Camping sweep improves Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, but litter problems persist

By Stephen Baxter / Santa Cruz Sentinel

Neighbors and State Parks leaders said a recent late-night sweep of illegal campers at Lighthouse Field State Beach has helped tamp down on litter, but long-term problems of strewn garbage and illegal camping there are far from solved.
State Parks rangers wrote about 15 tickets to people illegally camping in the 38-acre field in June, said Mike McMenamy, chief ranger for State Parks’ Santa Cruz area. Rangers also directed them to some homeless services.
But McMenamy said problems with trash and camping have come in waves since State Parks took over maintenance of the field from the city of Santa Cruz about nine years ago. People often camp in at least a dozen clearings under cypress trees until word spreads that they will be rousted, McMenamy said.
He said part of the solution is more people in the park walking dogs, riding bikes and checking out wildlife. Monarch butterflies, for instance flock to a grove of eucalyptus trees near Pelton Avenue during the winter.
“When you have community buy-in, people take ownership of that,” McMenamy said Thursday. “They understand the resource better and they want to protect it better. That underbelly element is moved out because you have families moving through.”
During a walk in the field and its shaded tree clearings this week, Modelo and Coors Light beer cans, bottles, toilet paper, clothing and suitcases were found. At least two people who slept in the park were still there Thursday morning.
State Parks’ patrols of the field are limited because there are six rangers and seven maintenance staff for Lighthouse Field, Wilder Ranch State Park, the Santa Cruz Mission and Twin Lakes and Seabright state beaches, McMenamy said. Maintenance workers empty trash daily at Lighthouse Field and rangers respond to calls for service, McMenamy said.
The field’s tall grass, dirt trails and open space remain because residents successfully fought a developer’s proposal for a hotel, convention center, shopping mall and condominium complex in 1972. Since then, City Council members and residents also have resisted proposals for a soccer field and other developments in part because of a fear of parking spot losses in neighborhoods, said former Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin….read more

Photo Credit: Della Huff