Whitewater Canyon residents fear illegal tourism will pose fire risk, endanger lives
Residents in the Whitewater Canyon fear for their lives as visitors flock illegally to the river during the hot summer months posing an extreme fire risk. The canyon is a part of a fire closure issued by CAL FIRE and the Bureau of Land Management, but residents said warning signs are unsatisfactory and enforcement is minimal. CBS Local 2’s Kelley Moody investigated, and even before this story aired on television, officials began taking action.
Watch: First responders demonstrate power of White Water River by throwing red melons into water
“We’re going to have a tragedy,” said canyon resident Wayne King, “We’re going to have a death, or we’re going to have a fire.”
King has called Whitewater Canyon his home for six years. Now he’s leading the charge to fend off illegal visitors to the canyon during the seasonal fire closure.
“The condition of the vegetation, both in the amount and the continuity and how dry it is, is the worst I’ve seen it,” said CAL FIRE Fire Capt. Specialist Greg Ewing.
Ewing said our wet winter led to lush growth for plants, but now they’re dry and fuel for a large scale fire.
Despite the closure, crowds keep coming, and resident say there’s barely any enforcement.
“We can have as many as 500 cars on a Sunday. This is a little country road, and I can’t even get out of my driveway,” King said.
“What bothers me the most is…the constant anxiety I live in of thinking a child’s going to die in the river, or I’m going to get a call that we’re evacuating the canyon. ‘Grab your cat, grab your purse, get out, now!'” said resident Eva Mansell.
Mansell worries about evacuation since there’s only one way into the canyon and one way out.
Residents and CAL FIRE said they’ve seen people arrive with barbecue grills, leaving their cars for the day, and tossing out cigarette butts.
But enforcement can be confusing. The canyon is a jigsaw puzzle of ownership, so there’s a variety of signage. Not all are bilingual and residents say they’re not frequent, large, or restrictive enough.
“I don’t want to say there’s nothing we can do about it, but the point being, we’re really not up there too often,” said Robert Keeran, multimedia specialist with Coachella Valley Water District. Coachella Valley Water District and Desert Water Agency both operate in the canyon. CVWD said they have signs but are not on site frequently.
DWA claims they have regular maintenance staff there. Their main concern is people drowning.
“They’ll remove the no trespassing signs, so if a police officer comes by or a sheriff comes by, they can claim ignorance,” said Ashley Metzger of the Desert Water Agency.
Since our original conversation with DWA, they now say they are interested in working with other agencies to find solutions and a need for more bilingual signage.
But signs don’t appear to be much of a deterrent, especially for those we found cooling down in the river. Jarro Alarcoan said he had no idea it was illegal to be in the canyon when he visited on Father’s Day with his family. He said he’d likely return if there weren’t any signs.
Trash is another consequence of the fire closure violations. Mansell and King have taken it upon themselves to clean up debris left behind after the weekend rush.
“Nobody else is going to pick up the trash. When Wayne or I go down to the river with a trash bag they say, ‘Oh you’ll take my trash,’ and I’ll say, ‘No, but here’s a bag, will you take out your trash?'” said Mansell.
The Bureau of Land Management oversees some of the canyon and said federally managed lands do not have scheduled clean ups, simply because of the millions of acres under their responsibility. When it comes to clearing out the litter bugs by enforcing the fire closure, residents said it’s a game of hot potato, getting tossed around to multiple county agencies without solutions.
“Everybody’s short-funded these days. There aren’t enough people with boots on the ground,” said King. Ewing said in years past there was a patrol schedule for the canyon, but that is no longer in place.
“If we’re going to put ourselves in the position to come out here and enforce those laws, then it’s only worth it if the entire justice system stands behind us, and we make sure those citations are processed through the court,” said Ewing. “That hasn’t always been the case for the Whitewater area specifically.”
Since CBS Local 2’s Kelley Moody began looking into this story, she began hearing from various agencies looking to make changes in enforcement and signage. CAL FIRE said they hope to create a community conversation with the local government, agencies involved, and those living in the Whitewater Canyon. Residents said they’ve noticed an increase in law enforcement presence since CBS Local 2 began its investigation. Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said patrols have been heightened after a rise in calls for service.
If you’re hoping to visit the canyon during the summer, you can go to the Wildlands Conservancy at the back of the Whitewater Canyon, which offers year round free parking for 50 cars, but it does fill up quickly on the weekends.
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