Balancing Public Access with Saving a Critically Endangered Mouse in Dana Point

The Commission approved a consent enforcement agreement with the Center of Natural Lands Management (CNLM), who manage the Dana Point Preserve which includes a popular public access trail with coastal views along the headlands. The agreement centered on an immediate, interim reduction in trail hours — from 7am-to-sunset daily to only four days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8am-4pm in the winter, and 8am-6pm in the summer. The goal: protect the federally endangered Pacific Pocket Mouse population from dwindling toward extinction.

The mouse, whose habitat originally ranged along the coast from El Segundo to the border, was once thought extinct after 20th century coastal development decimated its population. Currently, they only exist in the Dana Point Preserve and at Camp Pendleton in North San Diego County. Foraging mostly at night, they remain extremely sensitive to sound and vibration from trail walkers, especially during early morning hours and at sunset when the trail sees its heaviest traffic. The most recent counts put their total numbers in the Preserve at well under 100. 

In addition to the interim reduced hours, CNLM must obtain permanent CDP authorization for trail hours consistent with Dana Point’s LCP (they currently have a pending CDP application with the City). They are also authorized to conduct selective vegetation thinning and weeding within the Preserve to open additional foraging habitat for the Pocket Mouse, which avoids thick vegetation. In lieu of penalties, CNLM agreed to fund and implement a public education program providing free weekly guided tours of the Preserve for Title 1 school students and the general public.

Although technically an enforcement action against CNLM, the Commission and CNLM were largely united in their mutual cause to protect the pocket mouse – the antagonist in this story was actually the City of Dana Point, who fought the enforcement action with legal arguments and open hostility towards CNLM’s management of the preserve. In essence, the City was hellbent on maintaining trail hours from 7am-sunset every day despite the imperiled Pocket Mouse, arguing that the current trail hours did not negatively impact the imperiled species. The Mayor, City Councilmember for that district, and their lawyer presented these arguments to the Commissioners in public testimony, claiming scientific backing despite direct contradiction from a wide range of actual conservation scientists and professionals. The Commissioners were unconvinced. They unanimously approved the enforcement agreement, earning them a Pro-Coast vote. 

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Like the Coastal Commission, ActCoastal closely scrutinizes any decision with negative impacts to public coastal access. However in this case - when current access patterns directly threaten the continued existence of an innocent, critically endangered species - the interim access reductions are warranted. Furthermore, Commission and CNLM staff noted two trails with similar coastal views directly adjacent to the Dana Point Preserve, both of which offer unrestricted public access. The reductions in public access at the Preserve can and will evolve depending on the health of the Pocket Mouse that depend on it; adaptive management will be integrated into the finalized CDP intended to govern long-term public access. Since CNLM owns and manages the Preserve, the finalized CDP will ideally give them the leeway they need to balance public access with the survival of the Pocket Mouse, with certain guardrails to ensure their decisions are based on facts on the ground. 

This enforcement agreement buys the Pocket Mouse population critical time — but the permanent CDP will determine whether that time translates into survival. Given that the CDP application is before the City of Dana Point, whose relationship with CNLM is contentious, the local process warrants close attention. If the City overreaches, that decision may need to be appealed back to the Commission.

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