Best National Reserve Oceanside Near Me

4worldlovers: The Buena Vista Creek Ecological Reserve is 148 acre property. Habitats include Diegan coastal sage scrub, southern arroyo willow riparian forest, coastal and valley freshwater marsh, and non-native grasslands. Several bird species are present.

4worldlovers: Rockslides and cliff collapses occur without notice. To increase safety, time your beach visit for low tide, when there is more sand available between the cliffs and the waves, which should help ensure you can keep a minimum distance of 10 feet from the bluffs.

King Tides video clip (10 sec) from Torrey Pines Reserve and Torry Pines SNR cliff falling (13 sec) on Vimeo.


State Natural Reserves have outstanding or unusual natural or scenic values. Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a wilderness island in an urban sea. This fragile environment is the home of our nation's rarest pine tree - Pinus torreyana. Once this tree covered a larger area. It now grows only here and on Santa Rosa Island off the coast near Santa Barbara. The park preserves not only the trees, but also one of the last salt marshes and waterfowl refuges in Southern California. The reserve features high broken cliffs and deep ravines on headlands overlooking the ocean. Hikers can follow trails through stands of wind-sculpted pines. A picturesque, pueblo-style structure that served as a restaurant when it was built in 1923 houses the visitor center, featuring interpretive displays. Picnicking and camping are prohibited in the reserve. The reserve's rich plant community features wildflowers in the spring and visitors can see the California quail gathered in coveys in the early mornings of fall and winter.


Torrey Pines State Beach can also be reached by trail from the Reserve.


Annual Passes are now sold at the entrance kiosk station operated by our concessionaire, LAZ Parking. The entrance kiosk station is open from 8:00am to approximately a 1/2 hour before sunset 365 days a year. For more park information go to Torreypine.org/reserveinfo.

One of the more common complaints in the summer time at Torrey Pines is the parking. When the South Beach lot fills up, we close the entrance and visitors need to head to North Beach for parking. There is now a flashing light on the top of the kiosk to alert visitors when the gate is closed. This early alert system will enable visitors to go directly to the North Beach parking lot and avoid having to make a u-turn at the closed entrance to the South Beach lot. Once you know exactly where to look, you can even see the light from the top of High Bridge or Carmel Valley Rd. See map below for some locations to look for the flashing light.


Stay on trail – Walking off trail causes erosion, tramples plants and frightens wildlife.


No pets – Dogs frighten wildlife and their waste causes nesting animals to abandon their young.


No food in the reserve – Help keep our animals wild and healthy by picnicking only at the beach.

No drones – To prevent possible resource damage from accidents and to avoid frightening animals.

No picking/collecting natural features – Pinecones and flowers must be left to produce seeds to grow new plants. It also allows fellow visitors to enjoy the fauna.

No smoking/open flames – Torrey Pines has a high fire danger. The plants found here are dry and flammable.

No amplified music – Respect your fellow hikers and enjoy the sounds of nature while in the reserve.

The 2 most common rattlesnakes you will see here are the Southern Pacific Rattlesnake and the Red Diamond Rattlesnake. The Southern Pacific Rattlesnake is the one you will most likely run into in the park. If you do see a rattlesnake while hiking, stop and wait until the snake leaves the area. It has mostly likely felt you coming from the vibrations you've made walking on the trail. If it doesn't leave, turn around and notify a park employee or volunteer. Snakes are more willing to leave you alone and find something more manageable to strike and eat (unless you try to take a selfie with it). On rare occasions, snakes do land on the beach having been pushed or fallen off the cliffs. Notify a park employee so that the snake can be returned to a more suitable location to live. Do not try to relocate or pickup the snake yourself.

Docent Led Hikes: Every weekend day and nationally observed holidays at 10:00 a.m.

Mindfulness Walks: Meet at the visitor center every Sunday 8am to 10am.

Docent-Led Children’s Program: Offered September through May of the school year: First Friday morning of the month plus Tuesday and Thursday mornings, excluding Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day weeks. More information on the reservation process is available at: Group Field Trips and Hikes (Torrey Pines Docent Society)

4worldlovers:

Preserve Calavera has a number of priority areas on which most of our efforts are focused. These include:

Natural open space – natural open space land will be increased through land acquisition, and reducing the impacts of development.

The city of Oceanside is doing the first comprehensive update of their General Plan in over 30 years. See our comments on the “Vision” for this effort and our recommendations to improve the protection of natural resources, make responding to climate change a priority, and preserving the farmland in South Morro Hills. See our Issues page for more details about the South Morro Hills Community Plan and how you can help save this farmland.

The North River Farms project in Oceanside was approved by the City Council in November of 2019. We sued over the environmental impacts of the project – increased greenhouse gasses, impact on farmland and emergency evacuation. This litigation is ongoing. In addition, a citizens’ initiative to deny the project won by an overwhelming majority. A judge subsequently overturned the vote of the people and that is also currently in litigation.

Preserve Calavera continues to raise funds for acquisitions. See our flyer for more information. Right now we have available $15,000 in matching funds – your donation will double its value until those funds are used so DONATE NOW. Your check or on-line donation will leave a lasting legacy – for us and future generations!

A recent settlement between the city of Carlsbad, Lennar Homes, North County Advocates and a number of local conservation groups including ourselves, has led to a unique agreement that protects open space and parks as well as wildlife. Click here for more information.

Our focus for Carlsbad’s General Plan (GP) was on ensuring 40% open space and enough park space so all residents could have reasonable access. After many months of meetings, comments and consideration, the city council adopted a GP with some minor revisions but did not include a 40% goal of open space or make significant changes in their philosophy about how parkland is counted.

Land Management and restoration– hardline preserved lands will be managed in an integrated way that supports a healthy ecosystem.

Our work to improve the conditions of local watersheds includes water quality testing in three local subwatersheds – Agua Hedionda, Buena Vista, and Batiquitos. See our North San Diego County Watershed Monitoring Program page for more details on this long-term data collection, testing and monitoring program.

As part of our water quality work, we’ve become increasingly concerned about the habitat and water around the El Salto Falls in Oceanside, a sacred native American site. We are working along with the habitat manager and CA Fish and Wildlife to help protect that area.

Our current restoration efforts include a native grassland in the La Costa Preserve in Carlsbad, and coastal sage scrub on El Corazon in Oceanside. Join us for monthly volunteer work sessions on these two sites.

Buena Vista Lagoon, nestled between Oceanside and Carlsbad, requires a major restoration to prevent the loss of the entire lagoon. After years of analysis the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been approved and funding is being secured to begin final design and permitting. For a short summary on the value of the saltwater alternative click here.

Wildlife protection– functional wildlife movement corridors will be in place with such structural changes as are needed to support sustainable populations and reduce roadkill.

Monitoring wildlife movement through PC Tracking Team and “Adopt-a-pinch point” with the city of Carlsbad.

Living successfully with wildlife is important. Read ways you can live close to coyotes to benefit everyone: Keep Me Wild and Learning to Live with Coyotes.

Working to ensure cities adopt effective Climate Action Plans. See new video on this subject.

We continue to conduct the CA Naturalist Certification course, training local volunteers to be stewards of our natural lands.,