Goleta Eyes Ellwood Trails

What should the Ellwood Mesa — the popular bluff-top hiking, biking, and nature-watching area on the western end of Goleta — look like in the years to come? That’s the question on the table tonight, as the City of Goleta invites everyone to discuss trail design, habitat restoration, and other issues in the first public step toward planning for the future of the open space preserve. The evening will begin with a presentation, open up for questions, and then allow people to visit expert-staffed stations on various elements of the project, which is being spearheaded by the Santa Barbara Trails Council, funded by the Coastal Conservancy, and will also feature elements of the California Coastal Trail (a 1,300-mile trail that’s 80 percent built) and Juan Bautista de Anza National Trail (which follows the 18th-century explorer’s route from Mexico to San Francisco). The meeting is tonight, December 5, 6-8 p.m., at the Ellwood School Multipurpose Room.