The big change is Kile, from the District crew, has gone back to a M-F workweek and is getting tired of working six days a week when we're out, so we'll be on our own starting in June. Another acknowledgement of the Trail Crew's dedication and professionalism.
As the time got closer for the Trail Crew to go back into the park after last summer's fires, it became clear that things would not be the same. What we looked forward to before the fire, like a nice hike out to a log out, lunch under the redwoods, a few "thanks for the hard work" from hikers, well that is gone for now.
We are currently meeting at the Henry Cowell maintenance headquarters and driving up a dusty truck trail to clear and process fire damaged trails in the Fall Creek Unit in Felton. The work has changed, the location has changed but the can do spirit of the crew is still there.
We have been learning how to effectively clear a 60 foot wide swath of all burned and dead trees and build burn piles while still maintaining the aesthetic standards the district expects. We have learned how to identify trees that will not survive after the fire, what invasive trees should be removed, the importance of duff on the trail to prevent erosion and most importantly how to build a proper burn pile. The work is hard, but we have all learned how to work smarter and be more efficient as a group.
The May 22 work was a graduation of sorts for the Big Basin volunteers, we will now be allowed to work on our own without the State Park staff. The group has put in a lot of hard work getting there.
Thanks to Mike for keeping everyone informed and engaged while we waited for our next assignment and thanks to Kile and Chris P. from the State Park crew for treating our volunteer crew with courtesy and respect and a special thanks to all the volunteers who stepped up to the new challenges and are getting the work done.
Personally I can not believe how much work it takes to recover from the fire. We have only been working on one small section of trail in one small part of the park and the effort has been huge. I think the skills we are all learning will be crucial when we finally get back to Big Basin. It slowly seeps into your brain that rebuilding the park will take a really long time. But on a positive note, Kile informed us that Alberto from the resources group thought that our burn piles are the best he has seen!
The crew put in 92 hour and thanks to Rory Brooks, John Collins, Tommy Ha, Shyamal Kapadia, Janie Leifhelm, Janette Mello, Mike Peasland, Aaron Poulos, Devdutt Sheth, Chris Young, and Tarek Awad who joined us from the Butano trail crew for another good day on the trails.
by John C., Mike, and Jeff
photos by Mike