Despite being one of the older campgrounds in the Los Padres National Forest, the small Cachuma Camp on Happy Canyon Road had its picnic tables and fire rings unceremoniously removed earlier this year after a Forest Service survey determined that the forest did not actually own most of the land. “While the forest boundary goes right through the property, the rest of the campground actually belongs to the Santa Barbara Unified School District…so we pulled out our infrastructure,” said Pancho Smith, head ranger of the forest’s Santa Barbara District, explaining that it is still open legally as an undeveloped campground. “Our intention is to meet with the Santa Barbara Unified School District and determine how we are jointly going to manage that piece of property.”
