Covid crush

The global pandemic led to closures of beaches and trails around the world.  But differing levels of enforcement in neighboring jurisdictions led to unintended consequences.

The closure of beaches and trails in LA County resulted in significant overcrowding in Ventura County.  This prompted Ventura County to close beach parking up and down the coast, and jurisdictions such as Conejo Open Space District to close their trails.  This forced people further north.

Although beach parking was closed in the City of Ventura, beach access remained open.  Word travels quickly these days, and the crowds soon converged.

Crowds converge at C-St in Ventura with beach closures to the south, May 2, 2020
(Surfline webcam)

The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy's Ventura River Preserve, a relative unknown to out-of-towners, also quickly became a popular hot spot.   Overcrowding on weekends became such a problem that they too ultimately had to close trailheads on weekends starting May 15.

OVLC preserves have been experiencing an unprecedented high level of use resulting in significant resource management issues.

In an attempt to stay open for the past two weekends, OVLC took the extraordinary step of hiring outside security to remind folks of preserve rules and try to manage the crowds. While this has helped, streambank habitats and water quality are still being noticeably harmed. Visitors are trampling vegetation, disturbing the streambed, and have left mountains of trash.

Unfortunately, these issues leave us no choice but to close the Ventura River Preserve Trailheads (Oso, Riverview, and Old Baldwin Road) for the remainder of the month of May, Fridays – Mondays.

If one thing became more clear than ever, outdoor access is important, and even more during the pandemic.  With layoffs and families stuck inside with all beaches and trails closed within the metropolis to our south, Ventura County has been the closest escape.

In the news:

Patchwork of jurisdictions and closures add confusion to beach, park access
Ventura County closes Foster Park over crowds and illegal parking; cars clog Highway 150
Authorities respond to gunshot victim in Matilija Canyon
Coronavirus: Some call for parking restrictions after crowds slam local hiking trail
Trail-goers urged to avoid Wildwood this weekend as crowds, problems persist
Coronavirus: The latest on parking lot closures at Santa Monica Mountains parks, trails
Governor singles out Orange County beaches, spares Ventura County from closures

backcountry hazard - ticks and lyme disease

Mountain biking Middle Lion Trail, Sespe Creek watershed
 - Mountain Bike Action Magazine Nov 2013

Our area has some amazing backcountry.  So when the surf is flat, there's still lots of things to do.  I have hiked and biked the local trails for decades, and generally spent a lot of time outdoors.  Apart from the usual cuts and bruises (and a mild concussion), I've always stayed fairly safe. No rattlesnake, scorpion, or shark bites.  But last April, a ride on the trail pictured above changed my life.

Hard to imagine something so tiny has the potential
 to wreak so much havoc

Over the years I must have been bitten by hundreds of ticks.  But this time I got a bad one.  I'd always heard of Lyme Disease, and was aware of the potential hazard from ticks.  If caught soon, ticks can be removed fairly easily.  But left on the body for too long, a tick will embed itself under the skin to feed on your blood.  Along with anticoagulants and anesthetics, it can inject a potentially life threatening bacteria into your body - a spiral-shaped bacteria (spirochete) called Borrelia burfgdorferi.


Common on the East Coast of the United States, Lyme Disease is becoming more prevalent in our area.       Some attribute this spread to our intrusion on natural processes and climate change.  It seems everyone I talk to knows someone affected by it.  Unfortunately mistreatment and misdiagnosis is the norm, which can lead to long term disability and even death.

I will be ok, but it will take many months to recover.  Although my initial diagnosis and treatment was inadequate, I am now under the care of  a LLMD (Lyme Literate MD.)   But this was only because I knew exactly what happened and received good referrals.  Those less fortunate endure years of misdiagnosis and an endless misery that I would wish on nobody.

According to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS):

• Up to fifty percent of ticks in Lyme-endemic areas are infected with Lyme or other tick-borne diseases. With odds like that, if you have proof or a high suspicion that you've been bitten by a tick, taking a "wait and see" approach to deciding whether to treat the disease has risks. The onset of Lyme disease symptoms can be easily overlooked or mistaken for other illnesses. Once symptoms are more evident the disease may have already entered the central nervous system, and could be hard to cure. This is one case in which an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure.

Research shows that Lyme is present throughout California, as illustrated in this map.

Download the data here: http://www.smcmad.org/data/brochures/tickborne/detection_lyme_disease_ca_ticks_03.pdf

As early as 1999, LA County vector control documented Lyme carrying ticks in the Santa Monica mountains recreation area.  More recently, a 2013 press release alerted the public that Lyme Disease-Carrying Ticks Found Lurking in New Areas in Santa Monica Mountains.

Who knows why Ventura County and local doctors are still in denial?

I post this information so people will be aware that Lyme Disease is a serious problem in Southern California, and that although your general practitioner may not be 'lyme literate,' there are doctors who can help.

 …

The film "Under Our Skin" exposes the horrors of Lyme and the controversy and conflicts surrounding the disease.  The full feature is here:  http://youtu.be/2JgR_Jfbhv8





More info:

Tips to Avoid Lyme Disease:  http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/lyme_tips.html

Under Our Skin Movie: http://underourskin.com


TOUCHED BY LYME: Ski champ shares her “LymeLight” in new film - See more at: http://lymedisease.org/news/touchedbylyme/lymelight-film.html


The Rise of the Tick, OUTSIDE MAGAZINE, JUNE 2013

Ticks Test Positive for Lyme Disease at Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills

Rafting the Ventura River

On March 22, 2011, a small group from the Ventura River Stream Team took advantage of spring flows in the Ventura River. The group has been talking about running the river for years, waiting for an opportunity with adequate flows to safely navigate downstream.

The original intent was to put in at the Ventura River Preserve and float the river all the way out to sea. But upon arriving at the Hwy 150 bridge, a couple of miles downstream from the trailhead, it was clear that it would be tough to navigate the rocky river. Although there was over 700 cfs flowing from the Matilija Creek confluence upstream, most of this water was being directed over to Lake Casitas at the Robles Diversion.

The group ended up putting in at Santa Ana Rd, where the channel is a bit narrower. Flows were still a bit low, and there was some 'pushing' involved to get through the shallow spots. Upon reaching the San Antonio Creek confluence things got more interesting. In some locations it was difficult to navigate through the willows, but the group made it to Foster Park. A smaller group decided to continue on downstream, and made it all the way to the ocean.





Watch the video on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVLNtouaRA4

The USGS surveyors were out that day and measured flow at Foster Park to be around 400 cfs, as noted by the red dot on the hydrograph.

Margo's epic paddle

Seattle to San Diego - by canoe - to raise ocean awareness.

Margo is one tough woman, on a mission to help the ocean. Knowing she was on the way, I wanted to do my part to welcome her to Ventura and get out the press. A few e-mails and I had the local paper, KVTA radio, cable TV, a couple of ocean paddlers, as well as contact with the Hokulo Outrigger Canoe Club who I hoped could provide overnight storage for her boat.

After tracking her progress all day, I put in at Emma Wood and paddled with her for a couple of miles around the mouth of the Ventura River - I had hoped to point out the view looking up the watershed to the 6,000 ft mountains, the land-sea connection to which this blog is dedicated. Although it was sunny and 99 degrees in Ojai, we could hardly see the beach through the thick fog. I came ashore at Surfers Point, releasing Margo from the burden of waiting for me on my slow sit-on-top kayak.

The Hokulo crew paddled out to meet her, and the press was there at the Ventura Harbor. She endured an hour of interviews, obviously cold from her all-day paddle from Santa Barbara.

I had organized with June, her one-woman ground support crew, for them to stay in our guest room. After a hot shower we went up to meet with our local Surfriders who were holding a meeting and spaghetti dinner.

I hope our guests remember Ventura, one of their countless nightly stops on the epic paddle along the Pacific coast. I am in awe of Margo's energy and dedication, and June's steadfast optimism.

In the news: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/sep/02/woman-taking-canoe-down-west-coast-stops-in/

Paul Jenkin, Surfrider Foundation Ventura Chapter environmental director, said he had originally hoped to celebrate the passage of legislation banning plastic bags in California when he met up with Pellegrino at sea. But he was disappointed to see the Single-Use Bag Reduction Act, Assembly Bill 1998, defeated by the California Senate Tuesday on a 21-14 vote. “It is disheartening to see elected officials react to industry pressure,” Jenkin said, noting that such bans can be enacted on the local level. “It’s time for the city of Ventura to step up.”





See Margo's video interview here:http://www.surfandriverreport.com/

Matilija Falls access blocked

This summer, public access to a portion of Matilija Creek has been closed by the landowner. The popular hike to Matilija Falls now become 'off limits.'

This has also impacted our steelhead surveys. Biologists have been monitoring this section of creek since 2002, and when the landowner denied access this year it created a data gap in the annual population studies.


A sign at the trailhead shows the private inholdings within the National Forest.


In the news:

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jun/18/hikers-to-matilija-falls-seek-access-on-private/

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/27/local/la-me-adv-matilija-falls-20100627

http://www.independent.com/news/2010/aug/02/holding-historic-trail/

Recreational Rivers

Saturday Feb 6, 2010:
Santa Clara River Kayak Run

I got a call Saturday morning. "Ventura River's only 70 cfs at Foster Park. But it looks like the Santa Clara may be do-able."

We are so fortunate to have two rivers in Ventura...

The rain had just started to come down in full force again. "I'm in. Let's do it!"



Most folks don't consider the recreational possibilities on these rivers in Southern California. After all, they're dry most of the time... Until they flood, and that's often not a safe option. But this year's series of storms has raised base flows so that the couple of inches of rain that fell on Friday made for potentially steady flows in the rivers.

The Ventura River had about 170cfs (cubic feet per second) in Matilija Creek, which when added to the 70 cfs in the North Fork made for over 200 cfs in the upper Ventura River. Enough to paddle a kayak in that reach of the river. The problem was that Casitas Water District was diverting the bulk of the flow into Lake Casitas at the Robles Diversion. So flows downstream of the diversion dam were still far from boat-able.








That's how four of us ended up driving out to Santa Paula with a carload of kayaks on Saturday afternoon. We put in at a steep streambank, and paddled into the fast-flowing chocolate brown river. The river quickly moved us downstream, with multiple opportunities for small surfing waves and class 2 rapids. Despite the rain and drizzle, we were having a blast!











Several miles downstream we approached the Vern-Freeman Diversion Dam. An operator on the intake works starting waving frantically at us as we approached, pointing us to the opposite bank. We knew the dam would mean a portage, and it turned out to be fairly straightforward once we bushwhacked through the willows.







After dragging our boats along the dam and lowering them down, we put back in below the man-made cascade. Paddling along the face of the dam and over to the fish intake, it was obvious why there is a need for re-design for fish passage around this facility. A fish would have a hard time detecting the fish intake from the bigger flows coming over the dam, and even then a drain pipe was delivering a muddy soup right into the entrance pool. A recent CalTrout legal settlement has initiated a design process that will hopefully remedy this problem. After all, steelhead must make it past this obstacle in order to reach the endless habitat in the Sespe Wilderness upstream.












Downstream of the diversion, things started to get a bit more urban. We passed below several large freeway bridges, wondering if anyone was noticing the small flotilla headed down the river. The bridges produced a few nice holes to play in before heading downstream again.










Down in the lower Santa Clara, just a couple of miles up from the estuary, is where things got a bit interesting. Here we almost got lost in the numerous small channels flowing through the willows. It took a bit of creative bushwhacking to find our way out to open water again. A short way downstream, we flushed out flocks of duck that became silhouetted against the sunset sky. It almost felt as if we were in another part of the state.







Tired from paddling all afternoon, and with daylight dwindling fast, I was glad to see the Harbor Blvd bridge ahead. We made the 14 miles down to the estuary from Santa Paula in about 3 hours.












We are looking forward to the next rains in the hopes that we will be able to paddle down the Ventura River. Let us know if you want to come along!




More on recreational rivers here:

http://brt-insights.blogspot.com/2009/02/santa-clara-river-overview-california.html