After a four-month closure for utility improvements and other construction, the La Jolla reserve reopens to the public. A second phase will begin in the fall.
After a four-month closure to visitors, the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve will reopen Sunday, March 1, with the main road, parking lots and trails fully open.
The Trail Information Kiosk in the upper west lot will not be staffed until the second week in March.
The reserve closed in November for a construction project involving utility improvements, comfort station upgrades and accessibility enhancements such as new parking stalls and paved pedestrian paths.
Construction had to pause by March 1 for the beginning of the breeding season of the California gnatcatcher, a threatened bird species; heavy equipment is forbidden in gnatcatcher habitats.
The reserve protects roughly 300 endangered and protected species of native plants, including one of the rarest pine trees in the world, the Pinus torreyana.
Phase 2 construction resumes this fall.
