The Loma Prietan
March 2000
Castle Rock Position Paper
Castle Rock State Park Environmental Position Paper #2, to Rusty Areias,
Director, state parks and recreation (DPR), and state parks commission
Presented by Barry Boulton, Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter; Bruce Bettencourt, Friends of Castle Rock State Park; Chris Erichsen, California Wilderness Coalition; Verna Jigour, Coast Ranges Ecosystem Alliance; Grey Hayse, Sierra Club, Santa Cruz Group of the Ventana Chapter Conservation Commitee
Authors: Barry Boulton, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter; Bruce Bettencourt, Friends of Castle Rock State Park; Chris Erichsen, California Wilderness Coalition; Verna Jigour, Coast Ranges Ecosystem Alliance
Introduction
In 1994, the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) began work on a General Plan update for Castle Rock State Park (CRSP), a process in which many local environmental organizations including the Loma Prieta Chapter have been deeply involved. While the science of conservation biology and landscape ecology has progressed rapidly in the last two decades, this science has been largely ignored by DPR in the General Plan process. The proposed General Plan is focused more on development than on protection and restoration. The Castle Rock General Plan public comment process is an extremely important opportunity to advise DPR on the preservation of native species and ecological processes in the Santa Cruz Mountains . This paper outlines the fundamental issues in the CRSP planning process. Now, the final public hearing before the parks commission to ratify the CRSP General Plan as written is set for March 8th. We invite Sierra Club members to urge DPR to postpone the parks commission ratification until the issues set out in this paper have been satisfied.
Background
Located high in the Santa Cruz Mountains , Castle Rock State Park (CRSP) has grown to over 3,800 acres since establishment in 1968, and is home to a vast range of wildlife. In 1994, state parks began work on a General Plan update for Castle Rock State Park. The proposed plan as written by DPR is inconsistent and ecologically damaging. While the purpose is "to preserve the outstanding natural resources and supporting ecosystems of the upper watershed of the San Lorenzo River," the plan moves the highest intensity uses of parking and camping to the heart of the park. In so doing, it makes access, regardless of ecological and human visitor quality of experience, the highest priority in contradiction to the stated purpose.
The DPR General Plan process has unfortunately resulted in a polarization between the user groups and the environmental community which is trying to bring contemporary ecological concepts, knowledge and information into the decision making process. The plan offers benefits to each of the user and resident groups so that they accept the whole plan without regard to its ecological and visitor experience values. We in the environmental community think that the plan could have been formulated such that the user groups would have been satisfied, and the ecological and visitor values enhanced had DPR been willing to engage in a deeper dialogue. The essence of the dispute between DPR and us is precisely that in their desire to hold on to an outmoded model of centralized parking and facilities, DPR was unable to view the larger perspective. We are concerned that future plans for other parks, most notably Big Basin as the next part undergoing the General Plan review process, will similarly suffer from restricted and outmoded plans.
Biology
Castle Rock State Park is a mosaic of seven habitat types, including oak woodlands, redwood forests, chaparral, grasslands and diverse riparian communities. Regionally, Castle Rock State Park protects the headwaters of the San Lorenzo River and Kings Creek. CRSP is an exceptionally scenic and biologically diverse component of the California coast range wilderness.
Implementation of the proposed General Plan will have a fragmenting effect on the core wild areas of the park. Moving the focus of visitor intensity to Partridge Farm will increase deleterious "edge effects" on this core wild area, exponentially decreasing the ecologically effective or functional size of the remaining wildlife habitats. This occurs because wildlife stays away from areas of consistent human activity, and because that same activity introduces exotic, non-native species into the ecosystem. Additionally, the introduction of cars, more people and their food into the Partridge Farm vicinity will invite the proliferation of aggressive generalist wildlife species such as Steller's Jays, European Starlings, ravens and raccoons that adapt well to human-modified environments. The effects of species displacement will be exacerbated by the inevitable widening of trails through the black oak forest, along with related soil compaction due to the perhaps illegal, but inevitable, increase in off-trail traffic. Such edge effects along the trails will further reduce habitat for certain species, and increase the spread of exotic pest plant species, compounding the fragmenting effects on woodland and forest habitats. Thus, the increase in magnitude, frequency, duration and intensity of visitor impacts along the ridgeline will cause edge degradation of habitat quantity and quality for both plant and animal species, as well as impacting watershed integrity.
Furthermore, we are concerned about the potential impacts of the proposed General Plan on the movement of necessarily wide-ranging species such as the mountain lion, a keystone species for its critical
Ecosystem-regulating function.
Landscape connectivity for wildlife movement is among our primary concerns. Intensified visitor use at Partridge Farm and the associated ridgeline, along with use extending into the nocturnal hours, will most likely have a constraining effect on the movement of mountain lions through the area. Male mountain lions have expansive home range sizes compared with their female counterparts. To ensure overall population stability, males must have sufficient freedom of movement to enable them to visit females in dispersed locations. It is likely that Castle Rock State Park serves as a critical node for mountain lion movement through the Santa Cruz Mountains . Habitat connectivity has already been compromised beyond acceptable levels throughout much of the region.
Further degradation of habitat connectivity for mountain lions will lead to cascading impacts down through successively lower levels in the food web.
Such impacts include overpopulation and disease of historic mountain lion prey species, along with population explosions of "mesopredators" - opportunistic exotic and native species whose populations are normally controlled by top predators such as mountain lions. In the absence of mountain lions' ecological regulatory role, mesopredators can wreak havoc on native species populations which haven't had sufficient time to adapt their behaviors to changing predator populations.
Further degradation of habitat connectivity for mountain lions will lead to cascading impacts down through successively lower levels in the food web. Such effects have been well documented in the literature of conservation biology and should have been considered and debated in the DPR planning process.
Moreover, these effects will, in turn, reduce the recreational opportunities for visitors seeking to experience the essential wild character of CRSP.
Wilderness
Although the Santa Cruz mountain range was extensively logged beginning in the mid-1850s, CRSP is one of the few places with remnant ancient redwood stands. CRSP is now a recovering wilderness which supports natural processes, one of the few wild areas in the bay area where wildlife can follow their own course. It is a genetic crossroads that facilitates wildlife and genetic flows up and down and transversely across the range, through big basin to the coast. These flows are essential for the long term sustainability of healthy natural communities in the mountain range environment. While the park contains critical habitat, it also presents proof that a grossly degraded environment can recover and thrive without human intervention.
Because DPR has proposed a General Plan containing the dramatic internal inconsistencies detailed earlier, the environmental community calls for the park either to be designated as a state wilderness park, or to be managed towards wilderness recovery with the long-term intent of formal wilderness designation. To date, DPR has resisted acceptance of these ideas in any form, preferring instead to focus single-mindedly on access as the highest priority.
We are seeking:
- The declaration of purpose for CRSP must state that the it will be managed toward an eventual wilderness designation. Wilderness designation for CRSP will enhance recreation opportunities, while guaranteeing the long-term integrity of the park's fragile ecosystems.
- There must be no significant changes in usage patterns (parking and access) until it is established that the changes will not result in negative environmental impacts or loss of habitat. All possible parking and access scenarios should be scientifically evaluated for their environmental impacts, including Partridge Farm, Tin Can Ranch, and Mt Bielowski. A draft of an "alternative preferred plan" has been presented to State Parks.
- The process by which the General Plan will be implemented and monitored (limits of acceptable change or visitor impact management) must be applied with the best biological science, free from politics, and open to public input, oversight and review at every step of the way.
- Postpone the March 8th public hearing before the State Parks Commission and re-write the General Plan to reflect the environmental opportunities discussed here.
- We call for a General Plan process of regional scope that will recognize CRSP as an integral part of a larger regional ecosystem, including Big Basin and other state parks. It is now clear that we should view ecological integrity along with visitor access and quality of experience on a regional basis. Different parks will offer differing ecological values and protection needs, and opportunities for visitor quality experience. Each park will not offer everything, but the regionally integrated whole can cater for both habitat/wildlife conservation along with user experience and fulfillment.
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If you would like to endorse the 5 positions above sign and mail to Barry Boulton, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, 3921 E. Bayshore Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303