Telepeer

Coastal Commission: Dana Point Headlands trail hours need to be shortened to save pocket mouse

March 25, 2026

To help preserve the Pacific pocket mouse, the California Coastal Commission has directed the environmental group that manages the Dana Point Headlands preserve to plan in the near term for reducing public access by 60% to a blufftop trail by as early as the end of the month.

The trail that runs along the ridge of the massive rock outcropping is now open daily from sunrise to sunset — access the city is trying to preserve. It’s a popular spot to watch marine life and seabirds, and the trail connects Strand Beach and Dana Point Harbor.

A bluff-top trail can be seen at the Dana Point Headlands. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

1 of 3

A bluff-top trail can be seen at the Dana Point Headlands. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Expand

But the trail runs through a habitat that is one of the three known where the “severely imperiled” small mouse lives, Coastal Commission staff said. In 2020, officials from the Center for Natural Lands Management, which oversees the habitat maintenance, said there were indications about 77 mice lived in the area.

“We’re looking at ways that the pocket mouse can survive,” said Andrew Willis, enforcement staff council with the commission, elaborating on the interim plan that will be in place until CNLM gets long-term authorization through the city’s coastal development process or a habitat management and monitoring plan. “The pocket mouse that spends much of its time underground is really sensitive to noise and vibration from the trail use.”

Willis said his staff has spoken with state wildlife agencies and the commission’s own ecologists, who agree that trail use must be minimized to avoid disturbing the pocket mouse. To achieve that, Willis said the commission on March 10 directed CNLM to set trial hours that are more conducive to the tiny rodent’s survival, especially during low-light hours when it is especially sensitive.

The commission also directed CNLM to create “rest days” for the mouse of three days a week, which, Willis said, would allow the pocket mouse to travel freely across its habitat without disturbance.

And as part of the consent order, the center must continue habitat mitigation to create more open, sandier areas for the mouse amidst the coastal sage, while also allowing scientists from the San Diego Zoo’s captive breeding program, part of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, to conduct genetic management efforts.

“CNLM has agreed to the direction of the commission,” Willis said. “The immediate effect is to set the interim hours.”

Trail access has been a tug-of-war between the center and the city. The center, which bought the land with a grant from the Steel Foundation from developer Sanford Edward in 2005 for $11.9 million, has long proposed reducing trail usage to four days a week and keeping people away during low-light periods.

The group also received $800,000 from the Department of Defense as mitigation for impacts to the mouse population found on Camp Pendleton.

The city, which secured an easement for public access to the trail when home development was allowed at nearby Strand Beach, says the community should be able to enjoy the grounds and vista seven days a week. The trail first opened in 2009 with the same public hours, but CNLM closed it early in the pandemic. Once it reopened, access was limited until 2022.

“We’re frustrated that anyone would want to reduce trail hours,” Councilmember Jamey Federico said, adding that the topic remains complicated and that the subject is still in the courts after a judge issued an injunction in 2022, allowing Dana Point to extend the trail hours for daily use. “This entire issue has been painted as trail versus pocket mouse. But the city doesn’t see it that way. The city believes the pocket mouse can thrive, and the public can have access.”

For two years now, the center has been trying to get the city’s Planning Commission to approve its application for reduced hours, and was told late last summer that more environmental study was needed.

With the consent order now in place, Willis said it ensures that, while the city’s process with CLMN continues, protections are in place for the mouse.

The proposal for the new hours — planned to start by the end of the month — would limit public access to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and reflect general daylight conditions. Hours would be adjusted for two seasons: summer (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and winter (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

Federico said he’s not sure the Coastal Commission has the jurisdiction or authority to dictate the hours, and it is something for a court to decide.

“We’re still optimistic that hours dictated by CNLM are not necessarily going to be upheld,” he said.

In 2024, the city’s Planning Commission issued a permit for the daily hours, which the center and two members of the California Coastal Commission contested.

Since that time, the trail has been open to the public. Sarah Mueller, an attorney for CNLM, said that exposure has led to more impacts to the mouse population. Studies of the area found indications of the presence of the mice in a much smaller area of the bluff — about 40% less since 2021, when the trail had reduced hours.

Now, following the Coastal Commission’s decision, Mueller said CNLM has submitted its interim plan to the city and wildlife agencies and is waiting for comments, which are due Monday. A day later, the plan is set to go to the commission for the executive director’s review and approval.

Additionally, Mueller said the group has a court date for April 13 to dissolve or modify the preliminary injunction that currently requires the hours to be 7 a.m. to sunset daily.

CNLM plans to continue monitoring public visitation levels, pocket mouse and gnatcatcher populations, habitat use and the impacts of other management tools on these populations, she said.

The Coastal Commission’s goal, Willis said, is to move CNLM’s coastal development permit (changing the hours) through the city process.

“That’s when we think the city and the commission will make a long-term decision about the trail,” he said, adding that the commission expects CNLM’s application for the long-term hours to be done within a year.

“That’s the deadline we’ve established,” he said. “But, in the meantime, the interim hours will be in place, so we have that immediate protection while the city’s permit process continues.”

“There is clear science from the wildlife agencies, from our ecology staff, that the trail usage under the current hours is disrupting the pocket mouse’s survival on the preserve,” Willis said. “And to address that, the hours of trail use must be managed for the protection of the pocket mouse.”

He said the commission has the right to issue the consent order for the interim plan.

“We need it to move quickly to make sure the protections are in place,” he said, adding that the mouse’s breeding season started this month. “The breeding period is when the impacts from disturbance are the most damaging. We want to make sure we’re doing everything to ensure the survival of this mouse, which is just really hanging on to existence.”

Coastal Commission: Dana Point Headlands trail hours need to be shortened to save pocket mouse Orange County Register

News Details

Coastal Commission: Dana Point Headlands trail hours need to be shortened to save pocket mouse

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS