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By
Adam Kaye
North
County Times
January 27, 2007
ENCINITAS ---- A new trail opened
this week so that the disabled can use a popular location to
watch birds and commune with nature.
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The trail is part of a miles-long network in the 1,000-acre
San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve between Encinitas and
Solana Beach. It includes a raised boardwalk that is 500 feet
long and that crosses a willow-filled area that often is
flooded.
The
newest section of the network is part of a quarter-mile loop
that begins and ends at the nature center parking lot on
Manchester Avenue. The entire loop is flat and wide enough to
comply with federal accessibility requirements for the
handicapped.
"The
great thing about this new trail is having that access for
people with disabilities," Doug Gibson of the San Elijo
Lagoon Conservancy said Friday.
The crowning feature of the approximately $200,000 pathway is
its boardwalk, built of synthetic boards made of recycled
plastic.
Nick Basinski, a bird-watcher from San Diego who visited the
lagoon Friday, said the new trail would open more of the
reserve to more people.
Basinski toted a tripod fitted with a powerful lens.
Binoculars hung from his neck, and his pack contained a field
guide. He said he had come to look for ducks and pointed out a
green-winged teal.
Also occupying the tidal channel near the trail were marsh
birds in great numbers. Buffleheads, ducks with white patches
on black backs, floated along the tidal channel near the
trail. Along the channel's muddy margins, a marbled godwit
poked its finger-length bill into the muck.
"I'm one of the few bird-watchers who's under 60,"
said Basinski, who is able-bodied. "The trails mean all
of us can enjoy the habitat."
That's the point, Gibson said.
He said a similar, quarter-mile loop is expected to open in
2008 east of the visitors center.
At the same time, a new, $4.75 million nature center should be
finished, county officials say. The 5,600-square-foot center
would occupy the same area as the existing one, which will be
removed. At the environmentally sensitive site, the two-story
structure will be built for energy and water efficiency.
If the new nature center increases public understanding of the
lagoon, so will the new trails, said county Supervisor Pam
Slater-Price.
The county owns much of the reserve and is coordinating
construction of the nature center.
In addition to providing access for handicapped people, the
new trail will make lagoon walks easier for people pushing
strollers, she said.
"For anyone with a mobility device, you can get right out
on that trail," Slater-Price said.
One such person is a wheelchair-using acquaintance of
Encinitas Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan, who said Friday that
her friend, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, came closer to
nature than he had in many years because of the trail.
"He wept a little," Houlihan said. "He said, 'I
can't tell you how much this means to me.' "
Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.
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