Since the BBVTC started work on the Fall Creek Trail, a goal has been to reach the Barrel Mill Site and the September 11th work brought us to the edge of the area. The last stretch of trail before the site was too narrow for new burn piles, so we spent the Sept. 11th workday dragging tarps of slash uphill to the last area wide enough for new piles. Not a lot of fun, but by the end of the day we had reached the edge of Barrel Mill and were entering a wide downhill stretch with lots of locations for new burn piles on future workdays.
The second September 9-25 workday was kind of back and forth on what we would be doing. The first input was to focus on trail tread work, but that changed to our standard trail clearing and burn pile construction only to shift again to prepping the trail for what we hope will be a wet winter.
The final work included constructing a rock energy dissipator, clearing drainage culverts, and repairing sections of trail treads to prevent water erosion. The day was a little confusing in the beginning, but if nothing else over the past year the Trail Crew has proven it is flexible.
MARBLED MURRELET UPDATE
Several weeks ago I mentioned a Marbled Murrelet nested in one of the few unburned areas of Big Basin just down N. Escape Rd from the old HQ area and fledged on the evening of July 9th. You can find a video of the event along with background on the nest's discovery at https://vimeo.com/592467183/5149ad27c7.
The clip of the maiden flight is extremely brief (it's at the 3:35 mark) as you would expect, but there is also a cool image of one of the adults feeding the young chick its last meal before it strikes out on its own.
About a week afterwards, a bird group was out on the coast between Rancho del Oso and Ano Nuevo and reported sighting 26 murrelets, so perhaps one of the birds seen was the young one from Big Basin. Another nice reminder that Mother Nature is busy breathing new life into Big Basin.
SEP 11 - The crew put in 101 hours and thanks to Rory Brooks, John Collins, Dale Elliott, Peter Gelblum, Tommy Ha, Whitney Mitchell, Mike Peasland, Dale Petersen, Aaron Poulos, Devdutt Sheth, Chris Young, and David Dunlop
SEP 22 - The crew put in 99 hours and thanks to Rory Brooks, John Collins, Dale Elliott, Peter Gelblum, Tommy Ha, Whitney Mitchell, Mike Peasland, Dale Petersen, Aaron Poulos, Devdutt Sheth, Chris Young and David Dunlop, for the effort.
by Mike
photos by Mike and Chris Y.