ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Keep Wilderness Within Reach

One especially attractive reason for setting aside wilderness parkland close to developed areas is so that people can enjoy it. That was the idea, at least, in 1974 when the Board of Supervisors began acquiring land in South County that now makes up the 7,600-acre Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park.

The park has 30 miles of hiking trails, with year-round overnight camping facilities, restrooms, showers and barbecue pits. Now that the county has built it up, this park is a precious asset.

But county officials can’t seem to get straight who should have access to it in the aftermath of the $2-million court award in August to the family of an El Toro girl who was mauled by a mountain lion at the park in 1986. This week, afraid of the continuing risk of mountain lion attacks, the board decided reluctantly to bar children from Caspers Park, the county’s largest.

The decision, prompted by concern about county liability, seems extreme. It ought to be reconsidered.

The county has had a more reasonable policy in place since the award. The board had closed most of the park to children but granted access to the visitor center, playground and picnic areas to youngsters accompanied by adults.

In lamenting the perceived need for more restriction, Robert G. Fisher, the county’s director of harbors, beaches and parks, says the ban might be only temporary, pending county appeal of the award.

We hope that this decision to put the park off limits entirely to people younger than 18 is indeed reversed, sooner rather than later. State officials say Orange County is taking a highly unusual step. If the risk of attack from mountain lions is so great that youngsters have no business being in the park even under controlled circumstances, then perhaps adults have no business being there, either.

Obviously we have to be careful and issue warnings where appropriate. But let’s hope that we haven’t reached the point where we are so cautious about venturing into undeveloped land that we insulate ourselves and our children entirely from nature, clinging only to the familiarity of subdivisions and malls.