El Nino’s Footprints Remain on County’s Park Trails

The trail is lush after the rains. Newborn greenery leans into the path looping through O’Neill Regional Park, and bright orange dodder, a hair-like parasite, spreads its net across the brush.

Beauty is on every side, but danger awaits the inattentive hiker. Rushing waters have undercut parts of the Edna Spaulding trail, and midway to its end lurks a precarious 3-foot drop.

Jim Meyer, executive director of Trails 4 All, a nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining hiking, biking and equestrian trails in the county, nimbly sidesteps the yard-long hole while talking about the trail damage wreaked by El Nino.

The county’s trails take a beating every winter, Meyer said, but he has never seen damage like this. Meyer walked the Edna Spaulding trail one week before the last big rainstorm and it was fine, if a little ragged in places.

Afterward, 60-foot-high trees lay twisted on the path, felled by water and wind. For outdoor enthusiasts, the damage done to the park trails impinges on a way of life, spoiling their refuge from urban ills.

But even people who never set foot on a grassy slope are paying a price for the damage. So far, the county has spent $250,000 just for rock used to shore up trails, slopes and other areas damaged by the rains.

By winter’s end, rock purchases probably will top $500,000, said Bill Reiter, the county’s storm center manager. The total amount of damage already nears the $8-million mark, Reiter said, most of which probably will be paid for through state and federal emergency funds.

The Aliso Creek trail system has been particularly hard hit, Reiter said. Rock for that trail alone has cost $25,000.

“But we’re not simply putting back the trail--we have to build out the slope again, and when that’s complete we put the trail back on it,” Reiter said.

The county reopened several parks to the public Friday, but Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park, Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park and Laguna Coast Wilderness Park will probably remain closed for another month or two, officials said.

In addition to erosion and other problems, those parks are so laden with water that the tractors and backhoes needed to repair the trails sometimes have sunk into the mud.

“Those parks are so saturated that some trails have turned into creeks,” said Tim Miller, manager of the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Division.

“There are creeks where there never used to be creeks, and some creeks are like rivers.”

Maintenance officials plan to hire crews from the Orange County Conservation Corps to help with much of the manual labor, Miller said, but the county needs volunteers to help with smaller repairs.

“The damage is so significant and so much labor is required that we don’t have the staff to do it all,” he said.

Volunteers repair trails year-round, but the job is Herculean in scope.

For example, about 10 volunteers from the Sierra Club of Orange County repair some of the 265 miles of trail in Cleveland National Forest each month, Meyer said.

It will be four to five years before they work on any trail a second time.

In addition to cutting back brush and removing debris, volunteers repairing a trail must scrape grooves alongside wooden bars that divert running water to the side.

During dry months, more than 3 million hikers, bikers and horseback riders wear down the center of the trails, creating a ready-made bed for the winter waters.

Erosion occurs when water travels down the middle of a trail, picking up speed and power over distance.

Even on a casual walk, Meyer carried a McLeod--a hoe-like tool with tines on one side and a blade on the other--so he could make repairs while talking. Like all his tools, it is painted blue with purple polka dots.

Mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians--often adversaries when it comes to trail use--cooperate well in Orange County, Meyer said.

The groups all pitch in to maintain the trails, and cleanups are scheduled for almost every weekend.

“I’m sure a lot of people are feeling the crunch of places to go right now,” said Bob Loeffler, a member of the SHARE mountain bike club who typically takes solo night rides through mountain paths several times a week.

Alice Sorenson of Irvine, a reserve ranger in the county’s equestrian unit, is also seeking volunteers.

About 500 equestrians use trails throughout the county on a daily basis, she said.

But with so many trails in disrepair, riders--and their horses--are champing at the bit.

She will help repair the trails not just as a civic duty but to bring back one of the central joys of her life.

“Riding is what makes all the rest of this nonsense worthwhile,” she said. “Riding is what keeps my sanity in a high-pressure, intense living zone.”

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How to Help

Trail repair sessions are held most Saturdays at several locations in the county. Trails 4 All can refer volunteers to an organization in their area. Tools are provided in most cases, but volunteers should wear sturdy shoes and bring gloves, water and sunscreen. Groups and agencies seeking volunteers for trail repairs:

* Trails 4 All, Jim Meyer, (714) 834-3136

* County of Orange Adopt-A-Park program, Joanne Taylor, (714) 771-6731, Ext. 21

* SHARE mountain bike club, Bob Loeffler, (714) 222-3334

* ETI Corral 357, Murray Proctor, (714) 459-0263

* City of Santa Ana, Belen Solis, (714) 571-4251