Editorial: Connecting to nature in Ventura County
It has long been a point of pride in Ventura County that open space is an asset that is valued and protected. Increasingly in recent years, the value of adding an adjective to that asset — accessible open space — has been emphasized.
The most recent example is taking shape over Arroyo Conejo outside of Thousand Oaks, where a 140-foot long steel bridge is coming together. Expected to be completed next month, the bridge will improve the hiking connection between the 1,400-acre Conejo Canyons Open Space and the immensely popular Wildwood Regional Park.
The proximity of open space has always been something easily taken for granted in these parts. Take a look at a satellite image and it is obvious to see how the populated middle strip of Ventura County is bookended on the north and south by massive swaths of federally protected land — the Los Padres National Forest to the north, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to the south.
In what might be seen as a reversal of urban sprawl, the modern trend in Ventura County has been to draw that accessible open space inward toward the population centers. The most notable examples were the byproducts of two fierce development battles from the 1990s.
Today, rather than the 750-home golf course development to be called Jordan Ranch that was once proposed, Palo Comado Canyon offers hiking and horseback riding trails less than a mile off the Ventura Freeway. Not far to the north, over in the Simi Hills, sits the 5,600-acre Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space on land once envisioned as a city of 3,000 on a property that was called Ahmanson Ranch.
These were always open spaces. Today they are accessible open spaces.
The same trend has been unfolding in the hills above Ventura. Over the last several years, conservation trusts have purchased the hilltop lands, most recently the 1,645-acre Mariano Rancho, where the Ventura Land Trust is working to provide trails and rudimentary amenities that will make the land broadly accessible. The vision is to connect it with the Harmon Canyon Preserve to make available to hikers and naturalists 4,000 acres of canyons, oak groves and stream beds.
The trend extends to the flatlands. Down in Oxnard, the city and the two other property owners — the Nature Conservancy and the California Coastal Conservancy — have petitioned to have the federal government purchase and manage as a National Wildlife Preserve 650 acres of coastal wetlands at Ormond Beach. Should that effort succeed, the habitat would be managed, and accommodations provided to facilitate hikers and birdwatchers.
In Ventura County, the commitment to making open spaces accessible extends even beyond accommodations for humans. The initial phase of construction of what will become the nation’s largest wildlife crossing is expected to be completed over the Ventura Freeway later this year. It will enable deer, mountain lions and other wildlife to cross over the 10-lane freeway and connect habitats in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Of course, for wildlife the need to connect open spaces is existential, not recreational.
For humans in search of recreation, the possibilities continue to expand. From the center of the county — say, Camarillo — it is possible within an hour’s drive to go fly fishing on Piru Creek, surfing at Rincon Beach, birdwatching at Ormond Beach, hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains and picnicking in the Simi Hills.
Easy access to open space — to nature and all its wonder — is a blessing sometimes too easy to overlook. It has become a hallmark of this place.
To those who may be new here, let us offer this salutation: Welcome to Ventura County. Now, take a hike.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Editorial: Connecting to nature in Ventura County
