“When one is alone at night in the depth of these woods, the stillness is at once awful and sublime. Every leaf seems to speak.” —John Muir
Our hills are teeming with life that deserves our respect. Many Ojai residents may not know about repeated trail-running events that are happening in our Los Padres National Forest.
A wealth of scientific evidence indicates — and common sense tells us — that large groups of runners (groups of 10 or more) racing through the forest trails have a significant impact on animals. The Sisar Canyon Running Club has held full moon trail events at dusk with as many as 100 people wearing headlamps running up trails to sites where they string up lights, hold concerts, and howl at the moon. Now the club is advertising a two-day full moon event, with multiple runs (including a 100-mile run), that is “limited to 150 people” (see http://coyote2moon.com). They liken it to Disneyland. It is likely to be traumatic for the animals, especially during their birthing season of April, May, and June.
We are the voice of our local animals. We ask those of you who oppose this activity — concerned residents, city, county, state, and federal officials, and members of our wilderness nonprofit groups — to speak out in defense of the animals to prevent these events.
