Work on Carlsbad's Lake Calavera Preserve Improvement Project Begins

CARLSBAD, CA — More than a half million dollars worth of improvements to the Lake Calavera Preserve nature trails began Monday in Carlsbad, according to city officials.

The hiking area is one of the city's largest areas of protected habitat and nature trails. The work will include building a restroom for trail users and the replacement of non-native invasive plant species with native plants and will require some intermittent trail closures, officials said.

The city began removing non-native invasive Mexican fig palms and Brazilian pepper trees in the northeast part of the preserve on Monday.

The removal is expected to take about five weeks, followed by three weeks of work to put in native plants, including western sycamore, western cottonwood, coast live oak, California blackberry, red willow and Mexican elderberry.

All work will be done under the direction of a professional biologist.

"Many people don't realize that palm trees are not native to this area and can actually harm the local environment by pushing out native plants needed for the ecosystem to survive," Sherri Howard, associate engineer for the city of Carlsbad said.

The city will begin construction of a single stall, unisex restroom on the north side of the Calavera Dam in mid-October. The restroom project will include a drinking fountain, bike rack and the design will coordinate with an existing pump station nearby.

The restroom was expected to be open to the public in December.

"The restroom and drinking fountain will be a welcome addition to this well-used trail system," Kasia Trojanowska, park planner said. "These are the two improvements most requested by the public."

The city will spend about $600,000 for the improvements.

The preserve is part of the city's Habitat Management Plan, which is designed to preserve and protect sensitive biological resources within the city while allowing for continued economic development.

— City News Service

Image via city of Carlsbad