Plentiful sunshine. High 99F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph..
A clear sky. Low 69F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Plans are underway to complete new trails near Plunge Creek in the Santa Ana River Wash.
The trailhead to the Santa Ana River Trail at Waterman Avenue is behind the parking lot at the San Bernardino County Hall of Records.
Plans are underway to complete new trails near Plunge Creek in the Santa Ana River Wash.
Just the words “Santa Ana” connote dryness. The Santa Ana winds sweep through Southern California, whipping around dust and brush, propelling the region into fire season. The Santa Ana River Wash, also, is dry for much of the year. While dryness conjures imagery of wilted plants, arid desert landscapes and brittle sunbaked animal skeletons, the Santa Ana River Wash is flush with life — you just have to know what to look for.
The Santa Ana Wash Habitat Conservation Plan, developed by the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, was designed to protect the vast landscape of the wash. The area spans 1,660 acres from Greenspot Road in Highland at the base of the Seven Oaks Dam to just beyond Alabama Street in Redlands. The wash is quiet through the sunny, sometimes 100-degree days. The only living things in view are plots of fragrant sage brush among a seemingly infinite expanse of boulders.
At night, the nocturnal San Bernardino kangaroo rat hops onto the scene. The rat is named for its large hind feet on which it hops around. The screen of night protects the San Bernardino Kangaroo Rat from predators — both natural and not. The kangaroo rat is a federally endangered species and it has many natural predators: owls, snakes and coyotes. The kangaroo rat is such common prey that it won’t venture out in the light. Even a full moon is too bright for the tiny seed-eating rodent. The habitat of the kangaroo rat has been destroyed by fragmentation, which isolates populations of the rats from each other preventing mating.
The Santa Ana River Woollystar is a small subshrub that typically does not grow larger than one meter. The Santa Ana Woolly-Star is endemic to the Santa Ana Wash and is also endangered.
Winter is the wet season in the Santa Ana River Bed. And flooding, while not preferred by human populations, is a necessity for the kangaroo rat and the woollystar. In 1862, after a period of heavy rainfall, the Santa Ana burst its banks and flooded thousands of acres of land and killed between 20 and 40 people. A series of floods due to winter storms in the 1930s led to the construction of the Prado Dam at the Chino Hills near Corona. As more people migrated to the Santa Ana River Basin, the area transitioned from agricultural communities to an urban center.
In 1964, the Santa Ana River Mainstem Project was proposed, but construction did not begin until 1989. By 1999, the Seven Oaks Dam in Highland was constructed which further prevented flooding.
But the damming of the river and increased human populations destroyed the habitats of species endemic to the Santa Ana Wash. The kangaroo rat, the woollystar and the slender-horned spineflower, a small annual plant in the buckwheat family, all suffer from the threat of extinction because of the lack of flooding in the Santa Ana Wash.
Creating the Wash Conservation plan was a decades-long process beginning in 1993 that required coordination and collaboration among water, flood control, government and environmental interests and a bipartisan act of Congress. In 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Santa Ana River Wash Land Exchange Act, which paved a path for a land exchange between the Conservation District and the Bureau of Land Management. The bill was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar, a Democrat from Redlands, and co-sponsored by former Rep. Paul Cook, a Republican from Apple Valley.
The wash plan specifically designates land for mining, which brings around $36 million to the region annually. The Wash Plan Preserve was designed to protect, monitor and restore the endangered species in the wash. The plan also allows for enhanced capture of water from rivers and streams to recharge the groundwater supply.
The San Bernardino Valley is really a desert, but irrigation and groundwater supplies have allowed agriculture to flourish. In 1910, the Water Conservation Association was organized to conserve water from the Santa Ana River in its groundwater basin for future use. In 1931, locals voted to create the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District to prevent the excessive export of water from agencies further downstream. Eventually, the Water Conservation Association dissolved and transferred its property to the Conservation District.
The Water Conservation Act of 1931 gave the Conservation District broad authority to conserve water by allowing it to acquire property through eminent domain, owning and operating hydroelectric plants, owning and operating recreational facilities and intervening in the actions of other agencies when the natural flow of streams is interrupted.
The district operates water recharge facilities at Mill Creek and the Santa Ana River. Groundwater recharge occurs when water seeps into the ground to replenish underground aquifers.
Betsy Miller, general manager of the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, explained that the ground in the San Bernardino Valley is porous, which allows water to sink into the ground. The water that sinks into underground aquifers is clean and protected from evaporation meaning that it is undisturbed underground. The district specifically recharges the Bunker Hill Basin at the top of the Santa Ana watershed. The basin receives all the surface water runoff from the headwaters of the Santa Ana River, Mill Creek and Lytle Creek. Annually, the District recharges about 16,000 acre-feet of water. One acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons of water, which provides enough water for one family for one to two years. The Bunker Hill Basin provides water to nearly 650,000 people in Redlands, Highland, San Bernardino, Loma Linda, Colton, Rialto, Bloomington, Fontana, Grand Terrace and Riverside.
The trailhead to the Santa Ana River Trail at Waterman Avenue is behind the parking lot at the San Bernardino County Hall of Records.
Multi-use trails for cyclists and pedestrians connect people from surrounding areas to the unique natural landscapes of the San Bernardino Valley. Community trails in Highland and Redlands are being created and maintained by the Redlands Conservancy and the cities of Redlands and Highland. The San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District is working on a series of trails that will extend through the Santa Ana Wash. Several of these trails will connect with the eventual expansion of the Santa Ana River Trail. Miller is a strong proponent of bringing more trails to the area. She likened the connecting of the trails to riverways.
“Trails offer tremendous benefits to the community. The health of the community improves with access to trails,” said Miller.
The plans to connect ancillary trails to the Santa Ana River Trail will expand exploration of the wash which in turn will help conservation efforts. The Santa Ana River Trail was first conceived of in the 1950s and has been in development for over 40 years. Today, the trail is 60% complete. There is a gap in San Bernardino County from Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino to Garnet Street in Mentone.
Once completed, the trail will run from the Santa Ana River mouth at Huntington Beach to the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. The trail spans through Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and serves the 7 million residents of the three counties.
In June, Redlands City Council signed a letter in support of the trail extension
In 2018, portions of the trail that run through Orange County were lined with homeless encampments. Orange County removed several tons of debris and feces from the encampments and moved the homeless out of the area to improve trail safety and accessibility.
The California Coastal Conservancy has been a major player in the completion of the Santa Ana River Trail for the past 15 years. According to Coastal Conservancy Communications Director Taylor Samuelson, the it works with a policy advisory group in San Bernardino County to create policy, design the project and assist in community outreach. Samuelson confirmed that the Coastal Conservancy granted San Bernardino County $300,000 in 2007 to plan and design a multi-use trail from Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino to Alabama Street in Redlands. In 2015, the county was granted $3.9 million by the conservancy to construct the 3.8- mile segment between Waterman Avenue and California Street. The grant was subsequently augmented by $500,000. The Coastal Conservancy believes that the Santa Ana River Trail’s completion will help revitalize the 100-mile Santa Ana River and its 600 miles of tributaries.
San Bernardino Regional Parks is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the sections of the Santa Ana River Trail that cut through the county. The planning and development of the San Bernardino County portions of the trail were broken into four phases. Phases I and II are complete and comprise 7.5 miles of trail starting at Waterman Avenue to the Riverside County line. The entrance to the trail at Waterman is tucked behind the San Bernardino County Hall of Records.
Phase III will consist of a 3.6-mile stretch from Waterman Avenue to California Street. Phase IV will connect the trail from California to Garnet Street in Mentone, which will connect the trail to the already existing portion in the San Bernardino National Forest.
The trail is a class I bike path, which is intended for multiple uses with a specific emphasis on cycling. Pedestrians and cyclists have the exclusive right of way on class I bike paths and there is little intersection with automotive roadways. The new sections of the trail will consist of a combination of concrete bike paths and packed decomposed granite.
The construction of the trail has a number of environmental mitigation measures — specifically to protect the San Bernardino Kangaroo Rat. There are clauses in the California Environmental Quality Act Initial Study, published in January 2020, that state an on-call biologist must be on the project team in the case that a rat is killed or harmed. Another portion of the plan states that construction of the trail must avoid the creation of berms, which is a narrow shelf or ledge at the top or bottom of a slope. The San Bernardino kangaroo rat is attracted to the narrow berms, which would bring the rats closer to construction and harm's way.
The designs for phase III are complete and construction was expected to begin last month, but the submitted bids for construction came in higher than the allocated funding. San Bernardino Regional Parks is seeking additional funding to move forward with construction. Phase IV of project planning is broken down into three sub-phases, IV-A, IV-B and IV-C. Phase IV-A is still in the design stage while B and C designs have been completed. As of now, there is not yet funding for phase IV.
Slender-horned spineflower: Listed as a state and federal endangered species, this annual herb grows in 22 places in foothill drainage areas of San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties. It blooms between April and June.
Cactus wren: It’s not yet listed as endangered, but former Land Resource Manager Jeff Beehler predicts it will be if residential development continues to grow in the San Gorgonio Pass
San Bernardino kangaroo rat: This federally protected endangered species has large hind feet with four toes for jumping, long tail for balance while jumping and cheek pouches for foraging. It grows to about 3.7 inches.
California gnatcatcher: This endangered bird lives in California’s coastal scrub brush. It grows to about 4 inches. It is dusky gray with a black crown and a thin black beak.
Woollystar: The endangered woollystar plant is in spring in the Santa Ana River Wash.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.