The Gate and Debate Are Open at Silverado Entrance to Forest

SILVERADO — Mary Lyons moved here from Santa Ana nine years ago to escape the strip malls and traffic and live in the backwoods of South County, where two-lane roads twist along the mountainsides and a pig-crossing sign stands along the town’s main drag.

She takes evening walks into the Cleveland National Forest, where she sits on “her” rock and meditates. She knows every tree, bush and flower along the wooded trail and even offers nature hikes once a month.

But when the U.S. Forest Service opened the locked gate at the entrance of the terrain three weeks ago, she said her tranquil forest changed forever.

“I walk on this road every single day, and I don’t feel safe anymore. I never know what’s coming up behind me. I could be run down, raped, molested or beat up by a crazy person,” said Lyons, 47, standing beside the open gate, where a “Road Closed” sign still hangs.

“I just wanted to get away, and I thought I found it here, but I really don’t enjoy it anymore.”

The new entrance has shaken many Silverado residents. They worry that their peaceful outback community will soon be invaded by vandals, drunks, litterers and those who enjoy four-wheeling in the forest.

Motorists, they fear, will bully the hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders, who for years have treated the natural habitat with respect. Forest officials contend that the national park belongs to the public and should be opened for its use.

“Congress decides how certain things should be done,” said Judy Behrens, a Forest Service spokeswoman. “We don’t have the authority to close the road. It was made for vehicles and historically has been open.”

The road had been open until 1993, when rains washed it out. Before the Forest Service could completely restore it, a mudslide hit again. Motorists had to enter the forest from Ortega Highway or the Riverside Freeway--an inconvenience for residents of central Orange County--until the agency repaired the road last month.

Now, the trail provides local forest access for nearby nature seekers.

Jade Bartholomew, 29, and Richard Orr, 26, of La Palma, usually bike at Huntington Beach, but Friday they enjoyed the mountain view instead. They said the gate opening allows adventurers to climb areas of the peaks they would normally strain to reach.

But Judy Myers, who has lived in Silverado for 29 years, said the cars cause chaos along the trails.

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“They go up and pretty well dominate the road and scare everyone else off,” said Myers, 64. “There is not much control over what goes on behind the gate.”

Barbara Bos, whose house backs up to the forest entrance, likes to wake up to the mountain views, sounds of the hawks and the scattering of the raccoons, she said, but not to the honking and screaming of loud teenagers.

“Since the gate opened, all hell has broken loose,” said Bos, 50. “Anybody can come up here any time of the day or night. It’s open with no supervision whatsoever.”

The second night the gate was open, 14 carloads of rowdy teens gathered at the entrance, Bos said. When her husband told them parking in the drive is illegal after 9 p.m., a teen threatened to shoot him, she said.

The Forest Service employs two rangers to patrol 150,000 acres of the Cleveland National Forest, Behrens said. They patrol both the Riverside and the Orange County sides, so it’s difficult to be in the Silverado area very often.

In an effort to educate the public and deter vandals, Behrens said the agency is opening an information booth at the Silverado gate today. Starting on June 16, motorists will be charged $5 to enter. The Forest Service also has plans to install restrooms and trash bins.

“It’s not that we don’t empathize,” Behrens said, “but we’re doing what we can.”

A town meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at the Silverado Community Center, 27641 Silverado Canyon Road.

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New Access to Forest

Reopening of gate upsets residents