On Saturday, October 10, Redwood Coast Land Conservancy will show a new trail map for Mill Bend Preserve at Gualala Arts Center. The map will be about plans. No new trail opens that day. The state grant behind the map pays for designs, environmental review and permit applications for roughly 2.6 miles of trail. It does not pay for building them. When the grant was announced in February 2024, RCLC said it expected to finish the design plan by December 2027. So the Mill Bend that someone in Gualala can walk this fall is the one that exists now: two trails, a river edge and a working restoration site. That version is worth knowing in its own right.
What Is Open on the Ground This October
Mill Bend covers 113 acres near the mouth of the Gualala River, just inland from downtown. RCLC bought it in 2021, and according to the conservancy's preserve page, it is open to the public at no charge for hiking, views and paddling. There are three ways in:
- Old Stage Road. Parking is at 46902 Old Stage Rd. It is the first driveway on the right after you turn off Highway 1.
- The Caltrans pull-out. It sits on the east side of Highway 1, just north of the Gualala River bridge. This is the river-edge entrance, and it is the one to use with a kayak or canoe.
- Gualala Arts Center. A February 2025 RCLC newsletter suggested parking at the Arts Center and taking the trail that runs down the west side of the building.
Two trails have names. The River Rail Trail follows the bed of an old lumber railroad. The Toyon Trail was built in 2023 and has a bench facing the ocean. Winter storms brought trees down across the River Rail Trail and closed it for a while. RCLC cleared it and reopened it, as reported in that February 2025 newsletter. The fall storm season is starting, so checking RCLC's site before a walk can save a wasted trip.
The preserve has very few facilities. It has picnic tables but no restrooms, trash cans or dog-bag dispensers, and RCLC asks visitors to carry out all trash and pet waste. In 2021, RCLC announced that the access-road gate would be closed to vehicles from sunset to sunrise. People on foot and paddlers carrying boats could still go in. That notice is several years old, so treat it as the most recent posted rule rather than a confirmed current one. The research found no general dog policy for the preserve. RCLC's fall bird walk banned dogs, but that rule was for the event only.
What Saturday's Map Shows
"Pathways to Mill Bend Preserve" runs from 1 to 4 p.m. at Gualala Arts Center and is free. RCLC will present with scientists from Prunuske Chatham, Inc., the consulting firm doing the design work. The event listing calls what they will show "early design concepts" for public access trails and for restoring the land around them. The Gualala Arts listing adds a 2 p.m. presentation, the trail map reveal, restoration updates, crafts for kids and refreshments. The winners of the Gualala River Community Photo Contest will also be announced. The contest asked for photos of the preserve's upland trails.
The State Coastal Conservancy's February 2024 staff report spells out what the $1.66 million planning grant covers. Compared with what is on the ground today:
| At Mill Bend today | In the design scope | |
|---|---|---|
| Trails | River Rail Trail, Toyon Trail | About 2.6 miles, including 0.75 mile of California Coastal Trail |
| Estuary access | River edge from the Caltrans pull-out | A 1,000-foot boardwalk along the estuary |
| Restrooms | None | Three |
| Picnic areas | Picnic tables | Five picnic areas |
| Trailheads | Old Stage Road, the Caltrans pull-out | Three trailheads |
| Habitat work | Fuel reduction, invasive-plant control | Four acres of upland habitat restoration |
The scope also includes interpretive features, engagement with tribes, and the preparation of CEQA documents and permit applications.
Why the Drawings Come Before the Trails
Mill Bend has always been paid for in stages, and every stage has needed its own funding. The land itself took years. Two parcels were listed for sale in 2017. The Allemall Foundation stepped in as a conservation buyer and held the land through Gualala River Park LLC while RCLC raised money. RCLC closed escrow in January 2021. The purchase drew on a $1.3 million Coastal Conservancy authorization, of which $980,000 came from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wetland grant funds and $320,000 from the Conservancy. It also drew on $845,000 from the California Natural Resources Agency and on gifts from the community.
The trails are following the same pattern. The planning grant pays for designs, environmental review documents and permit applications. Approval of those applications is a separate step. Building it will take separate funding. The Conservancy staff report names Wildlife Conservation Board programs and Caltrans mitigation funds as possible sources. The research found no construction funding, contractor or start date for the trail package. Saturday's map shows where the trails could go. Their timing depends on the next round of funding.
The Work You Can See From the Trail Now
While the new trails remain on paper, the preserve itself is busy. Three projects are worth watching for on a walk.
China Gulch. Caltrans has been replacing the culvert where China Gulch passes under the highway. RCLC's November 2025 newsletter said the job was nearly done and that hydroseeding, native planting and improvements to the channel would follow. Wylatti Construction, North Coast Resource Management, Caltrans crews and a Prunuske Chatham geomorphologist all worked on the project. RCLC staff and volunteers grew more than 800 marsh plants for the channel. The research found no later report confirming that this phase is finished, so the planting may still be underway.
The estuary. A separate Gualala River Estuary Habitat Enhancement plan is being designed with a 2023 Fisheries Restoration grant of $404,000 from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Prunuske Chatham is preparing this plan too. At the public "Restoring the River" event at Gualala Arts Center in October 2025, the firm outlined its first-phase proposals. One is to install woody structures that make the channel more complex and give young salmon shelter. The other is to restore the emergent wetland at Mill Bend, which was once much larger. The next steps described at the event were permitting and finding more money to build the work. The fish in question are coho salmon and steelhead. The estuary also supports Gualala roach, red-legged frogs, harbor seals, river otters, osprey and bald eagles.
The uplands. RCLC's year-end review for 2025 described fuel reduction across the whole preserve, invasive-plant control, forest thinning and clearing of the access road. It also described weekly trash pickup by two restoration technicians, with fire-resilience work supported by a Coastal Conservancy grant. Anyone walking the Toyon Trail is passing through land under active management. If the forest looks more open than it did a few years ago, this work is one likely reason.
The Mill Town Under the Trail Names
The River Rail Trail runs on a railroad bed because the preserve was once industrial land. According to RCLC's history of the preserve, a lumber mill was built at China Gulch in 1862 and Heywood's Mill went up near the river mouth in 1868. Fire destroyed the mill operation on September 14, 1906. China Gulch, where the culvert work is now, is the site of that first mill. The preserve also holds the historic Gualala Cemetery. Volunteers have repaired grave markers, put up fencing, weeded and cleaned headstones, and they continue to look after it.
This history explains why the restoration work and the trail design are going forward together. A trail network that runs along the river and across the old mill grounds has to be planned around the habitat and the historic sites it passes. For Saturday, a sensible plan is to walk the River Rail Trail in the morning and then head to Coleman Hall at the Arts Center for the 2 p.m. presentation. RCLC has also held docent-led open houses at the preserve, where docents suggested self-guided routes for different interests and abilities. Watch its events page for the next one.
Here at Liisberg & Company, we follow places like Mill Bend because the land between the river and Highway 1 shapes daily life on this stretch of coast as much as any house does. If you would like to talk over how the preserve's plans fit with the rest of Gualala and The Sea Ranch, we are happy to walk through it with you.