Will Santa Barbara’s Backcountry Roads Open?

The current closure of roads in Santa Barbara County’s backcountry affects hunters, campers, and birdwatchers across Los Padres National Forest, said Phil Beguhl, who dropped by Independent offices to tell us that a meeting takes place with the Forest Service this Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Planning Commission room at 123 East Anapamu Street. The discussion will include the Pendola area, which once allowed motorists to access campsites above Gibraltar Dam that are currently only available to hikers or cyclists.

Beguhl is a 43-year member of the county Fish and Game Commission, which meets regularly to disburse outdoors-oriented grants. While the commission generally had about $20,000 in funds to grant, two big fines put their pot at $700,000 in recent years. One fine was against Plains All American Pipeline for the Refugio Spill of 2015 and the other was against Southern California Edison for unpermitted work above Mission Creek that sent dirt and rock spilling into the waterway. Normally, the commission’s funds come from fines issued by state Fish & Wildlife in the county.

While Beguhl has been a fisherman since 1969, other members of the commission include sportsmen on land and sea, as well as an individual appointed by each supervisor. He said the grants support work such as reducing steelhead barriers in streams, getting disadvantaged youth interested in boats and the ocean, hatching fish eggs in classroom aquariums, and providing equipment for wardens.

“Access to the back country is critical for hunting and fishing,” Beguhl explained, “even birdwatching.” Some people had longtime hunting camps on the Upper Oso Road that they can’t get to by car, he said. The gates across the roads block them to vehicles, but people can hike or bicycle or even motorcycle in. The roads are passable to vehicles, he’s heard from agencies like the Montecito Water District, which uses the Pendola Road to reach Jameson Reservoir.

The Santa Barbara District Ranger for Los Padres, Daryl Hodges, was still putting together his notes for the meeting, he said, after a day spent trying to improve the spotty phone and internet service at the district offices in Santa Ynez, Paradise Valley, and Solvang, possibly part of the 9-1-1 outage affecting the entire county. His best recollection was that the Pendola Road was affected by fires that occurred before he got here in 2021, most likely the Thomas Fire. A crib wall holding up the road had failed, and then the storms of 2023 and 2024 had also affected the roads.

He knew the water district and others found the road passable. “We got it open to Divide Peak, but the roads are damaged beyond that. It’s only open administratively for Forest Service individuals and dam operators,” Hodges said. “It’s not the same amount of traffic as it would be if the public were driving that road.” He thought it was possible the road down to Pendola and other back-country roads might reopen fully with time and if the Forest Service budget could sustain it, which it so far had not. Hodges said he planned to give a status report at Thursday’s meeting.