Most people know Ventura for its beaches. But for many locals, the hillsides that make up much of the city’s northern boundary play an equal role in the coastal community’s charm.
Now, after a decades-long battle among residents, developers and conservation groups over the future of those hillsides, a plan is finally in place. The Ventura Hills Nature Preserve, managed by the Ventura Land Trust, celebrated its grand opening earlier this month.
The new nature preserve spans 1,645 acres, covering most of the undeveloped hillsides stretching from Grant Park, which is just north of City Hall, to the city’s iconic “Two Trees,” a hilltop where two eucalyptus trees sat sentinel for over a century (two younger trees and one deceased historic tree now sit on the site). The preserve effectively protects the hillsides from downtown to midtown Ventura “in perpetuity,” according to the Ventura Land Trust, which calls the protected area “the most high-profile hills in the region.”
The new preserve is “the result of the dedication of time, treasure, and talent by thousands of Ventura County residents, their efforts spanning decades,” according to the land trust. The landscape was formerly called Mariano Rancho…