Expansive wilderness

Mike Swanson

Orange County residents seeking vast expanses of open space, from the

coast to the hills, are running out of areas to whet their

nature-craved appetites -- but Laguna Beach residents remain

surrounded by wilderness.

Once dominated by golden hillsides, wild canyons, agricultural

fields and, of course, orange tree-laden orchards, tract homes and

shopping centers have steadily usurped Orange County’s space.

The Laguna Canyon Foundation, a nonprofit organization established

in 1991, has worked since its inception to ensure that more than

17,000 acres of wilderness surrounding Laguna Beach stay wild. That

fight continues as surrounding cities close in and the foundations

strives to help all parks in the South Coast Wilderness system raise

money and acquire more land.

As the system -- including Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Coast

Wilderness, Aliso & Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, Irvine Ranch Land

Reserve and the open space preserves in the cities of Irvine and

Laguna Beach -- expands and becomes more visitor-friendly, more

people are heading out to the parks.

“We’ve been getting about 450 to 500 people per weekend,” Laguna

Coast Wilderness Park Ranger Barbara Norton said. “This time [of

year] is ‘the time’ to be out here.”

“The time” Norton refers to is springtime, when wildflowers like

fiddle neck, wild hyacinth, bush sunflowers and nightshade litter the

park’s landscape.

While a major March 15 storm did cancel Laguna Coast Wilderness

Park’s first scheduled installment of docent-led hikes, Mary Fegraus,

executive director of the Laguna Canyon Foundation, said it was

encouraging that about five families showed up early despite the

pouring rain.

“More cars kept pulling in, and we just kept handing them

information on when to come out for the next one,” she said.

The next hike is April 12 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rain cancels, but

recent weather suggests short sleeves and sunscreen ought to be on

hikers’ minds, not umbrellas.

Docents will lead two one-day-only hikes, with participants riding

a free shuttle bus to the trail’s access point and hiking back to the

parking area. The Ridge Park hike is a two-hour scenic ridge hike

over 3.5 miles, while the Dartmoor Street hike is a more strenuous

hike, three to four hours over five miles, that includes panoramic

ocean views.

Interested hikers must meet docents at the Willow Canyon Staging

Area at 8 a.m. to avoid going it alone.

Laguna Coast Wilderness Park has been open to the public on

weekends from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. since July, costing $2 per car, and

should be open daily by the end of 2004, when completion of the Nix

Nature Center is scheduled. It’s home to Orange County’s only two

natural lakes, Barbara’s Lake and Bubbles’ Lake.

Bubbles’ Lake is named after Bubbles the Hippo, which made

national headlines after escaping from Lion Country Safari (now

Verizon Wireless Amphitheater) in 1979 and finding refuge in Laguna

Canyon’s smaller lake. Bubbles drowned in the lake after being hit by

a tranquilizer dart.

The center, which early design plans say should be about 3,000

square feet, will be nearly eight times larger than Crystal Cove

State Park’s 400-square-foot center. Fegraus wants the Nix Nature

Center to encompass every park in the South Coast Wilderness system,

including trails that lead from the center to each park.

Ideally, Fegraus said, people will start or finish their day

exploring one, or several parks’ acres of wilderness by visiting the

center.

“We want a nature center that’s a portal to the parks, not a

destination,” she said. “The materials that make up the center will

be interpretive exhibits in themselves, but we really want people to

enjoy all of this land.”

The expansion of the parks’ acreage has multiplied gradually, and

through various forms of aid.

“You can acquire open space one of three ways,” Fegraus said. “The

first is by gift, which rarely happens, the second is by buying it

from private landowners, and the third, which is how most open space

is acquired, is through development agreements. Most of our acreage

came as a gift.”

The philanthropist largely responsible for South Coast Wilderness’

size is Donald Bren of the Irvine Co., who donated 11,000 acres in

2001. He was also involved in the purchase of land that would later

become Laguna Coast Wilderness Park in 1990.

The Laguna Canyon Conservancy consists of members hired by the

Irvine Co. to manage land that has been declared open space. Laguna

Greenbelt Inc., meanwhile, consists of volunteers dedicated to

preserving open space in the area, especially Laguna Coast Wilderness

Park.

One last parcel of undeveloped land in Irvine, called Planning

Area 18, is slated for development, but the Laguna Canyon Foundation

hopes to add it to South Coast Wilderness’ land with the Irvine Co.’s

help.

While its acreage is especially impressive when considering its

location in Orange County, Fegraus said that South Coast Wilderness’

area isn’t enough to support some wildlife indigenous to the area.

“A male mountain lion needs more than 17,000 acres of range,” she

said. “This is just a day hike for him.”

To combat this problem, a corridor connecting South Coast

Wilderness to the Cleveland National Forest should be maintained.

Animals find their way from one area to the other following streams

or stream beds, but Fegraus says more of an effort should be made to

encourage migration.

“We need that corridor to the Cleveland National Forest or we’ll

become a 17,000-acre island,” Fegraus said.

For information on hikes, volunteering, or anything else related

to South Coast Wilderness, call the Laguna Canyon Foundation at (949)

855-7275. To reach the ranger station at Laguna Coast Wilderness

Park, call (949) 923-2235.

* MIKE SWANSON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. He covers education, public safety and City Hall. He can be

reached at 494-4321 or [email protected].