By Camas Frank
Attention tourists, the City of San Luis Obispo loves travel money and they’re happy that SLO County’s second most recognizable natural landmark is just a quick bike ride away from Downtown, but they’re afraid its being overvisited.
On July 7, the SLO City Council voted 4-0, with Councilman John Ashbaugh abstaining, to crack down on two of the most noticeable visitor abuses of the Bishop Peak Natural Reserve and adopt a management plan to address additional resident concerns.
Anyone caught hiking up the foothills towards the peak after dark and careless dog owners can both look forward to paying $489 in penalties. In order to wrangle the 150,000 annual visitors that the reserve attracts, three new City park ranger positions have been opened up and, the City’s Natural Resources manager Bob Hill told the Council, the new recruits will have plenty to keep their hands full.
Back to those dogs, one of the primary complaints of hikers is coming across little time bombs of bagged doggy-droppings that an owner wanted to be seen to pick up but lacked the fortitude to carry home with them. Trash service at the trailheads is one of the improvements called for in the management plan.
Although the only Bishop trailhead visible from a major city thoroughfare is on Foothill Boulevard, where a small roadside parking area was recently resurfaced, the official entrances are on Patricia and Highland drives, where parking is scarce.
The City is now implementing a “Good Neighbor Policy” with an eye towards communication with resident groups in the area. Some neighbors, along with the residents in the Laguna Lake area had previously visited City Council meetings to express concerns that government is happy to take their higher property taxes from living near open space attractions, without returning proportionate neighborhood services.
A problem affecting public access to the reserve is very much related to City provided services. Every 10 days to two weeks, emergency services are called out for assistance, often after dark. It’s not a bad number considering several hundred daily visitors, but it can get expensive.
So, although the City’s policy regarding access to open space has always been that the parks close an hour after sunset and opens an hour before sunrise, the message is being reinforced. Take in the view and then get down from there.
To help improve conditions for visitors and smooth the descent, upgraded trail signs, better maps and anti-erosion efforts were recommended in the staff report.
