Park Reopens to Children 9 Years After Lion Attacks

Nine years after two mountain lion attacks that eventually led to the banning of children from Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided to let the children return.

“This is great news,” said Tim Miller, manager of the county’s regional park system. “We are absolutely happy. Children, especially in an urbanized place like Orange County, need to experience nature.”

Miller said his office will submit a plan within 45 days to allow children unrestricted access to the 7,800-acre park’s picnic areas and visitors center. In addition, he said, the plan will allow them to participate in guided tours--expected to be scheduled about twice a day--along the park’s 30 miles of wilderness trails.

“The wildlife out there is fantastic,” Miller said of the park, considered by many the crown jewel of the county’s park system. “Children need to have that experience, but it has to be safely done.”

Supervisor Marian Bergeson, who had requested the change, echoed those sentiments. “I think this is a strikingly beautiful park and it brings Californians face to face with their heritage,” she said Tuesday after the board’s unanimous action. “I think it’s an experience that all Orange Countians deserve to enjoy.”

In 1986, a 5-year-old girl visiting the park with her parents was mauled by a mountain lion, losing the use of one eye and suffering partial paralysis. And seven months later, another cougar attacked and injured a 6-year-old boy.

County officials responded within months by closing all but the park’s visitors center and front picnic area to anyone younger than 18. Then, after a $2-million court award to the injured girl’s family in 1992, the supervisors voted to ban children from the park altogether.

One result has been a dramatic drop in park attendance, leading to a doubling of the county’s cost per visitor.

Two recent developments put the park’s reopening on the county’s agenda, according to Bergeson.

First, a community letter-writing campaign had prompted more than 100 letters. Secondly, Bergeson said a recent court ruling in Central California set a precedent protecting governments from liability in mountain lion attacks.