Caution: Arroyo Toads Crossing : Environment: Off-road motorcyclists would be allowed to resume using a favorite trail under a compromise plan. Forest Service officials say it would still preserve rare amphibian’s breeding grounds.

Deep in Los Padres National Forest, the battle to pluck the arroyo toad from the brink of extinction took as many twists as the old trail that sparked this conflict between those who want to preserve public lands and those who want to play on them.

For decades, the Snowy Trail--a narrow path that slices across the forest floor, punching through Piru Creek in this rugged northeast corner of Ventura County--has been a favorite of motorcycle riders.

But for the past five years it has been off limits to off-road enthusiasts, primarily because of fears that trail bikers would wipe out the local population of the arroyo toad, an endangered species that lives and breeds dangerously close to the creek crossing.

Finally, after years of study and debate, federal officials have forged a compromise as rare as the toad itself, one that will allow motorcyclists to pursue their pleasure on the popular mountain path while protecting the area’s fragile resources.

“I think this is a real success story,” said Mark Bethke, district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service at Mount Pinos. “I think a good partnership has been formed,” he added.

The issue highlights the federal mandate to manage the forest by balancing biological protection and recreational use. And it illustrates what Forest Service officials hope is a new spirit of compromise on the part of individuals and groups that traditionally have been at loggerheads.

Under the proposal, a new trail would be constructed that would cross Piru Creek about half a mile upstream from the current creek crossing, steering clear of the toad’s habitat and other sensitive resources.

At the new creek crossing, the trail would tie in with the motorcycle trail as it pushes farther into the forest and ascends Alamo Mountain.

A 1.6-mile stretch of the existing trail would be closed and, where possible, replanted with native vegetation and returned to its original condition.

“We’re land managers, and we’re managing land for an American public that has lots of different wants and desires,” Bethke said. “We’re trying to make it work for everybody.”

For several years, Forest Service officials have been working on a new route for the Snowy Trail, culminating in a draft of a federal plan released recently for public review and comment.

Officials have designed several alternatives for rerouting Snowy Trail. Under the Forest Service’s preferred alternative, the length of the motorcycle trail would be extended from 7.6 miles to nearly 11 miles.

Environmentalists and off-road enthusiasts say the proposal benefits everyone who has a stake in Snowy Trail.

“In a perfect world, I’m not really sure that off-road motorcycle uses are really compatible with a lot of other things I think the forest is about,” said Sam Sweet, a UC Santa Barbara biology professor and expert on the arroyo toad.

“But given the reality of the situation, I think they’ve done a pretty good job,” he said. “It solves the problem that I am most directly involved with.”

Steve Kuehl, immediate past president of the California Off Road Vehicle Assn., points out that motorcycles have had a historic and legal right to that part of the forest for more than 30 years.

“We’re ecstatic that something is finally going to happen,” the Riverside County resident said. “I’m just pleased as punch that the Forest Service has gotten this document out, and I think the whole community is real hopeful that we’ll get something accomplished and move forward. The main thing was, we didn’t want to lose this trail.”

It is easy to see why the Snowy Trail is so popular.

From the Hungry Valley campground just west of Interstate 5, the old mining trail drops more than 50 feet down a rutted sandstone gulch to the forest floor.

It merges with a dry wash, snaking through thick patches of chaparral, sagebrush and wildflowers. The deeply rutted path climbs and dives, forming the equivalent of moguls on a bumpy ski run.

As the trail nears Piru Creek, the canopy of vegetation and woodlands turns bright green.

Quail scurry through the tall grass. Lizards scamper along the sand floor. Mule deer emerge, dancing along the trail before wading through the natural creek crossing and vanishing into the forest.

Up to 7,500 motorcyclists a year once buzzed up and down the Snowy Trail, crossing Piru Creek at this point. As it turns out, the crossing is in one of the most sensitive areas of the forest.

Nearby, archeologists have unearthed significant finds, including the remnants of prehistoric Native American societies that once lived on the creek’s loamy banks.

Moreover, the creek crossing provides habitat for endangered and threatened species, including the arroyo toad ( Bufo microscaphus californicus), a tiny amphibian that won federal protected status late last year because it was edging closer to extinction.

Once widely distributed in coastal Southern California rivers, the toad has vanished from about 75% of its former range, Sweet said.

In 1991, there were about 350 adult toads in Los Padres National Forest, the world’s largest population. Since then, Sweet said their numbers have increased, but it is impossible to say by how much.

“It was an attraction, a real attraction and essentially impossible to control,” Sweet said of the creek crossing, which became a popular spot for people to rest and set up camp.

“The toads were getting pretty well messed up,” he said. “What we were seeing out there was a total loss of all the toad breeding efforts every year.”

Snowy Trail was closed in the summer of 1990 because of potential fire dangers. Later that year, forest officials agreed to keep the trail closed while they studied the area and decided what to do about the environmental and historical concerns.

In late 1991, the Forest Service announced that it intended to reopen the motorcycle trail just 10 feet downstream from the toad’s breeding pool, a decision appealed by environmentalists.

Heeding warnings that the move could wipe out the toad population, forest officials withdrew their decision, opting instead to perform a more extensive environmental review of the area. By the fall of 1992, the Forest Service was studying new routes for the recreational trail to avoid the sensitive areas.

The Forest Service will collect verbal and written responses to the trail plan until May 22. Afterward, officials will address those comments and hope to publish the final plan by mid-July. Then the district ranger will choose from among the alternatives presented in that document, and that decision is final unless appealed.

Forest officials hope to start trail construction this fall.