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The number of visitors to Palo Alto’s Foothills Nature Preserve in 2022 dropped 24% compared to 2021, defying concerns that the park would be overrun by visitors once it opened to the general public, Daren Anderson, division manager of Open Space, Parks, and Golf, told the Palo Alto Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday night, June 27.
Approximately 202,000 visitors came to the preserve last year compared to 264,000 in 2021. The city of Palo Alto made the wildlands preserve accessible to all in December 2020. The average visitor population from 2015 to 2019 was about 143,000 a year, Anderson said.
Nearly half of all the visits to the preserve take place on weekends: 22.7% on Saturdays; 23% on Sundays; 12% on Fridays, and Monday through Thursdays, less than 10% per day in 2022, Anderson said.
Staff thinks the decline last year might be associated with the novelty having worn off and a vehicle-entry fee that the city began charging in February 2021 on weekends and holidays. The entry fees were expanded to weekdays in January through an automated machine.
The number of motor vehicles entering the preserve in 2022 decreased by 30% from 2021’s 154,000. The preserve was not closed to the public at all in 2022 due to reaching its capacity, Anderson said.
Despite the $6 vehicle entry fee, 80% of the visitations came in paying vehicles; about 7% of all the entries used the free or discounted passes that the city offers to groups that include active or veteran members of the United States military and people with disabilities.
Lack of cell coverage is a problem
A new concern that rangers have been dealing with has to do with stranded visitors, according to Mike Warner, supervising park ranger.
Both cell phone and even city-provided radio coverage in the foothills region is sparse, which causes problems for modes of transportation that are reliant on smartphones.
People who rent Zip Cars, for example, use their phones to gain entry to their vehicles.
“They drive at the Foothills, and it doesn’t work to get back in the car. And so then the cars end up being left … and then they need to figure out some other way of getting home,” Warner said.
“We’ve also had issues with folks bringing Uber or using Uber or Lyft to get to the preserve, but then they can’t get back” because they can’t summon one, he said.
Post-pandemic, many Uber and Lyft drivers won’t drive into the foothills at night because they’re worried about their safety. Because they won’t come up to pick up people, preserve staff must transport people down to town, he said.
The poor cell coverage is also affecting hikers, who get lost because they’re relying on their phone to be their trail map. (The preserve has added additional wayfinding signage to help, he noted.)
Turning away dogs, curbing violations
The park rangers turned away 366 dogs, who are not allowed into the preserve on weekends and holidays, in 2022. That’s down 58% from 2021, the peak year with 866 dog turn-aways.
“We had a lot of new visitors to Foothills who weren’t familiar with the rules and brought their dogs,” Anderson said.
Warner said rangers direct people to other parks where dogs are allowed on weekends.
“We do recognize it can be extremely frustrating, especially if we have visitors coming from out of the area to visit Foothills and they can’t bring their dog inside. … (It’s) something we can maybe work on with signage in the future,” he said.
Signage with park regulations might also help curb other violations for which rangers have issued citations and written warnings, he said. Such violations include being in the park after hours, having dogs off-leash, smoking and bicycle-related offenses.
Rangers issued 28 citations in 2022. They also issued 290 written warnings in the contiguous Foothills and Arastradero nature preserves combined. About 115 violations were for being in the parks after hours.
“And this is important to enforce because of our wildlife that we do have in the park. They’re very sensitive to disturbances at night and folks up there with flashlights or playing music or even chatting loud can disrupt their natural patterns,” Warner said.
Off-leash dogs triggered about 29% of the warnings, he said. Nine warnings were issued for bicycles on trails, use of an ebike or one-wheelers on trails and 15 for smoking, he said.
More people needed help in 2022 than 2021: The preserve had 36 calls for service, up by 20% from 30 calls in 2021. Those calls concerned medical emergencies, traffic accidents and visitor-reported violations or other issues that need to be immediately addressed.
The upward trend is on track to continue. In 2023, from January to June, the foothills rangers responded to about 30 calls for service, including four days of supporting Palo Alto Public Works when there was snow on Page Mill Road and State Route 35. There were also “at least three search and rescues for folks who went hiking up to reach the snow and got lost while they were out,” Warner said.
With the risk of wildfire increasing, staff has also implemented recommendations from the Palo Alto Fire Department: Banning barbecues on red flag days, reducing the number of barbecues throughout the park, prohibiting barbecues and open flames at a campground and placing signage to direct people on how to properly dispose of their charcoal after they’ve been barbecuing. As a result, there have been no dumpster fires, he said.
Upcoming changes to the park could include the reconfiguration of the parking area to better accommodate visitors, Anderson said. The project will soon come before the Parks and Recreation Commission, with construction eyed for 2024.
Foothill Park is a lovely place to hike. The entrance fee has my hiking group avoiding the park. There are wonderful alternatives in San Mateo open space.