Douglas Family Preserve improvements will be detailed to the community in a meeting on site

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The 70-acre Douglas Family Preserve in Santa Barbara is in line for some improvements to eliminate dead trees and invasive plants.

The open space was preserved by the community in 1996 with a financial fundraising plan combined with grants, to save it from development. Actor Michael Douglas, who contributed the largest donation, requested the new park be known from then on as the Douglas Family Preserve. It was previously known as the Wilcox property. This is the largest open space within the city limits. It is very popular with dog owners with its off-leash area.

The site has several scenic overlooks to the ocean and Hendry's Beach - Arroyo Burro County Beach Park. It is also bordered by Arroyo Burro Creek.

The area high and low is heavily used. It also has a challenging combination of natural resources, wild vegetation, invasive species, threatened habitats, and downed dead trees.

Some work is done on an ongoing basis but more work is set for the trail maintenance, habitat restoration, wildfire prevention, and hazardous tree removal. 

Those are funded by the Douglas Family Preserve Endowment through the PARC Foundation and a CAL FIRE grant through the city’s Wildfire Resiliency Project.

A community meeting is set for Wednesday June 5 at 6 p.m. It will be held at the Medcliff entrance to the preserve.

The city will have staff on site to explain the project work and answer community members questions. They will also take suggestions from residents about ideas and priorities for the future of the open space.

Dennis Mitchell was walking his dog Lulu and said, "this is the first time she has been out with other dogs and it gives you that opportunity too. It's an off leash area.  Anytime you have a wild trail  kind of situation things can get over grown things do need to be maintained and upgraded a little bit.  All I can hope for is that they keep the spirit of what got this place established in the first place."

The flowers both native and non-native are adding color to the area but some will dry out and be a fire hazard by late summer.

Karen Hinds said, "when everything dries up everything should be whacked down, but as of now we should enjoy  how beautiful it is."

"People love the natural state of the preserve. The invasives are really strangling out a lot of the native species. So I think it needs to be addressed," said Megan McGinnis.

Removing dead and dangerous trees is also in the plan and for neighbors it is a safety concerns if a fire breaks out.

 McGinnis said, "it's fuel, it's just straight fuel for fires.  We just live three houses down so it definitely affects our family."

The balance of retaining the rustic-natural look and eliminating dangerous and dead growth is part of the management plan.

"Making it fire safe is fantastic, cleaning up encampment areas without harming the people that have been there and let the dogs roam free. I love this place," Peggy Lamb