Laguna Greenbelts group logs successes

BARBARA DIAMOND

Almost 100 people showed up at the annual Laguna Greenbelts Inc.

meeting Feb. 24.

“I am gratified to see such a large group, but I am not

surprised.” said perennial President Elisabeth Brown.

A 15-minute slide show, created in the 1970s as an adjunct to a

study done by volunteers who wanted to preserve Aliso Creek, was the

lure. “Thirty Years and Counting: Saving Aliso Creek and Aliso

Canyon” was announced before Supervisor Tom Wilson kyboshed feelers

from Montage Resort and Spa about development into dedicated open

space beyond Aliso Creek Golf Course.

“A big thank you goes to Tom Wilson,” Brown said. “His position

was very good news. It is worth thanking him. If he gets 150 letters,

he will remember them.”

Brown said the recent proposals for Aliso Canyon were not the

first attempts to erode the dedicated open space, nor likely to be

the last.

“We can’t sit back and rest on our laurels,” Brown said.

The group is taking an active interest in the Rancho Mission Viejo

land-use plan that was approved by the Orange County Board of

Supervisors.

“We are among a small group of environmental groups that sued

about the developer agreement, so I can’t talk about it,” Brown said.

Brown also urged Greenbelt members and anyone interested in

gaining access to public parkland at El Morro to make known to state

legislators their objections to Assembly bills 328 and 329, sponsored

by Assembly members Chuck DeVore and Kevin McCarthy.

The assembly bills would keep the mobile home residents in El

Morro and the public out for another 30 years, environmentalists

said.

“It’s time for the public to get their park,” Brown said. “We need

to be heard.

“The $50 million for 30 years is less money than [the mobile home

owners] pay now. I can’t imagine that someone who fashions himself as

a watchdog could not realize that it doesn’t pencil out.”

The state Parks Department has already spent $3 million to plan --

and has secured necessary permits and funding for -- restoration of

the beach and canyon, as well as 60 camping sites and 200 day-use

spaces, according to a Greenbelt handout.

For more information about El Morro and who to contact, visit

website https://www.yourbeach.org

Rick Wilson announced that the Surfriders Foundation also has an

action alert about the bills on its website: https://www.surfrider.org

El Morro mobile home park is part of Crystal Cove State Park,

bought by the state from the Irvine Co. decades ago and every bit as

gut-wrenching for long-time residents to leave as the eviction of the

long-time residents in the cottages to south.

Laura Davick’s family was among 46 cottagers evicted a few years

ago. She founded the Crystal Cove Alliance to make the transition

from private homes to public park accommodations.

“Spending a night at Crystal Cove is just around the corner,”

Davick said. “Restoration of 22 of the 46 cottages will be completed

by Sept. 1 and open to the public by the end of the year.”

Tours of the historic neighborhood are held on the second Saturday

of each month. Visitors meet at noon at the Los Trancos parking lot.

However, the major focus of Laguna Greenbelt Inc. is the Laguna

Coast Wilderness Park.

“We have many programs and lots of volunteers and have had for 12

years,” Brown said.

Scott Thomas heads the volunteer programs, which include the

Wilderness Access Volunteers.

“They are called WAVs,” Thomas said. “They are the greeters who

give out maps and information and they patrol the trails. They are

the eyes and ears of the park.

“Their commitment is all the time that they can provide.”

Eleanor Henry, Marv Johnson and Chris Hearst were among the park

docents, also called trail guides, at the meeting.

“Chris puts on special hikes such as the Wildflower Hike, the

Geology Hike or the Bird Hike,” Thomas said.

Everyone can participate in work days: seeding with native plants,

collected in the park by nursery manager Robert Lawson; restoring

trails; or weeding The rains this winter have watered a bumper crop

of mustard, growing taller than a six-foot person .

“The Third Annual Cut the Mustard Day will be held April 16,”

Thomas said.

Information about activities is available at

www.lagunagreenbelt.org. Pam Strayer is the web master.

“We started with 12 volunteers in 1992,” Brown said.

Grants, Brown believes, makes new believers in environmental

causes.

“We give grants to teachers to bring students to the park and we

give a scholarship to a graduating senior at Laguna Beach High School

who has shown environmental interests,” Brown said. “We have to get

the next generation up and running.”

The Greenbelt spent $46,216.68 last year for its programs and

other expenses, reported Treasurer Norm Grossman. Lobbying for the

conversion of El Morro from a mobile home park to a public park cost

$20,007.74, putting expenses almost $5,000 higher than income.

However, the star of annual meeting was the Aliso Creek slide

show, which helped convince county supervisors in the 1970s to create

a specific plan for the creek. Sadly, the plan has not lived up to

its potential.

“The water was tested today and it was so full of bacteria you

wouldn’t believe it,” architect Ron Yao said.

The creek is 19 1/2 miles long, roughly from Cook’s Corner to

Aliso Beach. The headwaters are in the Cleveland National Forest.

“Our vision was a biking/hiking trail from the forest to the

ocean,” said landscape architect Bob Borthwick, who put together the

slide show.

The meeting closed with the announcement of re-elected board

members Ron Chilcote, Pamela Quigley, Dick Frank, Laura Stahlberg,

Patricia Twitty, Strayer and Johnson.

They rejoin board members Mary Fegraus, Harry Huggins, Wayne

Ybarra, Ben Blount, Thomas, Grossman, Borthwick and Brown, who has

been president so long some people think she was crowned, not

elected.

Annual meetings were begun in 1968.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 222 in the

Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949)

494-8979.