Santa Cruz Police Rangers tackle biohazards at Arana Gulch
UPDATE 03/23/19 6:30 p.m. While cleaning up park areas used for illegal camping in Arana Gulch, Santa Cruz Police Department Rangers found trash, drug debris and other biohazards that can pollute the environment.
Because of the rain on the Central Coast recently, debris was starting to wash into the creek, and Arana Gulch is a sensitive habitat.
Kim Fitchen-Young, a Santa Cruz resident who has been running the trails along Arana Gulch says illegal camping is a huge issue. “It takes away from the beauty of the area, and you know we pay very high property taxes here.”
It’s not only an eye-sore, but also dangerous. She says she used to never see camps when she started running more than a decade ago, but now they pop up all over the place.
Fitchen-Young brings her two kids to the park too and said she won’t let them wonder off on their own. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable having kids run out here on their own. Even with my son and I biking, he biking, and I running, I don’t want him getting too far ahead because you never know.”
In additon, drug debris, human waste and garbage can be harmful to the environment, and could cause problems for wildlife habitats and water supplies.
Chris Berry with the City of Santa Cruz Water Department says they have a number of concerns with the spike in illegal camping. “We have dam building, which prevents fish migration and the movement of rocks in the stream actually causes the water to become dirty. We have a lot of bathing and dishwashing and those kinds of things near the streams that can also reduce water quality. And we have removal of vegetation along the stream, which can reduce shading and food production for fish in the streams.”
Berry says patrols are being stepped up by city crews in the sensitive habitat areas and areas with high valued drinking water.
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While cleaning up park areas used for illegal camping in Arana Gulch, Santa Cruz Police Department Rangers found trash, drug debris and other biohazards that can pollute the environment.
Because of the rain on the Central Coast recently, debris was starting to wash into the creek, and Arana Gulch is a sensitive habitat.
In to drug debris, human waste and garbage can be harmful to the environment, and could cause problems for wildlife habitats and water supplies.
KION’s Ashley Keehn will have more on the biohazard cleanup at 11.
