An environmental group with a mission to preserve the endangered Pacific pocket mouse and manage lands on the Dana Point Headlands is appealing a recent decision by Dana Point’s Planning Commission to allow daily trail use on its land.
In May, the commission approved a development permit setting hours for the Bluff Top Trail, which runs across the large rock outcropping covered with coastal sage and other native plants. The land is home to the mice — in 2022, there were 77 — and the threatened California gnatcatcher.
The permit allows the public to enjoy the natural lands and scenic outlooks over the Pacific Ocean daily from dawn to dusk.
Now, officials with the Center for Natural Lands Management — who want the trail used fewer days with more limited hours — have appealed the city’s permit for access to the California Coastal Commission, citing their concerns over protecting the pocket mouse, which is found in only two other locations (Camp Pendleton and Laguna Coast Wilderness Park).
In their appeal, they contend that the city’s granting of the permit is inconsistent with local coastal programs for development and public access.
The Coastal Commission — with support from two commissioners — is expected to take up the issue in July to determine if there are substantive issues with what the city’s commission approved.
If they find there is, said Sarah Mueller, an attorney for CNLM, then the “Coastal Commission starts with a new permit that is consistent with the coastal programs for use and access per the Coastal Act.”
Disagreement over the trail use between Dana Point and CNLM has gone on for years. A court order in 2022 allowed for the daily use; the Planning Commission’s recent decision made it official.
“We believe this is such an important visitor-serving coastal amenity that daily access needs to be maintained as the baseline,” said Dana Point Mayor Jamey Federico. “We understand adaptive management and that the trail needs to be closed from time to time based on data. But, we believe CNLM needs to be taking every possible action to improve the pocket mouse population before they consider trail closures.”
CNLM, with a grant from the Steel Foundation, bought the land from developer Sanford Edward in 2005 for $11.9 million with the purpose of preserving the two endangered animals, among other species and plants. The money is invested and is expected to last in perpetuity, Mueller said.
The group also received $800,000 from the Department of Defense “to mitigate for what they’re doing at Camp Pendleton” to help the mice population.
As the Headlands Development and Conservation Plan requires, CNLM is responsible for the preservation and day-to-day management, and the public trail, for which the city has an easement, must also be accessible.
The trail, which opened in 2009, had the same public hours until early in the coronavirus pandemic when CNLM closed it. Once it reopened, access was limited until 2022.
Since then, the Coastal Commission has said a conditional use permit must be obtained to establish hours for public use on the trail, which is what the Planning Commission did in May.
But Mueller said the commission’s action overstepped its authority. She said the trail’s “amount of use” has doubled since it first opened and the “presence of people alone has an impact on the species and interferes with their reproduction and foraging.”
The group keeps track of the mice by gathering data that helps them understand how the population is doing, said Mueller. They also collect the number of people that come through the gates to the Headlands preserve and trail. By looking at this data, they’ve determined more use shows impacts to the mouse population, Mueller said.
Dana Point officials have criticized the group for not doing enough to support the mice’s habitat and for not being receptive to cross-breeding it with other species from the base.
Mueller said CNLM isn’t responsible for breeding but that it is done with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. The latter has bred some of the mouse population, with offspring freed at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park several years ago.
“I’m not sure the program at the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park has been that successful,” she said, adding that the center’s preferred public-use hours would be four days a week, including Saturday and Sunday. In the summer, the group’s suggested hours would be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and in the winter, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“That would allow for less traffic during the low-light hours when the mice are more active,” she said.
But Federico said the city isn’t interested in setting the “arbitrary hours” until the area is managed correctly and the mice born are “genetically viable.”
“This should all be required before a trail closure is considered,” he said.
“We hope the Coastal Commission will understand the importance of this low-cost, visitor-serving coastal amenity,” he added. “We hope an adaptive plan that defaults to the trail being open is something the commission appreciates.”
