Cell reception is good and Google Maps or Apple Maps show the trails nicely.

Riparian restoration along Cieneguitas Creek combined with the mowing of some very healthy fennel stands and a large oak woodland are the features that support birds on the east side of the Preserve. Four or five species of raptors can be found breeding or foraging in the vicinity. Western Screech-Owls and Great Horned Owls are in the oak woodland. Cieneguitas Creek supports common riparian breeders such as Orange-crowned Warbler, Wrentit, Bewick’s Wren, Bushtit, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and California Scrub-Jay. Costa’s and Allen’s Hummingbirds can be seen along the creek or on the mesa top that separates Cieneguitas and Atascadero Creeks. This mesa top is one of the best areas to see Phainopepla, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and Ash-throated Flycatcher. Odd birds do show up – wintering Lewis’s Woodpecker, in spring Yellow-breasted Chat. In spring, San Marcos Foothills Preserve is a collection point for birds crossing over the Santa Ynez Mountains at San Marcos Pass. Swallows, and when the weather is right, Black Swifts can be seen in some years over the grasslands.

The South Coast foothills meet the Santa Ynez Mountains at the county-owned San Marcos Foothills Preserve. The one-mile wide Preserve encompasses portions of four creeks, each of which empties into Goleta Slough. The Antone Road access point provides an entrance to the eastern portion of the Preserve and Cieneguitas Creek; by continuing on trails westward one enters the Atascadero Creek watershed, then the West Mesa, which has a separate access point and hotspot.

Preservation efforts in the early 2000s and again in 2021 spared more than 300 acres from development threats. However, preservation by private interest groups and stewardship by the county marked the end of more than 100 years of dairy cattle grazing. Grazing is often thought to suppress breeding by grassland birds, but here its more critical role was the suppression of invasive flora (mustard, fennel, radish, and European annual grasses). Upon removal of the cattle, these exotics exploded, resulting in the displacement of low-lying and largely native grasslands that supported a few breeding Grasshopper Sparrows on the east side and uniquely high densities on the West Mesa. The results of sheep grazing designed to reduce the fuel load and reclaim the former grassland structure are inconclusive.