CORBA is proud to have the Santa Clarita Valley Trail Users (SCVTU) out furthuring CORBA’s mission, by advocating for new trails, and doing trail maintenance and construction in the Santa Clarita Valley. SCVTU became a committee of CORBA in 2017, and have been making great strides in advocacy and volunteerism.
Currently, they are building out a new trail network at East Walker Ranch and Golden Valley Ranch. These two properties were acquired by the City to preserve as open space. They have an existing network of old ranch roads, but few singletrack options. The ranch roads are also unsustainably steep in some places, and don’t provide the trail experience that most people look for when hiking or mountain biking. The City has seen the need for new trails to accommodate their growing population, and we’re happy to help.
The trail network will eventually connect SCV neighborhoods to the Placerita Canyon nature center, the Angeles National Forest, and to other open spaces managed by the City.
On Sunday, January 26, 2020, more than two dozen volunteers worked on the latest addition to the trail network, garnering some great media coverage from SCV Signal, a local newspaper.
The work is supported by a generous grant from REI, which allowed the committee to acquire tools, support and engage volunteers, and bring in additional expertise to facilitate construction. REI is so invested that a volunteer work day for REI employees was held last year. Another is being planned for later this year.
It was especially rewarding for members of the Santa Clarita Composite Mountain Bike team, who race in the SoCal High School Mountain biking league. Team members and coaches were there to build the trail in the morning, then rode it in the afternoon.
We thank REI, all the volunteers who have given so much to the SCV community, and to our committee members who have led the effort. You should thank them too.
Tags: new trail construction
