Annie’s Glen in Bidwell Park has been temporarily closed for several months. Right now, it’s unclear how long “temporary” could mean.
The small green creekside area near the corner of Mangrove and Vallombrosa avenues in Chico has been closed off with green plastic net fencing since October.
Erik Gustafson is the director of Chico’s public works department. He says the conditions of Annie’s Glen had worsened due to the number of unhoused residents camping there before the space was closed down.
“Pretty significant encampment buildups that really led to a lot of environmental degradation and impacts to the area there,” Gustafson said. “We saw a lot of vegetation impacts. The vegetation has just flattened out and, of course, turns to dirt that creates kind of an erosion concern for us.”
Trash and pollution in Big Chico Creek was also a concern for the public works department, he said.
“Car batteries, hypodermic needles, human waste, lots of plastic trash bags, that type of thing. So it's really concerning,” Gustafson said. “So we just decided, let's close it to everybody temporarily to take care of some maintenance items, reduce the impact of the environment and try to get the vegetation and everything else to return.”
He said the closure also allows public works employees to stay focused on other important work, as cleanup efforts at Annie’s Glen jeopardized other pressing issues.
“We have to pull people off from other items to then clean those particular areas. Because you have to keep them clean,” Gustafson said. “It's just not feasible or sustainable, for that matter, longterm.”
Another area that remains closed to the public since last year is nearby Lost Park. A short walk from Annie’s Glen, Lost Park was a once unrestrained natural space open to the public. The park is now surrounded by more than 500 feet of chain link fence put up by public works. It was closed for similar reasons to those of Annie’s Glen.
Gustafson said closing parks isn’t ideal for Chico, but it’s a necessary action to preserve the spaces.
“There's just beautiful public spaces in Chico and we want to keep those open and maintained at a certain level – at a certain standard – for the whole public to enjoy,” Gustafson said. “When they're impacted or inundated for a few folks that create enough impacts to kind of ruin the experience for everybody else, it's very, very unfortunate.”
It’s possible the city might remove the fencing surrounding Annie’s Glen in phases – eventually reopening the park completely. But Gustafson said it’s still unknown when the park will be available for the public again.
