Napa Valley Register - At last, American Canyon's Newell Open Space has its opening day

A decade and a half after a husband and wife donated 642 acres of rangeland to American Canyon, the Newell Open Space Preserve at last lived up to its name, officially opening to the public Saturday.

Long an expansive but inaccessible backdrop to a growing city, the tawny, grassy hills and oak groves of American Canyon's northeast corner finally became public space in a dedication ceremony attended by about 80 spectators, many of them equipped with boots, sun hats and water flasks to hike the preserve's 2.6-mile uphill trail on a sun-drenched morning.

"Boy, what a thrilling day this is, huh?" Mayor Leon Garcia told the audience, minutes before a ceremonial half-mile walk into the preserve. "Kids – grown-up kids, too – we're going for a hike!"

After an hour-long ceremony attended by four council members and U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, families and couples began the ceremonial hike over a 12-foot-wide path of mowed field grass into the Newell lands, where the sight of rooftops, Highway 29 and the old Basalt Rock Co. silos receded with every step. Some of the hikers, and a handful on all-terrain bicycles, continued onward and upward toward a 530-foot summit with panoramic views of San Francisco Bay, Marin County and even a distant San Francisco skyline.

Although American Canyon has become known for the speed of its growth – for the tract homes and shopping centers that have proliferated since it incorporated 22 years ago – the opening of the Newell preserve brings the share of open space within city limits to nearly a fifth of its 5-square-mile total area, according to Creighton Wright, city parks and recreation director.

"I think this will be a big draw," said Nance Matson, chairwoman of the city Open Space Advisory Committee and a 13-year resident. "The Bay Area is full of people who love to hike. I meet people who go up to the wetland's edge (on the west side of American Canyon) and they say, ‘That's great; what else do you have?' And I've been telling them, ‘Just wait a year.'"

The preserve began as a land donation in 1999 by the late Jack and Bernice Newell, longtime patrons to local charitable causes who also were avid outdoorsmen and hunters. Their gift had remained largely off-limits, however, for lack of a public pathway into the site.

Efforts to develop an entryway had been curtailed along with city budgets after the Great Recession took hold in 2008. Meanwhile, reaching the property required visitors to cross railroad tracks or private land, limiting sanctioned tours to one day a year when volunteers could escort visitors into and out of the area.

The wait for funding and safe access to the old rangelands made its opening even sweeter to residents like Janelle Sellick, who brought her twin daughters for the ceremony and a stroll as far as the foot of the hill climb toward Solano County.

"I've lived in American Canyon for 11 years, and for 11 years I've looked at these hills and said to myself, ‘I so want to hike there,'" she said. "I'm excited to run here. I'm excited to hike with my family and show them the wildflowers."

During the long wait for public access to the Newell lands, Boy Scouts and other volunteers have built trail signs, installed a picnic area and performed other small-scale improvements. Plans call for a hard-surface, fenced-off 6-foot wide trail, with a larger grand opening to be held on the project's completion.

Saturday's opening followed a city council decision in December to trim $50,000 from the preserve's annual maintenance budget, partly by dropping park ranger patrols in favor of coverage by American Canyon police. The council earlier had postponed a planned October 2013 opening.

Although the Newell preserve is open year-round, dogs are not permitted in the open space, due to potential conflicts with cattle grazing in parts of the area as well as the adjoining Lynch Canyon Open Space in Solano County.

Despite the Newell preserve's partly finished state, the property will be open daily from dawn to dusk, except in times of high fire risk or when heavy rains make trail conditions unsafe, according to Wright, the parks and recreation director.