Return to Point Sal?

After more than a year of access being denied by the military due to safety and security concerns, Point Sal State Park may soon be open to the public once again. That was the word coming from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Friday, April 4, as officials announced they had presented the County of Santa Barbara with a plan to re-open the park’s access road, which cuts through the northern corner of the base and was closed to all traffic in January 2007.

It’s now up to the county to sign off on the plan and make access a reality. If the plan is what was unofficially agreed upon earlier with base management, that would happen “the minute we get it,” promised 4th District Supervisor Joni Gray. Gray, who’s worked overtime to get this access issue resolved, was clearly pleased by the news when she said, “I hope to heck this happens. I am so frustrated. This should have happened a year ago.”

Gray’s frustration is shared by many nature lovers in Santa Barbara, as will be her happiness if the state park is opened again. One of the coastal jewels of Santa Barbara County’s crown, Point Sal has been off most hikers’ maps since 1998, when El Ni±o storms wiped out the nine-mile-long access road, known by hikers as Brown Road and by the base officials as Point Sal Beach Road. Those who didn’t mind the extra long walk or preferred biking the paved part kept heading to Point Sal without problems until January 2007. That’s when Vandenberg officials closed the road to all traffic, citing concerns over national security as well as the safety of hikers, because the washed out road is reportedly treacherous in parts.