By Bill Lavoie, Vice Chair, Membership and Outreach

After much work by the Rancho Palos Verdes city staff and the Palos Verdes South Bay group of the Sierra Club the winter night hike permits are back.

To refresh, last year several residents of the Del Cerro Park area of RPV went to the city council with concerns about hikers entering the Portuguese Bend Preserve more than an hour after sunset.  The result was that the city council then cancelled night hike permits until staff could work on these concerns with the aim of resolving the issue.

Our Sierra Club chapter and RPV city staff worked together to resolve/revise the night hike permit requirements in a manner that would continue to protect the preserve while still affording access.  After many months of working together with city staff, Del Cerro Park Homeowners Association, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, we were ready to submit our revised night hike permit to the RPV city council, and together we were able to work out issues with any remaining concerns the city council might have had.

In March the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council approved the new night hike permit requirements.  We truly appreciate everyone who worked so diligently to resolve this situation and bring back the popular night hikes our chapter has led for many years.

A big thank-you to Bill for his dedication to this issue — ed.