55-Mile-Long Park to Feature Myriad Trails

The most detailed plans yet to develop a 55-mile-long regional park and greenbelt across the county’s midsection were adopted Friday by the park’s governing board, nearly three years after officials started getting serious about the mammoth undertaking.

The plan calls for a network of pedestrian, equestrian and bicycle trails that will link a natural spring at Volcan Mountain, near Julian, to the mouth of the San Dieguito River where it flows into the Pacific at Del Mar.

When completed, the regional park may feature overnight camping, picnic grounds, viewpoints for motorists, interpretive nature, historical and cultural centers, and maybe even canoeing--if ever it rains enough to fill the banks of the creeks and river along the route.

The adoption of the plan was heralded by members of the river-park’s joint powers authority as a hallmark in development of the park, which had been on some public agendas for 10 years or longer in various piecemeal fashions.

With Friday’s unanimous vote, the directors of the San Dieguito River Valley Regional Open Space Park adopted a conceptual plan that, for the first time, coordinates the preservation plans forwarded by the city and county of San Diego as well as nature conservancies with an interest in preserving the river’s watershed.

The greenbelt will reflect “almost every type of natural environment of Southern California, from oak/pine woodlands to coastal wetlands, providing a critical wildlife network centered on the life-giving water,” the plan states grandly.

“Traces of most chapters of California history can be found here, too, including 9,000-year-old Indian sites, the Portola Expedition campsites on El Camino Real, Mexican-American battle sites, the early settlements, (and) present day agricultural activities. In spite of encroaching urbanization, this river valley remains largely open. It is an appropriate place for a natural park and open space system, and it is within easy access of the 2.5 million people of San Diego County,” the plan notes.

But the adoption didn’t come without some last-minute sniping by members of the park authority, which is made up of two county supervisors and city council members from San Diego, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Escondido and Poway.

At issue was to what degree the park should preserve--or nurture--the waterway, especially east of Lake Hodges, where the river and its creeks often run dry.

San Diego City Council member Abbe Wolfsheimer suggested that man-made pools--whether they be holding ponds for water treatment facilities or small reservoirs from reclaimed sand mining pits--might be put along the upper reaches of the park and become a source for water-related recreational uses such as fishing and boating. With the help of some man-made links, she suggested, the park might offer a continuous “water trail.”

“If you’re talking about (the park’s entire) 55,000 acres, there’s room for plenty of concepts, and I don’t want to preclude any,” Wolfsheimer said.

But county Supervisor John MacDonald said he is wary of manufactured waterways. “I can see streams, but not cement-lined ponds,” he told Wolfsheimer. “I hope I don’t see water reclamation ponds.”

Added fellow San Diego Councilman Ron Roberts, “If someone imagines concrete, then this whole plan is in trouble.”

Wolfsheimer responded, “Well, they (reclamation facilities) are already under way, and we need to reclaim water.”

Wolfsheimer, who chairs the park authority, then chided the group for what she said was an overall deficiency in the park’s conceptual plan.

“There’s very, very little use of the word ‘water’ in here,” she said. “I hardly see the word ‘fishing’ in here. That’s a very peculiar omission, and I feel very nervous about it. Considering this is a river valley park, I think it’s peculiar that water doesn’t play a bigger role in it. There’s an aversion to dealing with water. I’m mystified.”

Eventually, the directors adopted a goal statement to “preserve and restore land” within the park as a “greenbelt 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.”

The question of whether man-made water features will be developed within the park remained unresolved. But the plan states unequivocally, “The viability of the riparian habitat and lagoon ecosystem must take priority, and these sensitive habitats should not be negatively impacted by park aesthetic or recreational plans.”

Consultants to the park authority identified 14 “landscapes” within the river valley, ranging from the salt marshes next to the Del Mar Fairgrounds to rugged, narrow canyons around Fairbanks Ranch to the broad-based river flood plain below Lake Hodges. They also identified the agricultural lands of the San Pasqual Valley to the wooded canyons around Ramona and the grasslands of the Santa Ysabel Valley, just below Julian.

For each “landscape,” a so-called “way station” will be developed--an entry point for that part of the park, featuring either a signpost or facilities that will explain the qualities of the area.

The way station at the San Dieguito Lagoon, for instance, would “tell the story of how the river meets the ocean in an estuary and the tidal interaction within the salt marsh and its varied habitats.” A way station at the Gonzales and La Zanja Canyons, near El Camino Real, will “tell about the finger canyons and their unique wildlife.” At the San Pasqual Valley, the entry point to the park will explain the story of area farming.

The concept plan addresses recreational activities in a general sense, “keeping in mind that this is a natural, open space park.”

It notes, however, that two sets of trails may be developed: a high trail to “offer spectacular views of the river valley, the mountains and the ocean,” and another along the river bottom to “allow more opportunities for bird watching” and picnicking.

One of the trails, presumably the lower one, will be suitably surfaced for jogging and bicycle riding, the plan states.

Existing roads through the park project will be renamed with the appendant “Camino de las Aguas” (the Way of the Waters), the plan proposes, to help motorists find their way to roadside viewpoints. No existing roads will be widened, nor new roads built, however, to accommodate park-bound vehicles.

The concept plan does not suggest the cost of park development. Nor are officials sure what it will cost to acquire private property situated within the park’s 55,000 acres--half of which is in private ownership. The park agency is hoping that some private landowners will deed easements for park use.