Riders, Homeowners, Hikers Protest Plan to Cut Trails Upkeep

A county proposal to eliminate maintenance of 324 miles of trails drew protests Wednesday from horse riders, homeowners, hikers and mountain bike riders, who said it would make pathways dangerous and, in some cases, impassable.

The trails are spread throughout Los Angeles County, some of them independent loops and others linked with city, state and federal trails.

Although the paths are called equestrian trails, horses are increasingly in the minority, trail users said.

The county-owned paths range in length from the 30-mile San Gabriel River Trail to one of the newest additions, a one-mile fenced path across Soka University in Calabasas.

At least one-third of the trails crisscross the western San Fernando Valley into the Santa Monica Mountains and meander through parts of the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys.

The trails are graded, fenced and cleared of fallen trees and other debris by a crew of 14 county workers at a cost of about $588,000 a year.

The preliminary 1991-92 budget calls for an end to that maintenance as part of the cuts to compensate for an estimated $278-million budget shortfall.

Public hearings on the county’s $11.1-billion budget began last week.

The supervisors will make final budget decisions in July.

Volunteers help by removing graffiti, pruning back plants and picking up litter.

But Laurene Weste of Santa Clarita and others familiar with the trails said volunteers cannot do the heavy work performed by county crews, who are equipped with bulldozers and tractors.

“The county has been doing a tremendous job with the trails program,” said Linda Palmer, a member of the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council, a volunteer organization.

“This isn’t something that you could just drop and pick up several years from now without losing everything we’ve worked for.”

Unkempt trails would be dangerous for users, increasing the potential for lawsuits against the county, trail users and county park officials agreed.

There are so many entrances that trails could not be shut off completely, county park Director Rodney E. Cooper said.

“Wherever you want to get on a trail, you can get on a trail,” he said.

Supervisor Ed Edelman asked county administrators to study whether users could be charged a fee that would pay the maintenance costs.

Cooper said collecting an entrance fee would not be feasible because of the multiple entrances.

However, Richard B. Dixon, the county’s chief administrative officer, said it might be possible to add a trail maintenance fee to the cost of county horse licenses.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich said that would unfairly burden horse owners.

He said the trails should continue to be maintained out of existing tax revenue.

“What do you do with the runners? Do you charge them too?” Antonovich asked. “What’s the limit?”