Dozens of community members gathered on Oct. 24 to celebrate the opening of phase one of the Lee Road Trail, a half-mile stretch connecting Pajaro Valley High School and Watsonville Slough Farm.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony drew around 45 people to the corner of Lee Road and Harkins Slough Road, where phase one of the trail begins.
Phase two will extend the trail another 3,300 feet and include an 800-foot pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Struve Slough that will feature artwork created with community participation. The second phase is in design but construction funding is still needed.
Phase three will extend from the end of phase two and link to additional trails, including the existing city streets, Watsonville Slough Trails, W. Beach Street and the future Coastal Rail Trail.
“Phase One is laying the foundation for expanding what is a small trail segment today and our now eight or nine miles of trails in the city to this regional trail network that’s 33 miles,” said Jonathan Pilch, executive director of Watsonville Wetlands Watch. “It’s going to be a gem of the Monterey Bay.”
The Lee Road Trail was first identified in 2012 as a part of Watsonville City Council’s Trails and Bicycles Master Plan, but it wasn’t until 2018 when California State Coastal Conservancy provided funding that the city could move forward with preliminary design and permitting of phase one.
In 2019, the Land Trust Santa Cruz County began coordinating with the city to align phase one of the Lee Road Trail with their Community Harvest Trails Project.
This allowed the Land Trust to contribute $770,000 in Proposition 68 funding, which comes from a 2018 statewide general obligation bond measure that set aside $4 billion for parks and recreation, natural resource conservation and water infrastructure improvements, with a focus on underserved areas.
“The big thing about public access in Santa Cruz County is that we have some great state parks and trails, but it’s all very focused on North County,” said Mark Bibbo, senior conservation project manager at the Land Trust.
The city has a longstanding partnership with Watsonville Wetlands Watch, an organization that works to preserve and restore natural wetland habitats in the Pajaro Valley. Along with helping the city with permitting and planning, WWW planted all of the native shrubs along the trail to attract beneficial insects.
“We’ve worked for nearly 20 years to care for the trail system and expand the trails network, and this project in particular is a great example of that partnership,” Pilch said.
The northeast corner of 500 acres of the Land Trust’s Watsonville Slough Farm connects to the end of the Lee Road Trail, which will add five miles of trails through the farm when it opens. Aside from the trailhead, the farm will have picnic shelters, gathering areas, community gardens, restrooms and a parking lot for public access.
“There’s so much more coming very soon to get excited about,” Bibbo said.
The Land Trust is close to breaking ground on the property, which is expected to be open for an initial ribbon cutting ceremony next fall.
“[This project] brings together what’s good for the community, what’s good for the students and restoring our wetlands,” said Janet Kreitzer, a Watsonville Wetlands Watch volunteer.
