With generous support from REI, CORBA has put $10,000 towards the National Park Service recovery efforts to rebuild bridges on the Backbone Trail that were burned in the Woolsey Fire.

In the wake of the Woolsey Fire, three bridges along the Backbone National Recreation trail were destroyed. It was some time before the National Park Service was able to assess the remaining abutments and determine when it would begin to replace the bridges. There have been many higher priority recovery efforts underway.  Knowing people were eager to get back on the trails, the Backbone trail was reopened with temporary stream crossings where the bridges once spanned. These are meant as temporary measures until the bridges are rebuilt and opened.

Steve Messer and Charlotte Parry, of SAMO Fund

REI allowed CORBA to coordinate our fundraising with the Santa Monica Mountains Fund. The SAMO Fund also received a grant from REI.  REI’s Vote with your Purchase campaign added to that fund to benefit all trail users in recovering the Backbone trail to pre-fire conditions.

Combined, those funds from REI, CORBA and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund are being used to leverage additional revenue streams to meet the bridge replacement costs. The National Park Service is hoping to have the remaining funding in place, and the bridges under construction this year. While the grant was funded last summer, it has taken time for the NPS to get to this stage.

The remaining grant funding has supported volunteer work days, trailwork tool repair and replacement for the benefit of trails. We also thank the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, and the Conejo Open Space foundation, with whom CORBA volunteers have partnered on a number of projects in the fire-ravaged Santa Monica Mountains and Conejo Valleys over the past year.

We appreciate the ongoing support from REI and thank them for efforts.