In the days before lockdown, a lone hiker takes to the scenic, seldom crowded, Side Hill Trail.
If you’ve been out in the canyon during the last few weeks you’ve surely noticed a steady increase in numbers of people enjoying nature during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Claremont Canyon neighbors are walking out their door to hike the steep, sunny trails of the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve on the canyon’s northern slope or are finding their way to the shaded walks along the Loop Trail in Garber Park and the Willow and Summit House trails near Signpost 29 on the canyon’s southern slope. With stay-at-home orders, it’s allowed to enter Claremont Canyon to exercise and enjoy but strict social distancing rules must be obeyed.
Currently, however, many regional parks have closed due to the inability of park goers to stay six feet away from each other. Activities such as walking, hiking, dog walking, and running are allowed along streets and, for the time being, in parks in Oakland and Berkeley. This could change. County rules call for face coverings in public places, though not necessarily while engaged in outdoor exercise. If you do venture outside, enjoy breathing in the spring air, but do not congregate and stay far away from others. Carry a mask in case you need it.
Park managers are finding that Bay Area parks are intimately intertwined. Not only are some parks physically connected, but when one park closes, other parks are impacted.
A new organization has recently emerged whose mission is to conceive Bay Area land use as a whole. TOGETHER Bay Area (formerly called the Bay Area Open Space Council) is a region-wide coalition of nonprofits, public agencies, and indigenous tribes “working for lands, people and communities.” TOGETHER Bay Area has 55 member organizations (the Claremont Canyon Conservancy is one) in 10 counties serving 7.5 million residents. As the pandemic unfolds, TBA promotes resource sharing to develop solutions to numerous problems. Beyond issues related to the pandemic and overcrowding of parks, TBA covers the gamut of land use concerns from societal fairness to climate change to wildfire preparedness.
TBA reminds its member organizations that risk-reduction work to promote wildfire safety is an essential activity and needs to be kept in motion and funded now, even as new problems emerge.
As this newsletter goes to press, some East Bay regional parks remain open for foot traffic but many are closed or restricted in some way. Check ebparks. org/coronavirus. City sports facilities are closed but city parks generally are open. Oakland has launched a “slow streets” initiative setting aside up to 10% of the city’s streets for recreation. As of now, Oakland’s Garber Park at the base of Claremont Canyon is open as is UC land in Claremont and Strawberry canyons.
