Irvine City Council members heard a presentation on the findings of an investigation into Veeh Creek and Mule Deer open space areas to assess the possibility of expanding Irvine’s Southern Open Space Preserve during their Oct. 28 meeting. The assessment is the first step in determining possible trail connections that would connect existing southern city trails to Crystal Cove State Park.
Chris Slama, director of Community and Library Services, and Michael O’Connell, president and CEO of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, gave the presentation on the investigation, which assessed wildlife, human activity and existing infrastructure in the area.
Councilmember Mike Carroll and former City Manager Oliver Chi helped start the trail development initiative, and the City Council directed staff to determine the feasibility of developing new trails in February 2024.
The study collected data over a six-month period using technology, such as camera traps and trail counters, and used historical data as well as field observations. The findings were analyzed for another six months.
“One of the things that happened during this study was we had a lot of interesting reactions to the cameras and the counters being out there,” O’Connell said during the City Council meeting. “We had four cameras stolen. We had three memory cards stolen from cameras.”
O’Connell noted that because cameras were only serviced about once every two weeks up to two weeks worth of data could be lost depending on when cameras were stolen.
The investigation showed moderate levels of trespassing in both Veeh Creek and Mule Deer. Behavior included fence jumping and unauthorized use of motorized vehicles.
“It’s not constant, but we’ve had incidents in the past,,” O’Connell said. “Over the last 20 years, we had a small marijuana grow out there one time — which the chief and his team took care of immediately — we’ve had a homeless encampment, we’ve had small fire starts out there, we’ve had even someone who created a little private golf driving pad and was hitting golf balls out into the open space.”
When Councilmember Kathleen Treseder inquired about the safety of the investigated areas, O’Connell recommended that the city monitor the area more frequently.
The proposed area for the hiking trails is not a part of the 2007 Open Space South Recreation and Resource Management Plan. At the time, the land was not turned over to the city, because it was planned for development — which means that it is lacking in trail plans. Carroll inquired about any challenges that staff might face in trail planning considering certain sections of the land have different owners.
“The land immediately to the south — Laguna Laurel — is owned by the county, but there is a conservation easement in favor of the nature conservancy, and there are terms and conditions there,” O’Connell said. “However, there is a resource plan for that land that identifies some potential trails.”
The study also identified the Riparian Corridor as a sensitive area. The area has been affected by numerous invasive species after a series of fires and frequent cattle grazing. A project to restore degraded habitats has been underway since 2013.
Additionally, acoustic recorders detected the presence of multiple endangered bird species such as the Least Bell’s Vireo and the California Gnatcatcher near the Riparian Corridor. Treseder inquired about how adding a new trail could affect this sensitive area and if staff members had come up with possible solutions.
“If we can figure out a way to have access not in that area then that might be a good win-win,” O’Connell said.
An Irvine resident by the name of Jeremy shared his enthusiasm for the proposed trail system during public comments.
“I want to thank Councilmember Mike Carroll for kind of picking this up,” Jeremy said. “I know this was talked about a couple years ago and, personally, as a hiking enthusiast, I was really excited about it, and then it kind of just disappeared off the radar. So I’m just excited to see this get picked up again.”
The Irvine City Council directed Slama and O’Connell to draft up planning options for the trail space. The councilmembers did not indicate a deadline.
Alejandra Rodriguez Zepeda is a News Staff Writer. She can be reached at alejar16@uci.edu.
