LIVE BLOG: More Study Needed On Trail Use

The closure of the upper Bump and Grind Trail -- which state officials say is needed to protect the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep -- has drawn criticism and praise from valley residents.

Today, Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, hosted a town hall meeting on the issue at the .

Here are live updates from the event.

UPDATE: 6:12 p.m.

Nestande ended the meeting by calling on regional and state officials to conduct a study on the impact of trail use on the bighorn sheep. The study is included in the Coachella Valley Multi-species Habitat Plan.

"I’m hoping that we could go forward with the study and have a definitive decision on whether that trail is detrimental to the sheep,'' Nestande said.

Rancho Mirage City Councilman Richard Kite called for a compromise, asking if the trail could be opened for half the year.

"Maybe from January to July its to be closed, but maybe it could be oepen the other part," Kite said.

Palm Desert Councilwoman Jan Harnik also called for more study on the trail's use.

"Please, let’s look at this long and hard to make sure we are looking at this carefully,'' Harnik said.

UPDATE: 6:05 p.m.

Julie Casserly spoke out in favor of the trail closure.

"I’ve seen sheep on the trial. I can’t believe there is no one else here that has seen them," Casserly said.

UPDATE: 6:02 p.m.

Roman Whitaker, a local attorney, said it seems like more of a qualitative approach rather than a quantitative approach has been taken.

“We need to get some real facts and real scientific evidence to get studies done. There is a real cost, but we have to get around that,” Whitaker said.

UPDATE: 5:57 p.m.

Another resident reminded the Department of Fish and Game that the land is ultimately owned by the taxpayers.

"It’s really a heavy handed and tone deaf decision on the part of Fish and Game,'' he said to the applause of attendees. "Please remember it’s our land."

UPDATE: 5:50 p.m.

Nestande asked the Department of Fish and Game if a study found high trail use had no impact on the sheep, if the upper part could be reopened.

Nicol said the study would have to be "definitive."

"Remember we would also have to talk about not just the impacts of hikers on sheep in terms of going across the trails, but the impacts on the lambing area and if there was data that showed sheep would lamb with that many people there, we would consider it, but it would need to be definitive data," Nicol said.

UPDATE: 5:45 p.m.

Susan Harvey of Palm Desert asked why the public study mandated by the multi-species plan has not been completed.

"From what I’ve read nothing has been done,'' Harvey said.

Katie Barrows of the CVAG it will take about $1 million of funding for the study.

"We can't commit to five years of funding," Barrows said, adding that she hopes CVAG can do some part of the study.

Harvey also asked why the trail can't remain open until the study is done.

Barrows replied that other trails are open.

"The research program we are referring to now is to better inform about the management of the trail,'' she said.

UPDATE: 5:40 p.m.

Pete Johnson of Rancho Mirage asked the panel members to prove the sheep are there, adding that he has hiked the trail up to 250 times.

"Show me some sheep,” Johnson said, to the applause of residents.

UPDATE: 5:35 p.m.

Blaine Carian, a local hiker who has organized efforts to reopen the trail, asked why Stone Eagle and the former Blixseth property was allowed to develop on land near the lambing area.

Kim Nicol of the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) said the state did not have the money to purchase the property before it was developed.

"Stone Eagle doesn’t have the same view of the Bump and Grind," Nicol said. "The view from the lambing area to the Bump and Grind, that is a view directly to the Bump and Grind. Stone Eagle is a view to the East. And I really want to make the point that Fish and Game does own the Magnesia Spring Ecological Preserve. Stone Eagle is a private property development."

UPDATE: 5:27 p.m.

Carian asked the DFG what studies exist to prove the area near the trail is a lambing area.

Kim Nicol of the DFG asked Jim DeForge of the Bighorn Institute to speak.

DeForge said the institute has provided 30,000 data points to the DFG showing the sheeps' use the area.

UPDATE: 5:16 p.m.

The public hearing section has opened and Blaine Carian, a local advocate of the Bump and Grind Trail, who wants the trail reopened, called on the Department of Fish and Game to provide scientific studies supporting the closure.

"We would like specific studies'' Carian said.

Kim Nicol of the DFG said she would try to provide them to the Save the Bump and Grind group.

“We don’t have a lot of information but we use the best scientific information available,” Nicol said.

UPDATE: 5:10 p.m.

Katie Barrows, CVAG's Environmental Resources Director, said a multi-species plan was developed to protect the sheep and authorized the creation of a research plan.

But she said funding is not available for the research, which would question:

• Do bighorn sheep avoid trails?
• What about activity and foraging patterns?
• Does recreationa trail affect the population?

UPDATE: 5:06 p.m.

Rancho Mirage City Councilman Richard Kite said in the late 1990s, early 2000s, bighorn sheep were struggling to survive in the city.

"Bighorns (were) experiencing injury and death as they entered the city of Rancho Mirage,'' Kite said, adding that they were drowning in pools and were being poisoned by various landscaping.

The city installed five miles of gates along the Santa Rosa Mountains, which he believes helped keep the sheep out of Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert.

Kite said he hopes the question if hikers and the bighorn can coexist will be answered.

UPDATE: 4:50 p.m.

Kim Nicol of the California Department of Fish and Game says that the Carrizo Canyon Ecological Reserve and the Magnesia Spring Ecological Reserve are known lambing areas. She says that the Bump and Grind Trail, also known as the Mirage Trail, "encroaches on this important lambing area."

Nicol is giving a history of the trail, including the purchase of the Magnesia Spring Ecological Preserve in 1986 to protect the Peninsular Bighorn Sheep.

UPDATE: 4:40 p.m.

Kim Nicol, regional manager for the California Department of Fish and Game, says bighorn sheep were first listed as "rare" in 1971, and were revised as "threatened" in 1984. The USFWS listed the Peninsular bighorn sheep as "endangered" in 1998, she said, adding that the species is considered a subgroup.

In 2011, there were 65 Peninsular bighorn sheep in the Northern Santa Rosa area, which is south of Palm Desert, according to Nicol.

"We're on a good trend right now,'' Nicol said, adding that there were 950 sheep in the region, up from 334 in the 1970s.

UPDATE: 4:35 p.m.

Nestande says today's meeting is to "explore the decision of Fish and Game to close the upper portion of the Bump and Grind trail." And turned over proceedings to Tom Kirk of the executive director of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.

Kirk says the event will last 90 minutes and will include both an informational meeting and a question and answer session.

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m.

More than 100 people have already started trickling into the Palm Desert Council Chamber. The panel members are seated and it should begin shortly.

UPDATE 4:17 p.m.

People are starting to arrive. The speakers on the panel include:

• Tom Kirk, executive director of CVAG
• Katie Barrows, CVAG environment resources director
• Kim Nicol, Regional Manager California Department of Fish and Game
• Brian Nestande, Assemblyman, R-Palm Desert,
• Jan Harnik, Palm Desert City Councilwoman
• Richard Kite, Rancho Mirage City Councilman

 Check back here for live updates, and leave your comments in the section below on Patch.