Foundation for the future

Barbara Diamond

Laguna Coast Wilderness Park is in full bloom, just in time for a

special visitor’s day Saturday.

Special hikes are planned for the annual celebration. This year’s

theme is “Looking Ahead.”

Orange County 5th District Supervisor Tom Wilson, Laguna Canyon

Foundation President Michael Pinto and Irvine Ranch Land Reserve

Trust Executive Director Michael O’Connell will present a preview of

the park’s future.

“I just had a grandbaby and it’s kind of neat to think of her

asking daddy to take her to the park,” Wilson said. “The park is very

special and it’s there in perpetuity.”

It takes a look back to really understand what the park means to

Laguna and all of its visitors. For openers, imagine another Laguna

Niguel instead of Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on the city’s border.

“The park owes its existence to the strong sense of preservation

that Lagunans have always had,” foundation Executive Director Mary

Fegraus said. “The topography drew people with a sense of adventure.

It’s a precious area and people appreciate it being preserved.”

Artists were among the earliest to appreciate the natural beauty

of the wilderness, as well as the ocean, and for years it seemed as

if Laguna Canyon would be preserved only on their canvasses.

Those who entertained the notion of actually saving a bit of

nature were called “tree huggers,” a term more pejorative then than

complimentary, and castigated as blockers of progress.

Still, and to their credit, Orange County Board of Supervisors

approved in 1973 James Dilley’s concept of a greenbelt. It took 20

more years to create Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, dedicated in April

1993.

The city bought its first land in Laguna Canyon in 1978 and named

it the James Dilley Preserve in honor of the founder of Laguna

Greenbelt Inc.

“I don’t think expansion of the greenbelt was first and foremost

in most people’s minds at the time,” Fegraus said.

Development was picking up speed in South County. Clusters of

homes were springing up overnight. In some areas, hills were leveled

to fill canyons to make buildable lots where Mother Nature had

intended water to flow -- at a lamentable price paid later.

Not all developers are evil; nor are all environmentalists

angelic. Both can be misguided, according to Fegraus. But they can

come to terms.

Many preservationists considered Irvine Co. owner Donald Bren the

devil incarnate in the heyday of development. Not Fegraus.

“When we had the kickoff dinner for the park in 1990 at the Hotel

Laguna, Bren appeared and said he had many fond memories of the

canyon and hoped it would all work out,” Fegraus said.

At the time, Bren’s company had county approval to construct 3,200

homes, stores, schools and a golf course on the Laguna Laurel site in

Laguna Canyon.

“They could have just moved ahead and built a whole new city,”

Fregraus said. “The acquisition of Laguna Laurel was a watershed.”

The acquisition was also the foundation for the wilderness park,

the legacy of Laguna to Orange County and a living memorial to the

residents who united to preserve the canyon.

An overwhelming 80 percent of the city’s residents responded to

the heartfelt leadership of Councilwoman Lida Lenney, founder of the

Laguna Canyon Conservancy. They voted to tax themselves $20 million

to buy the first of the five parcels of the Laguna Laurel package.

“Everyone down there like Mary and Carolyn [Wood] has done a

wonderful job of advocacy, but they had no trouble convincing me,”

Supervisor Wilson said.

“I am certainly for the BIA [Building Industry Association], but I

don’t want to build on every blade of grass in the county. I am lucky

to be the South County Supervisor. Some of the other supervisors are

not so fortunate to inherit open space.”

County grants and state funds voted by the public helped pick up

the tab for the parkland. And Brens’ jaw-dropping gift of the last

Laguna Laurel parcel completed the circle of open space that girdles

Laguna -- the fulfillment of a dream.

“The park forms a backdrop for Laguna Beach,” Fegraus said.

“Residents have spent a great deal of time and money to create it.”

It is also a responsibility to the future, and residents are

mindful of their duties.

Volunteers contributed 2,017 hours to the park and its visitors in

2004 and 593 hours already this year.

“We have different classes of docents,” Park Ranger Larry Sweet

said. “There are the docents who lead hikes and WAVs that meet and

greet visitors and stewards with subsets that pull exotic weeds,

maintain trails and work in the Native Plant Nursery that we started

last year.”

Almost 4,000 people have visited the park in the first four months

of 2005, and Sweet anticipates that number will double in the next

four months.

“Last year, we had 16,000 visitors, but the park was closed in the

early months due to the rains,” Sweet said.

The Dilley Preserve, with its less strenuous hikes and draw of the

only natural lakes in Orange County, has been closed since August

2005 and is still closed for the Laguna Canyon Road realignment.

Visitors hike, mountain bike, cycle, ride horses, take photographs

or just smell the flowers. They are experiencing the innate

connection of humans and nature, an all-too-scarce experience in

highly urbanized areas such as Orange County.

“When I talk to park visitors, I sense it is more than ‘oh that’s

a pretty flower,’ ” Fegraus said. “It’s just natural land people can

enjoy, not developed and not a ‘turf park,’ where they play

baseball.”

But it’s more.

“Life is not very permanent,” Fegraus said. “So many things are

transitory. But the park is not a building that will fall down. It

gives a sense of permanence and of our history.”

May 7, visitors can celebrate both the history and the future of

the park from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hikers may explore on their own or take special guided hikes. Free

shuttles will leave the Willow Canyon staging area, 20101 Laguna

Canyon Road, at 8 and 9 a.m.

The 8 a.m. shuttle will take visitors to Irvine Ranch Land Reserve

to begin hikes of three, four or six hours over Serrano Ridge. The 9

a.m. shuttle will head for Ridge Park, where less strenuous 2 1/2-

and four-hour treks will start.

Hikers can also meet at 8 a.m. at the Willow Canyon trailer for a

3 1/2-mile, three-hour loop through Laurel Canyon.

Reservations are a must for the guided hikes. Call Rangers Sweet

or Barbara Norton at (949) 923-2235.

The ceremony featuring Wilson, Pinto and O’Connell will begin at

10:30 a.m. in Willow Canyon. Plans will be displayed of the Nix

Nature Center and a handicapped-accessible interpretive trail, to be

open in 2006.

Only rain could spoil the day. But not having a reservation could

put a damper on it.

The celebration is sponsored by the foundation, Laguna Greenbelt

Inc., The Nature Conservancy and Orange County Harbors, Beaches and

Parks division.

For more information, visit https://www.lagunacanyon.org or call

(949)855-7275.