‘Adopt-a-Trail’ Plan Is on Right Track : * Hikers, Bikers and Equestrians Can Be Benefited in a Budget-Conscious Manner

Orange County is dusting off a blueprint to improve its extensive system of hiking, riding and biking trails. This is not the best time financially for trailblazing, so to speak, but the county at least is putting recreational priorities in order. In the process, it sets the stage for preserving some of its assets for future generations.

The county has 335 miles worth of these trails, which tie the inland areas to the shore. The Board of Supervisors recently decided to set a timetable for completing trails, and it proposes a sound strategy for these times--an “adopt-a-trail” program that will enlist businesses and community groups in the effort to develop and maintain local trails. Obviously, spending millions to develop links and expansions is out of the question now. But if Environmental Management Agency Director Michael M. Ruane is right, the county at least can accomplish some of the necessary planning by using existing staff.

With budgets pinched, paying attention to old and new trails may not be everybody’s top priority. How much of a constituency, after all, does an overgrown equestrian underpass in Laguna Hills command? But the point is, the more we lose touch with the back trails, the farther removed we are likely to become from the land. And there is sufficient support, as Ruane suggests, for closing “some gaps that exist in the trail system.”

The complaints of current trail users that many are in bad shape, that they lack signals at busy intersections, that they are too narrow or inadequate, shows how much work needs to be done. The county at least acknowledges that there are many weeds to clear. One county land planner estimates that only 10% of the trails now meet county design criteria.

Thousands of county residents use these trails each year. They are our link with the land and the past. If overlooked, this land may be lost or out of mind forever.