CC SR 20210907 04 - 2020 Preserve Annual Report
CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 09/07/2021
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Regular Business
AGENDA TITLE:
Consideration and possible action to receive and file the 2020 Annual Report for the Palos
Verdes Nature Preserve.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
(1) Receive and file the 2020 Annual Report for the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve.
FISCAL IMPACT: None
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: Katie Lozano, Senior Administrative Analyst
REVIEWED BY: Cory Linder, Recreation and Parks Director
APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, City Manager
ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
A. 2020 Palos Verdes Nature Preserve Annual Report (made available to the
City Council and public on August 15, 2021)
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
The City’s Natural Communities Conservation Plan/Habitat Conservation Plan
(NCCP/HCP) requires the City and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy
(PVPLC) to submit an Annual Report each year and a Comprehensive Monitoring and
Management Report every three years. The NCCP/HCP also establishes the PVPLC as
the City’s Preserve Habitat Manager and in this role, the PVPLC monitors and manages
the biological objectives of the NCCP/HCP. These objectives include:
• Maintaining or increasing populations of covered species to ensure long -term
viability and sustainability of native ecosystem function
• Documenting changes in the population of covered species through monitoring
covered species within conserved habitats
• Maintaining or increasing the acreage of habitat for covered species within the
Preserve through enhancing and restoring wildlife connections to adjoining habitat
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• Documenting the loss of and protection of covered species and their habitats in
the annual Habitat Tracking Report and Covered Species Report (reported in
Annual Report)
• Managing populations of non-native invasive plant species in the Preserve through
the Targeted Exotic Removal Plan for Plants (TERPP)
• Describing any new biological data collected, though this is not the primary focus
of the monitoring program
• Applying Adaptive Management to adjust conservation actions where needed
Per the Management Agreement between the City and the PVPLC, below are some of
the tasks the PVPLC conducts to implement the NCCP/HCP:
• Prepare the three-year Comprehensive Monitoring and Management Report
• Prepare the Annual Report
• Wildlife and botanical surveys for covered species
• Meet monthly and as needed with City Staff to coordinate Preserve management
• New habitat restoration (5 acres annually)
• Targeted Exotic Plant Control (5 acres or 20 small sites annually)
The PVPLC prepares the Annual Report based on the calendar year to evaluate the
implementation of the NCCP/HCP during the preceding year and evaluate the overall
process being made toward reaching the NCCP/HCP conservation goals. Required
elements of the Annual Report are:
• Gains/losses to habitat within the plan area by project, including a list of all covered
activities performed, the review process for each covered activity, and impacts to
covered species and vegetation from each project
• Impacts of public uses and recommendations, if necessary, for minimizing impacts
to the Preserve
• A summary of nighttime use of the Preserve
• All contributions toward the preservation of habitat lands
• Description of the management of invasive plant species
• Documentation of the habitat restoration efforts to enhance and restore native
plant communities and the results of biological monitoring
• Annual evaluation of management activities, enforcement activities, funding
needs, and ability to accomplish resource management goals
• A separate fiscal report prepared jointly by the City and PVPLC
• Summary of clerical changes made to the Plan, including corrections to maps or
exhibits, changes made to survey, monitoring, or reporting protocols
The PVPLC also prepares the Comprehensive Monitoring and Management Report every
three years. The next report will cover 2019-2021 and will be presented to the City Council
in May 2022. Comprehensive Monitoring and Management Reports include a synthesis
of all data collected in the preceding three years and an analysis of trends in biological
resources. These reports include the following components:
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• Updated Covered Species Surveys
• Updated Predator Control Plan
• Updated Habitat Restoration Plan
• Management recommendations based on species monitoring and management to
minimize loss or negative impacts to natural resources
• The Annual Report for the three-year period covered
2020 Annual Report
The 2020 Annual Report for consideration this evening includes the required annual
submittals listed above, including habitat loss tracking for 2020. A more comprehensive
tracking of habitat loss associated with the NCCP/HCP for the past duration of the permit
term will be provided with the 2019-21 Comprehensive Monitoring and Management
Report tentatively in May 2022.
During this reporting period, the City experienced a significant increase in visitation to the
Preserve, likely due to the decrease in recreational and entertainment options available
during pandemic-related closures. These substantial increases in use of open space area
and trails were observed by trail managers throughout Los Angeles County, and beyond.
During this reporting period, Staff has begun including Preserve Quarterly Enforcement
Reports and trail counter data to help describe public use in 2020. Staff will continue to
include these reports moving forward, because managing public use plays an essential
role in natural resource protection. One goal of the 2020 Annual Report is to analyze
whether the increase in use has made a detectable negative impact on the Preserve’s
natural resources, as discussed below.
a. Trail Counter Data
It is first helpful to understand the specific increase in use, and duration of increased use
observed in the Preserve. Trail counters are currently located at:
• Portuguese Bend Reserve
o Burma Road Trailhead
o Rattlesnake Trailhead
• Forrestal Reserve
o Pirate Trailhead
o Purple Sage Trailhead
o Fossil Trailhead
Trail counter data for the Burma Road Trail and Rattlesnake Trail is attached to this report
(for purposes of this report, public use is only being reported at Portuguese Bend Reserve
because this is the only location where the City had trail counters for this reporting period.
Trail counters were installed at Forrestal Reserve in summer 2021). For context, City Staff
attends quarterly Los Angeles County Trails Managers Task Force meetings and
Regional Recreation and Parks Director meetings. Nearly all trail managers are watching
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to see if trail use returns to pre-pandemic levels. There are mixed reports; many
managers do not have trail counters but anecdotally believe they are seeing reduced use,
but also feel it is too early to tell if it will be sustained. In 2019, Burma Road and
Rattlesnake Trailheads saw an average of 20,800 visitors per month. In response to stay-
at home health orders at the onset of the pandemic, the Preserve, along with all City
Parks, were closed to the public between March 17 and May 13, 2020. The City’s trail
counter data shows that public use at these trailheads nearly doubled by December 2020
at approximately 40,800, and then dropped to about 20,000 in June and July 2021. Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health restrictions were reduced significantly in
May 2021. While it is too early to tell if use levels have definitively returned to pre-
pandemic levels, June and July trends show a return to pre-pandemic use levels at these
two trailheads. More data will be provided next year in the 2021 Annual Report.
The City, wildlife agencies, and PVPLC are aware of the increased use experienced
between July 2020 – April 2021, and have worked to determine if negative impacts to the
natural resources resulted. The wildlife agencies and PVPLC have indicated that it is very
difficult to directly attribute increases in use with negative impacts to natural resources,
and that they could not identify a direct correlation between the two. Rather, they focus
on human behavior taking place that may impact the habitat. Human behavior can include
visitors trampling habitat and disturbing nesting areas by going off trail or allowing their
dogs off-leash to disturb covered species or leave waste in the habitat.
The wildlife agencies and PVPLC have made several management recommendations
(see below) in the 2020 Annual Report with the goal to better manage human behavior
especially in areas of increased natural resource sensitivity. Following these management
recommendations, are habitat management recommendations specifically targe ted to
increasing the success of habitat restoration areas. Additionally, the PVPLC will complete
a trail baseline study in 2021 which will establish baseline measurements of trails
throughout the Preserve. Once these baselines are established, the City, wildlife agencies
and PVPLC will be able to monitor whether habitat damage through trail widening is
occurring and take remedial management steps.
b. Management Recommendations Related to Public Use/Enforcement
Fully Staff the Park Ranger Program
One recommendation is to fully staff the Park Ranger Program and provide the Program
with the resources needed to minimize public use impacts. The Park Ranger Program is
part of the Recreation and Parks Department’s Open Space Management Division. The
division includes 15 part-time employees, four full-time Park Rangers, and one full-time
Recreation Supervisor dedicated to Preserve operations. This part-time presence patrols
the entire 1,400-acre Preserve achieving rules compliance and performing maintenan ce
tasks (litter/dumped item removal, trail work, graffiti removal, etc.), operates the Abalone
Cove Park/Reserve/Beach and associated parking lot, performs administrative tasks for
the Division, and most recently, provides parking enforcement in the Del Cerro Park area.
In 2020 and early 2021, the division lost 70% of this part-time force, and Park Rangers
spent a significant amount of their time covering the entire Division’s workload. The City
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has been actively recruiting since April 2021, and has hired on and is in the process of
training five new employees. However, turnover has been high, and there is currently a
challenge statewide recruiting for part-time positions.
Fully staffing and providing resources for the Park Ranger Program benefits the natura l
resources, because Park Rangers shape public behavior through education, presence,
and enforcement. Some common (human behavior) violations addressed by the Program
are dogs off-leash, visitors off-trail, motorized vehicles, and smoking.
Continue Coordination Between City and PVPLC Staff and Volunteers
The City and PVPLC coordinate closely on NCCP/HCP implementation and Preserve
management. City and PVPLC staff meet monthly, and often more frequently to
coordinate specific projects and activities. Additionally, Park Rangers meet monthly with
the PVPLC’s Volunteer Trail Watch Program leaders. The Volunteer Trail Watch is an
excellent proactive PVPLC volunteer program by which volunteers patrol the Preserve in
uniform, educate Preserve users with interpretive and rules information, and provide the
City and PVPLC with detailed monthly reports on public use and maintenance
observations. The 2020 Annual Report emphasize s the importance of this continual
communication and coordination. In 2021, Park Rangers and the Volunteer Trail Watch
increased the frequency of their meetings from bi-monthly to monthly.
Regulatory Signs
Signs are an important element of public education, and it enables enforcement personnel
to issue citations when necessary. The 2020 Annual Report emphasizes the importance
of signs, recommends maintaining existing signs when vandalized, and identifying new
locations where regulatory signs are needed. In 2020 and 2021, City and PVPLC staff
worked together to identify signs necessary to help correct public use issues. Some new
signs installed in late 2020 and 2021 includes prohibiting e-bikes, authorized vehicle-only,
dogs on leash, Marine Protected Areas, Marine Mammal regulation, and trail and area
closure signs.
Target Sensitive Habitat Areas
While there is native habitat located throughout 1,400 -acre Preserve, some areas are
significantly more sensitive, because they provide host habitat for covered species, are
annual nesting sites, or contain concentrations of sensitive covered plant species. While
the Public Use Master Plan and Preserve Trails Plan establish trails to specifically avoid,
and thereby protect these areas, spur trails continue to be a serious concern in the
Preserve. Spur trails leading into these sensitive areas are especially problematic and
impactful to the conservation goals of the Preserve.
While Park Rangers have training on natural resorce management and in many cases
certificates in interpretation, PVPLC recommends and has offered specific and targeted
training to Park Rangers on these especially sensitive locations and covered species
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behavior. While communication on enforcement needs is continual, this specialized
training is scheduled to begin in September 2021.
c. Management Recommendations for Habitat /Covered Species Monitoring
This report includes PVPLC evaluations on how well habitat restoration areas at multiple
reserves are meeting the required success criteria identified in the NCCP/HCP. It also
includes descriptions on adaptive approaches to achieve success criteria. Some of these
habitat recommendations include use of drip irrigation, increasing groundcover density,
controlling weeds, and targeted soil disturbance to stimulate early host plant species
germination. Covered plant species surveys were completed in 2019, and covered bird
and butterfly species (California Gnatcatcher, cactus wren, and El Segundo Blue
Butterfly) surveys will be completed in 2021. Both plant and bird surveys will be included
as a required submittal in the 2019-2021 Comprehensive Management Report, which will
come before the City Council in May 2022.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Report Submittal Timeline
The next three-year Comprehensive Monitoring and Management Report will be created
for 2019-2021 and presented to the City Council tentatively in May 2022. Per the
NCCP/HCP and City-PVPLC Management Agreement, the PVPLC completes the Annual
Reports and Comprehensive Reports on behalf of the City in February of the year
following the reported upon period and submits the reports to the wildlife agencies for
review. Once the wildlife agencies and City review and make recommendations, the
PVPLC makes the changes, and submits the reports to the City Council in May. The delay
in presenting 2020 Annual Report is primarly due to the City, PVPLC, and wildlife
agencies focus on completing the NCCP/HCP. Additionally, all four agencies also
experienced operational delays and changes in priority due to the pandemic. Now that
the NCCP/HCP was approved by the City Council in November 2019 , and the 2019
Annual Report was filed by the City Council in April 2021, with the completion of the 2020
Annual Report, the 2021 Annual Report should align with the NCCP/HCP timelines.
Public Notification
On August 15, 2021, a message was sent to the subscribers of the Palos Verdes Nature
Preserve, Trails Network Plan, and Equestrian listserv groups, announcing the 2020
Preserve Annual Report would be considered at the September 7, 2021 City Council
meeting. This message also provided a link for the public to access the Annual Report for
early review prior to the City Council meeting. The report was also discussed at the July
21 Preserve Public Forum. Notices of the September 7 City Council meeting were posted
at several major trailheads. Hard copies are also available at City Hall and Hesse Park
for public review upon request. To date, no public comments have been submitted to the
City.
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ALTERNATIVES:
In addition to the Staff recommendations, the following alternative action s are available
for the City Council’s consideration:
1. Identify additional information to be included in the 2020 Annual Report and
direct Staff to return at a later date with an updated annual report.
2. Take other action, as deemed appropriate.
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