal regulatory requirements prior to being authorized.”

Price said the Department of Fish and Wildlife is in the process of preparing a regulations package for the California Fish and Game Commission’s consideration. The Canada de San Vicente request to adopt the Land Management Plan regulation language, and designate the property as an ecological reserve is in one of these packages and waiting for the commission’s schedule to allow for a new package/regulation cycle.

According to the Canada de San Vicente Management Plan, which is available online at https://www.wildlife.ca.go/Lands/Planning, if an ecological reserve is designated, the reserve would be open to limited public use/access.

Price said it is up to the commission to determine if an item is placed on the commission’s agenda. He said during a commission meetings open public comment period, a person can submit a speaker’s card and when called upon can convey their desire to have an item put on the commission’s agenda. Also, a person can petition the commission for a regulation change, he said.

“No request has been made by the public that we know of and the Department of Fish and Wildlife is waiting for the commission’s schedule to allow for package submittal,” Price said in the email.

Members of the RTA and the county Parks Advisory Committee are becoming frustrated by a lack of response over the years. They claim that the U.S Fish and Wildlife and California Fish and Wildlife departments are preventing public citizens from enjoying public lands.

According to Wendt, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife refused a request to tour the property by state Assemblyman Brian Jones in 2013 and by state Senator Joel Anderson in 2017.

“After one of (San Diego County Supervisor) Dianne Jacob’s trails meetings, Ed Pert, the Regional CDFW director, told me he was very willing to work on (what he called the Northwest triangle) of the Canada de San Vicente property to complete the quarter-mile loop,” Wendt wrote in his email to the San Diego Trail Alliance. “I sent him all the draft documents from 2010 and have followed up with email questions with no response from Ed Pert.”

Advertisement

At a time when local news is more important than ever, support from our readers is essential. If you are able to, please support the Ramona Sentinel today.