Catalina Island Conservancy Trailhead — Attraction in Avalon

This place is awesome.

I come from an environmental sciences background and volunteered with the conservancy for a week through a college volunteering program. It was definitely a highlight of my college career.

The conservancy controls a majority (88%) of Catalina Island and all of their area is maintained by staff and volunteers. This work includes invasive species removal, beach and trail clean-up, wildlife population (eg bison) control, and native planting programs. The result is one of the most successful examples of ecosystem management in the United States and one that is definitely worthy of appreciation. They have kept healthy populations of the Catalina Island Fox, bison, and bald eagles which you may be able to spot on a hike around the island.

Groups can volunteer with the conservancy and (potentially) stay in their volunteer camp which is located on a picturesque mountainside overlooking Long Beach. If you have a church group, Boy Scout pack, or any sort of group that is interested in volunteering and is not afraid to get their hands dirty, then I highly suggest contacting the conservancy and trying to make an arrangement.

The views are amazing. From the two beaches at Shark Harbor, to the Catalina Airport, the rolling hills and steep cliffs, the gnarled hardwood trees, soft grey sand beaches, I could go on and on. This place is well worth the visit. I've added some pictures of things that you might see on a visit. But definitely, absolutely, positively go into conservancy territory. Avalon is cute, but the rest of the island is...

My family tried to go during open hours when the doors were unlocked. We like to support non profits and local conservancy work where possible. We walked in the unlocked front doors and looked around for someone to ask questions to. A man came up and told us that we needed to leave, we tried to say that we were sorry and could not tell while immediately picking up our young children to make our way out. He snapped that we were taking to long, laughed and mocked at us. All over the course of the apparently unacceptable 60 seconds it took us to run out as fast as we could.

This kind of communication is inappropriate and I would not recommend going here, especially if you don't want to subject young children to this type of behavior. If a place needs to close during listed business hours, that is completely fine but just a bare minimum of cordial communication is something facilities that work with the public and customers should require. I used to take my high school biology students to volunteer with the conservancy even but this is a dramatic shift in communication. It sounds like the tours are nice for those that were able to book them but we won't be finding...

Incredibly disappointed with Catalina Island Conservancy. When we arrived today to start a backpacking trip on the Trans-Catalina Trail, we found out (AFTER taking an expensive ferry to the island) that all the trails were closed. This information was not available on the website, nor was it advertised on any of CIC's social media. Why were we not emailed ahead of time that rain could cause trail closures? This would have let us cancel our ferry within the allotted time and gotten a refund. We also didn't get any refund for the ferry, which was almost $100. To make matters worse, the staff at CIC were both unhelpful and rude, especially when we were trying to get full information on our situation and options. I understand Catalina Island does not require backpackers to get permits, but in these situations, it seems silly and irresponsible that Catalina Island Conservancy does NOTHING to relay this information to backpackers.

To make matters worse - it was my friend's birthday and I flew across the country for this trip. Will not be recommending...