From the Ventura County Star, Sunday, April 12, 2009
 Burt Elliott, trail maintenance coordinator, leads volunteers and fellow members of the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council to the Saturday work site. Volunteers cut back shrubs, cleared minor slides and upgraded runoff canals along a 1.4-mile stretch. |
Encumbered by heavy tools, a dozen members of the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council met Saturday morning in the dirt parking lot of a trailhead on the Backbone Trail. Their mission: trail maintenance.
Oxnard resident Dave Edwards, group leader, said the purpose of the volunteer, nonprofit organization is establishing and maintaining the public trail system throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. That’s why he and his colleagues were shouldering pickaxes, grappling with loppers (oversized pruning shears) and swinging McLeods, the five-tooth rake with a cutting edge used by California Division of Forestry firefighters. They were heading out on a two-mile hike to combat trail ruts and erosion from rain and mountain bikes by digging water bars to drain rainwater from the trial.
There also was a report of two small landslides near the mountain crest that needed to be checked out and cleared if necessary. “We spend a lot of time putting in drains,” said Edwards, 62. “Maintaining these trails gives all of us a sense of accomplishment. We may only do 300 or 400 feet (of trail) today, but we keep coming back, even though the pay is lousy.”
And they do come back — every weekend and one Wednesday a month, 10 months a year. July and August are a respite because of the heat. Edwards said they are often joined by the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force of Sierra Club or members of Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association (CORBA).
Burt Elliot, 76, of Thousand Oaks said he’s been a Trails Council member “going on 17 years.” “I hike, run and mountain bike the trails,” he said, striding briskly up an incline. “I’m a retired engineer, and I like to build things. It’s also neat to have a relationship with the park. Our crew leaders are actually unpaid staff.”
 CORBA members Steve Clark of Newbury Park and Claudia Mitchell of Oxnard team up Saturday to groom Backbone Trail with the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council. |
At age 22, Celina Armenta was one of three in the group not eligible for AARP membership. Edwards said a lot of Trails Council members are retired, giving them more free time. Armenta drove from Downey to join the group for the first time. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara, but only recently became interested in hiking. “I’m not much of a hiker. I grew up in Los Angeles, where everything is flat,” she said between gasps for air. “All these older people can outhike me. They tell me how to fix the trail and the names of flowers and I say, ‘Cool.’ I definitely want to do this some more,” she added. “And I’m going to make my lazy friends come out here — forget the YMCA.”
Armenta said she might bring her friends to meet her new hiking friends at the 28th Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days — 2009. The three-day event will kick off April 24 at Point Mugu State Park. It’s a weekend devoted to building new trails and restoring old ones in partnership with the Trails Council, California State Parks, CORBA, California Native Plant Society, the National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains Natural History Association, Temescal Canyon Association, Santa Monica Mountains Task Force of Sierra Club and Conejo Sierra Club. Camping is free for trail workers. All volunteers are welcome; trail work experience is not required. Camp will be at the Danielson Ranch multiuse site under sycamore and oak trees in the heart of the park.
For more information, call 818-222-4550 or visit http://www.smmtc.org. More photos are available in the VenturaCountyTrails.org photo gallery.
Jeff Klinger, chairman of CORBA, responds to the statement in this article that “trail ruts and erosion… [are caused by] rain and mountain bikes”
The article indicates that the trail erosion was caused by two factors: rain and mountain bikes. Identifying one user group without mentioning the array of factors that contribute to erosion does not fairly portray that group and implies that erosion is somehow use-specific, when it is not.
Independent studies demonstrate that mountain bikes cause no more surface erosion than other types of trail use. And, many factors contribute to the erosion of trails, including natural and human sources. Water causes the most damage to trails, as it is the most erosive force of nature (that’s how we got the Grand Canyon). All trail recreation has some impact, however that impact is increased or decreased as a result of many factors, including trail design. Sustainable trail design and properly constructed water control features serve to minimize erosive effects of nature and trail users.
The bottom line is that trails are built by people primarily for recreational use. Because trails are unprotected by vegetation and exposed to the elements, particularly concentrated rainwater erosion and continuous plant growth into the open trail space, trails must be maintained or they will erode away and be overtaken by vegetation. Hiking and biking groups such as the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council and Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association take a leadership role and deploy volunteer teams year-round to maintain these precious resources for the community to enjoy. We welcome everyone to come out and join us.
