It was great to see friendly faces—and Janie’s long hair—after so long away from the BBVTC as we congregated at the Santa Cruz District Maintenance Yard.
We met Kile Foltz and Trevor Hesselbein of the professional trail crew, loaded tools and car pooled up El Solyo Rd. Some road in Marty, the 1989 brown State Park van featuring ash trays for every bench seat. We climbed into a fire mosaic forest and gathered at a site that CalFire had cleared as they fought the CZU Complex. Big Ben Trailhead sign stood next to a Trail Closure Notice. The State Crew gave the safety talk and off we hiked.
After a short steep hike down Big Ben Trail to Fall Creek, we were greeted by a prostrate partially-burned trail sign, a huge fallen tumble of Doug fir and redwood and an extensive area of small-diameter dead tan oaks along the Fall Creek Trail. John’s group worked the fallen tree mess and Chris’ group began the job of sectioning the masses of fire or heat seared tan oak. I did not get good “before” photos. My first photo of the fallen tree mess with about a quarter of the way into the job.
A bit of water flowed in Fall Creek. A few oxalis and small mustard family plants showed wildflowers. Many sequoias had evaded the flames. At lunch, a Pacific Wren sang loudly and sweetly. Kile gave a lesson in building a burn pile. Using hand saws and loppers, the crew collected masses of small diameter brush. This is laid out for a feeder or two feeders who pile it in a 6’ by 6’ pile. The sawyer repeatedly lowers his blade through the mass, over and over as more dead vegetation is added. The pile swells and compacts as the prices are bisected into a more dense mass. In addition, a feeder pile of larger diameter (2” to 4”) wood grows near the burn pile. The burn pile will receive a paper cover and possibly be buttressed by the logs we cut today. It may take years to have the correct burning conditions—humidity, wind, moisture levels, etc. And then State Parks needs sufficient staff to monitor every burn pile.
Our two burn piles looked good, the trail was smooth at the “mess” site. We hiked out past a repositioned erect trail sign. Miles more of trail to rehabilitate.....
Start of a New Life
by Jan
The crew put in 115 hours and thanks to Rory Brooks, John Collins, Bill Fjellbo, Michele Gelblum, Peter Gelblum, Jan Hill, Shayamal Kapadia, Janie Leifhelm, John Martin, Janette Mello, Dale Peterson, Aaron Poulos, Dale Stadelman and Chris Young, for getting trail work restarted!
photos by Jan and Shyamal