TRAIL CLEARANCE CHRONICLES
Our little valley has been very fortunate to receive above average rainfall this year. If you have visited any of the 27 miles of trails on our preserves lately, you will have noticed that the flora is drinking it up and everything is growing like crazy. That also means that we are now deep into our trail clearance season.
We are very sensitive to the fact that, while our trails allow us access to the surrounding wilderness areas in our preserves, they also represent a corridor of sacrifice where we have to maintain a clearing. This has an unavoidable impact on the environment. We make every effort to route our trails around areas containing sensitive habits, sites of cultural significance, and rare and endangered plants.
Last year we completed a successful reroute of a section of Fox Canyon Trail to counter significant erosion and minimize traffic in an area that contained sensitive botanical resources. This required significant and repeated efforts to close the portion of trail that was being abandoned to protect the area. The closure involved techniques such as installing vertical mulch to deter human access, breaking up old hardened trail tread to allow regrowth, planting native plants that we have propagated from local seeds, and pulling leaf litter and seeds into the abandoned trail in order for it to regrow and fill in naturally.
We also completed a reroute on a section of Rice Canyon Trail last year that sustained significant damage from the rains in order to provide for better natural drainage, prevent future erosion, and to protect the surrounding native vegetation.
Before beginning work on any new section of trail, we perform surveys of the area that will be impacted, study the natural drainage of the area to knowledgeably design the trails to lessen erosion. When necessary, we also comply with NEPA and CEQA requirements and complete a cultural site survey with a professional archaeologist.
Maintaining these lovely corridors into the wilderness is a recurring yearly monumental effort led by our Stewardship team and completed with the help of literally thousands of hours from our incredible community of volunteers.
This year our trail clearance efforts involve leading groups of volunteers onto the trails to do brush and vegetation clearance. This involves training on how to avoid, when possible, disruption of rare or endangered plants, how to identify certain plants that need to be protected or avoided, and how to properly utilize the equipment. For example, how to properly prune limbs in a manner that allows for quick healing and recovery. We also instruct volunteers on how to clear different types of vegetation in a way that causes minimal damage to the plant with maximum sustained benefit.
When do we clear trails? There is a lot of thought and study that goes into our decision and strategy for when and where to clear trails. There is a balance between cutting vegetation back early, possibly preventing those individuals from going to seed, and also having to do clearance a second time. If you do weed abatement locally, you know this challenge personally. If you clear too early, you will have to do it again. If you clear too late, growth may be so thick that it takes you twice as long.
Our trail clearance is prioritized around the routes most heavily traveled and in the greatest need. There is obviously a delicate balance between preservation and maintaining an open corridor that often weighs heavily on us with regard to plants that have to be removed or moved. When possible, especially when building or rerouting trails, we will dig up and relocate native plants to sections of trails sanctioned for closure.
If you see us on the trails, or join us for trail clearance, you’ll see a group of people decked out in their full PPE equipped with loppers, pruning saws, weed whips, and hedge trimmers laboring through our overgrown sections of trails to keep them open and passable. Some people will be clearing and cutting while others will be raking and removing the cut material. There is plenty of work available for every ability and skill level. Join us in our conservation efforts by volunteering your time and skills—together, we can make a lasting impact on the beauty and sustainability of our beloved Ojai Valley.
Keith Brooks, Land Steward