PIRU : Toad Study to Delay Reopening of Trail

The U.S. Forest Service will delay the reopening of a motorcycle trail through a rare toad habitat until officials review contradictory scientific opinions about the toads’ safety, officials said Monday.

Deputy Forest Supervisor Mark J. Madrid put the project on hold after three appeals were filed before the Jan. 26 deadline, all claiming that the agency’s plan to protect the arroyo toad habitat did not go far enough, officials said.

As a result, the popular Snowy Trail, which crosses Piru Creek in Los Padres National Forest, will remain closed, and no work to prepare for its reopening will be done until Madrid reviews all the information. “That could take some time,” said Earl Clayton, agency spokesman.

The agency developed a plan that officials believed would avoid harming the toads, which are on the state’s list of species in danger of extinction.

Under the plan, the creek crossing would be moved 10 feet downstream, flat rocks would be laid in the stream bed to prevent silt from being stirred up, and fences would be constructed to keep cyclists from riding off the trail.

Officials had hoped to reopen the trail by spring.

Although the appeals will delay the opening, one of the appellants said there is no guarantee that the trail won’t eventually be used by motorcyclists.

“That stay does not necessarily imply that the project won’t go through this year,” said Sam Sweet, a UC Santa Barbara biologist who is considered an international expert on the arroyo toad. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

By placing rocks over the stream bed, federal officials intended to minimize damage to the habitat, Sweet said.

But since young toads like to crawl under rocks, “what they would be doing is attracting them . . . . That sort of burned me up,” he said.

The Urban Creeks Council filed an appeal, and a joint appeal was submitted by the Sierra Club and Los Padres Biodiversity Group.