Much-needed Recreation Funding Headed to Central Coast Public Lands

It’s no secret that our public lands have been woefully underfunded, creating a huge backlog of basic maintenance projects that will cost billions of dollars to address. But thanks to a recent boost from Congress, the Forest Service is embarking on a five-year effort to repair roads, trails, restrooms, parking areas, campsites, and other facilities across the Los Padres National Forest and other public lands across the country. The work is being performed following passage of the 2020 Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), which provides long-overdue funding for acquiring more land to add to national parks and forests, and improving recreation facilities that have suffered from years of neglect.

Improvement of Recreation Facilities

The 2020 GAOA created a National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) to chip away at the $5.9B deferred maintenance backlog on public lands over the next five years. Most of the funding (70%) goes to the National Parks Service, with 15% going to the Forest Service, 5% to the Fish & Wildlife Service, 5% to the Bureau of Land Management, and 5% to the Bureau of Indian Education. Less than half of the funds can go to transportation projects like roads and parking areas.

For 2021, amidst the Presidential election and following a nation-wide process criticized for its lack of transparency, four projects were ultimately selected for funding in the Los Padres National Forest, including:

• Red Reef Trail rehabilitation. The trail—which leads from Sisar Canyon into the Sespe Wilderness between Ojai and Santa Paula—is currently overgrown and impassable with downed trees and several washouts.
• La Brea and Rattlesnake Canyon road repair. These dirt roads, east of Santa Maria, have not been maintained since the 2009 La Brea Fire. Once reopened, they will provide access to a new parking area, trailhead, and campground that will provide access to the northern portions of the San Rafael Wilderness.
• Bates Canyon Campground toilet replacement. This campground is in the Mt. Pinos Ranger District and is a popular access point to the Sierra Madre Ridge from the Cuyama Valley.
• Campground rehabilitation forest-wide, including picnic tables, fire rings, restrooms, parking areas, and interpretive signs.

For the upcoming 2022 fiscal year, the Forest Service is currently reviewing a list of priority maintenance projects for inclusion in the President’s budget and approval by Congress. The list of projects being considered includes:

• Santa Barbara Ranger District: repair Camino Cielo Road, Juncal crossing, and Upper Oso crossing
• Monterey Ranger District: repair Arroyo Seco Road, South Coast Ridge Road, Plaskett Ridge/Alms Ridge Road, Cold Springs Road, Los Burros Rd, and Prewitt Ridge Rd in Big Sur; renovate historic pack-stock bridge and trails; Ventana Wilderness Trail restoration.
• Ojai Ranger District: Repair Rose Valley Road, fill potholes, and resurface the road to improve access to campgrounds and the Piedra Blanca Trailhead and Sespe Wilderness; Red Reef Trail maintenance.
• Santa Lucia Ranger District: repave Arroyo Grande Helitack Base, Pine Canyon Station, and Santa Lucia Ranger District Office; resurface three campgrounds, trailheads, and one day use area; convert 6.6 miles of road to non-motorized trail in La Brea Canyon.
• Forest-wide: 1,567 miles of trail maintenance; replace 10 toilets at 6 recreation sites due to disrepair/vandalism; reconstruction and maintenance of fire stations, barracks facilities, engine bays, helitack bases; repair potable water systems at 7 sites; and repair 3 buildings at Los Prietos Compound.

For the third year (2023) of the five-year GAOA funding mechanism, the Biden administration has made changes to improve opportunities for public input as the agency assembles its next list of priority projects. Groups like ForestWatch, the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, and Los Padres Forest Association have been working with the Forest Service to highlight several eligible projects including:

• Salmon Creek Guard Station—rehabilitate historic guard station at the southern end of the Big Sur coast, including restoration of the guard station, storage garage, and horse corrals, update information kiosk, and installation of public restrooms.
• Milpitas Special Interest Area—decommissioning of roads, installation of fencing to protect meadows, riparian zones and cultural sites; installation of signage, working with Salinan and Esselen tribal communities to protect and restore the area.
• Bottcher’s Gap—northern terminus of Condor Trail, repair of Palo Colorado Road to restore access to Bottchers Gap Campground and four trails (Skinner Ridge, Little Sur River, Jackson Camp, and Little Sur).
• Trail restoration including improvements to the Matilija Trailhead, Middle Sespe Trailhead, Santa Cruz Trail, Horse Canyon Trail, and Agua Blanca Trail.
• Santa Paula Canyon—installation of signage, parking area improvement, and resources to address trash and graffiti.
• Road repair including Gold Hill Road, Sunset Valley Road, and paved roads in Rose Valley.
• Restroom repair at places like Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak campgrounds, East Camino Cielo/La Cumbre Peak, and the Sespe.
• San Carpoforo Trail—trailhead establishment, easement survey, trail reconstruction/maintenance, and to improve management of dispersed camping
• Highway 33 Improvements—develop and implement Interpretive Master Plan, develop MOU with Caltrans, install signage, and control invasive weeds, all as set forth in the National Forest Scenic Byway Management Plan.

Carrizo Plain National Monument

ForestWatch also teamed up with the Carrizo Plain Conservancy and the Santa Lucia Sierra Club in April to send a letter to the Bureau of Land Management, recommending funding for the maintenance and restoration of trail access to the Carrizo Plain National Monument from the Cuyama Valley via Highway 166. The groups also urged funding for the installation of solar panels atop the Goodwin Education Center, the only visitor center in the national monument. The project is called for in the monument’s Resource Management Plan and would ultimately allow the removal of a visually-intrusive power line that currently serves the center. Finally, the groups support increased GAOA funding to acquire private inholdings inside the monument from willing sellers. Approximately 500 private parcels of land exist in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, comprising a total of 32,000 acres vulnerable to development.

Land Acquisition

The GAOA also ensures five years of full permanent funding at $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a federal program that provides funding for land acquisition—purchasing property from willing sellers to expand the size of national parks, forests, monuments, recreation areas, and wildlife refuges. For decades, the LWCF has provided critical funding to acquire lands in Channel Islands National Park, Los Padres National Forest, Carrizo Plain National Monument, and other key open spaces throughout the central coast.

For 2021, the Forest Service identified 35 projects nationwide for land acquisition program funding, including $1 million for the acquisition of privately-owned parcels in Rose Valley downstream of Lower Rose Valley Lake. Rose Valley Creek bisects the property. The acquisition of these parcels would supplement ongoing work to restore the streambed in this watershed, including removal of fish passage barriers for endangered southern steelhead and elimination of non-native aquatic species.

Election Politics

The GAOA annual funding process fell victim to the 2020 Presidential election, with the Trump administration providing a priority list of projects to Congress several days late. Immediately after the election, Trump’s Interior Secretary issued memo that gave local authorities veto power over federal land acquisitions, significantly weakening the impact of the legislation. The Trump administration also proposed significantly fewer projects than the legislation called for. In his first weeks in office, President Biden revoked the Trump administration rule and embarked on a much more transparent and open process of identifying and selecting projects.

What’s Next?

As the Forest Service selects—and Congress approves—the next round of GAOA funding for 2022, we look forward to seeing several projects take shape to address the recreation maintenance backlog in the Los Padres National Forest and Carrizo Plain National Monument. We’re also working with our local Congressional representatives—Reps. Salud Carbajal, Julia Brownley, and Jimmy Panetta—to ensure that our region’s public lands receive their fair share of the funding.

ForestWatch is also a proud partner of the LWCF Coalition alongside other local organizations like the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, the Wildlands Conservancy, the Wilderness Land Trust, and the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County to explore and pursue acquiring additional acreage in the Los Padres National Forest, particularly private inholdings inside wilderness areas.

Photos by Bryant Baker.