BLUFFS TRAIL RIBBON CUTTING

Cyclists, joggers, surfers, and other beachgoers now have a much smoother ride, run, or walk to the beaches at Coal Oil Point. After seven years of negotiations and planning the West Campus Bluff Trail received much needed improvements this year. The half-mile long trail that snakes along the bluffs between the western edge of Isla Vista and Coal Oil Point is the main corridor for people to walk or ride from IV to Coal Oil Point.

The A.S. Coastal Fund and A.S. BIKES collaborated in the planning and gave over $150,000 to redesign and upgrade the trail to make it far more user friendly and durable. The California State Coastal Conservancy provided  $175,000 in matching funds for the project and the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) donated an additional $32,000 and oversaw the restoration work, which was carried out by student interns.

The project entailed re-grading, widening, and stabilizing the trail, which had become rutted and otherwise degraded from overuse and poor drainage. In fact, the condition of the trail was so poor that visitors sought alternative routes, creating a network of “social trails” that exacerbated erosion and impacted adjacent habitats. An ongoing feature of the project is to restore these areas with local native plants.

Completion of this project is a testament to the vision of the students who initiated the process. It also shows how the diligence of successive generations of students supported by A.S. staff members shepherded the project through the necessary university and state review processes and worked successfully with outside agencies to secure the matching funds that turned the original vision into reality.