County Changes Mind, Is Willing to Accept 1,100 Acres for Trails : Parks: Supervisors are expected to OK deal with developer, thanks to equestrian group’s maintenance offer.

Having once declined, bankrupt Orange County is now willing to accept without cost about 1,100 acres of South County wilderness, officials said Wednesday.

The Board of Supervisors is expected Tuesday to approve a partnership with a Trabuco Canyon equestrian group that will open the Chiquita Ridge/Tijeras Creek area to the public by November.

The property had been offered to the county by the Santa Margarita Co. in exchange for development rights in Rancho Santa Margarita and Las Flores tracts, but the financially strapped county balked at taking over the land because of the expense of managing the wilderness for park and recreational use.

But under the partnership with the Saddleback Riders, which has volunteered to patrol and maintain some six miles of trails, the county is spared having to spend money on parkland maintenance.

“We are most happy with the prospect of obtaining this land,” county Harbors, Beaches and Parks Director Robert G. Fisher said Wednesday.

“Obviously with the bankruptcy situation, we have to restrain ourselves from taking on extra financial obligations,” he added. “This offer the Saddleback group has made really helps us get through that.”

The 1,100 acres of rolling hills and thickly wooded creek terrain will be added to O’Neill Regional Park, making it the third largest regional park in the county system.

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The Saddleback Riders, a 100-member group that has been patrolling an adjacent 1,000-acre wilderness area under a similar agreement with the county since July, will take care of Chiquita Ridge/Tijeras Creek during summer weekends when recreational use is heaviest.

Fund-raising events for trail maintenance are planned by the group.

“I think our motivation is somewhat selfish because we get to use the trails,” said group spokesman Don Carr. “It’s important to us that the county keep these areas open and maintained. That’s why we volunteered.”

The group is working under the county’s Adopt-A-Park program, which uses volunteers to help take care of the 30,000-acre regional park system. But only the Saddleback Riders have stepped forward to help on a long-term basis.

“Without the Saddleback Riders, there’s no way we would be able to open” Chiquita Ridge/Tijeras Creek, county regional parks supervisor Tim Miller has said in recent months.

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South County recreation enthusiasts have applauded the county’s acquisition of Chiquita Ridge/Tijeras Creek.

“With the sea of development all around us, this will be a valuable wildlife corridor,” said Ilysa Byrnes, a board member of the Orange County Trails Committee. “Preserving wildlife habitat is not only aesthetically pleasing, it’s important to all of our well-being.”

Chiquita Ridge/Tijeras Creek is also a key link in a longtime dream for county trail users: a super-trail from Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park to O’Neill Regional Park.

“Without [Chiquita Ridge/Tijeras Creek], that trail will never happen,” said Carr. “With it, there’s only one small area left to be resolved. Now, I’m very hopeful it will happen.”

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Land Swap

The Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on accepting the approximately 1,100-acre Chiquita Ridge/Tijeras Creek wilderness plot. Approval would give the current owner, the Santa Margarita Co., development rights elsewhere in Rancho Santa Margarita.