Nature Patrol : Volunteers Mount Up to Help Rangers, Hikers

Almost nobody mistakes Wes Wilson for a park ranger. The cowboy hat and leather chaps are a dead giveaway. But Wilson, a member of Point Mugu State Park’s Mounted Assistance Unit, does many of the tasks park rangers don’t have time to do.

Armed with two-way radios and first-aid kits, riders such as Wilson serve as mounted patrols on the lookout for outlaw bikers and fire starters. Their job is part ranger, part traffic cop, part trash collector.

“I know every trail and blade of grass here,” Wilson said recently as he rode through some of the park’s majestic terrain.

Their tasks are varied. They warn speeding bikers, dubbed “kamikazes,” against racing down hills and narrow trails where they can collide with horse riders and hikers.

They prevent people from lighting fires, and in rare instances they aid injured hikers.

They also pick up garbage. Wilson has found empty cardboard boxes, soda cans, even balloons on this ride, all of which he places in his saddlebag to dispose of later.

But they do not write citations or arrest troublemakers. Instead, they radio a park ranger for help.

There are about 110 riders who volunteer their time throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, both in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

If it weren’t for the volunteer horse patrols, much of the 40,000 acres of state parkland from Malibu to Point Mugu would go unpatrolled, said Ken Leigh, chief park ranger for the Malibu sector.

Last year, at least 500,000 visitors came to Point Mugu State Park, and Leigh has only 16 rangers under his supervision.

“On any given day at Point Mugu, if we have three rangers, that’s a good day,” he said. “They have to split their time, and they’re limited by the reports they have to do and deal with . . . special events.”

The volunteers “provide some patrols we can’t, and even if we had more money, we wouldn’t.”

The first volunteer horse patrols were begun 15 years ago by 66-year-old Malibu resident Peno Dwinger. At that time, the state park system had a shortage of rangers, Dwinger said.

“I thought, why not have volunteer patrols doing the work of rangers on horseback? I brought the idea to the Will Rogers State Park,” Dwinger said. “From that time on, we have had the Santa Monicas patrolled.”

In Ventura County, groups of volunteer riders patrol not only Point Mugu State Park, but also the county-owned Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park north of Moorpark.

Jim Hartley, a coordinator for Ventura County’s horse patrols, said most of that county’s 30 members are experienced equestrians who would probably ride anyway. Most are firm supporters of keeping parkland clean and open to the public.

“This is an opportunity for us to give more than lip service with regard to open space,” he said.

In order to join the patrols, volunteers must agree to undergo training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and basic first aid. They also ride with one of the more experienced members of the patrol so he or she can evaluate their riding skills and their horses.

Volunteers must also agree to patrol at least once a month, and in most cases, they ride in pairs. Hartley and his wife patrol Happy Camp park.

Wilson, 69, is one of the older volunteers. When he retired from his job as an airline pilot nine years ago, he signed up to patrol at Point Mugu and Cheeseboro Canyon.

One of the more experienced and dedicated riders in the group, Wilson said he averages about 360 volunteer hours a year. He can be found roaming the hills almost every weekend.

As he and his 10-year-old quarter horse, Carleo, plodded down a dirt trail that leads to Boney Mountain, he remembered a time two years ago when an 11-year-old Boy Scout drifted away from his troop.

Wilson said his instinct led him to the boy, whom he found around nightfall.

On a recent ride, Wilson stopped a group of three Malibu riders from going down a trail that would lead them nowhere. Although the three were experienced equestrians, none had ridden through Point Mugu recently, said Kirstin Hayden, 36.

“We were going to get lost, and Wes stopped us,” Hayden said.

Wilson has urged competent riders to explore remote areas of the park, including the Danielson ranch and a trail that extends seven miles from the Rancho Sierra Vista equestrian center in Newbury Park to Sycamore Canyon on the ocean.

“Very few people realize there’s 15,000 acres of park out there,” Wilson said. “Most people don’t take maps.”

In his pack, along with bug spray, water and a soda, Wilson also carries maps and a book on wildflowers in case he is asked a question about the local flora. He is quick to praise those who practice good habits in the park and quick to correct those he finds destroying plants and animals.

“You see a lot of people picking flowers in the spring, and we tell them not to do that because we want them to reseed,” he said.

As he sat in his saddle looking over the park, Wilson pointed to untouched ridges of the park. He said he never tires of the scenery.

“The pay’s lousy,” Wilson said. But, “I love riding my horse. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t be doing it.”