Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Saratoga resident Cindy Smith rides her horse, Oberon, next to a private residence on a trail classified as an official easement.

Saratoga trails getting some attention

By Sarah Lombardo

A network of trails snakes across the Saratoga hills. Twisting around property lines and meandering through seemingly ever-decreasing open space, some of the trails end abruptly where storm damage or neglect have taken their toll. But in recent years, damage has been only one of trail-trekkers' worries as development has moved in--and over--some of Saratoga's trails.

"Trails have gone fallow because no one uses them, and some [property] owners have put up restrictions along the trails," Saratogan James Baron said.

Baron and his wife, Teri, began using the trails for horseback riding about eight years ago. Back then, he said, "We thought people who rode the trails just did so, and asked people, 'Hey, is it all right if we ride through here?' " he said. "And if the people said yes, great. If not, you rode somewhere else."

But in 1991, the city funded a parks and trails master plan, which took inventory of the city's parks and trails and outlined what needed to be done to maintain them.

"There is a very extensive trail system for equestrians or hikers or bicyclists," he said. "But because of lots of things, budget problems and staffing changes, there hasn't been a whole lot of work done to the trails." According to Baron, trails proposed to be connected, weren't.

In other cases, trials easements--in which homeowners would grant a portion of their property to be dedicated as a trail--weren't sought. "Sometimes getting a trail link is as simple as asking for it," Baron said. "But no one ever did, and now some trails won't ever be connected."

In past years, the couple has not only worked to keep trails in good shape, but they have acquainted themselves with the trail system and recently sought help from the city.

The city's Parks and Recreation Commission was ahead of them.

The commission is working on a trail grant program to help maintain the trails and establish a system of keeping them usable, according to city administrative analyst Irene Jacobs.

Jacobs said the city has not had the funding or the staff to take care of the trails. Instead, the city has granted one-time funds to trail-trekkers who have offered to maintain or make repairs to the trials themselves.

And, for the most part, it's worked.

"The commission, in effect, wants to formalize that system by encouraging people to maintain these trails," Jacobs said.

The grant program, Jacobs added, is in its earliest stages. But commissioners do know they want to implement an education program to let people know the trails are there, and "make them aware of their rights as trial users."

And that's good news to trail users like the Barons because the trails, James Baron said, are a valuable resource for the city.

"As the hills are developed, the trails are at risk of being lost completely," he said. "If we don't move now, we'll lose those trails. And those are too valuable a resource to be lost."

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