With the Crew's May 3rd workday canceled due to Big Basin's closure because of forecasted winds of 35-45 mph and lots of standing dead trees from the 2020 fires, we were back to work on May 17th. We're nearing the end of work on the section of Sequoia Trail between Hwy 236 and N. Escape Rd, so the dramatic impact of turning a thickly overgrown hillside into a trail is behind us.
Instead, we began what will likely be several days of final 'QC ' (Quality Control) work focused on removing remaining debris from the trail, cutting vegetation further back from sections of trail shoulder, and moving everything into burn piles or in most cases dispersing it in out of sight downhill areas along the trail.
Although lacking the visual impact of the initial trail clearing, the final 'QC' work is important to ensure regrowth doesn't encroach on the trail too quickly.
The workday was part of a busy weekend for the Trail Crew as we also participated in the Sempervirens Fund's 125th Anniversary event. We have partnered with them on numerous projects over the decades going back to the 1969 work to connect Castle Rock and Big Basin by building in a single weekend the stretch of what is now Skyline-to-Sea Trail between the two parks.
The event was at Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton and numerous people stopped by our booth to ask about the park and our work with several indicating they were interested in helping.
The Crew put in 148 hours and thanks to Fremont Bainbridge, Daryn Bieri, Jim Brooks, John Collins, Dale Elliott, Justin Farris, Mimi Guiney, Cammie Hunt, Andrea Lee, Janie Leifhelm, Jack Marshall, John Martin, Janette Mello, Salome Navarette, Mike Peasland, Dale Petersen, Aaron Shaw, Marc Shaw, Devdutt Sheth and Doug Smith, for helping with Saturday's trail work and Fremont Bainbridge, Rory Brooks and Mike Peasland, for representing the Trail Crew at Sunday's Sempervirens event.
Sequoia Regrowth 5 Years after the Fire
Spring growth and flowers
When the CZU fires tore through Big Basin in 2020 one of the most significant concerns was for the endangered Marbled Murrelet birds that nested in Big Basin. While spending the majority of their lives feeding and resting near the ocean, Marbled Murrelets and Basin have a special connection as it was 1974 when a tree trimmer clearing storm damage in the park discovered for the first time anywhere a Marbled Murrelet chick in a nest just off N. Escape Rd.
Knowing the birds only nest in old growth trees, it seemed the 2020 fires could have a devastating effect on their ability to reproduce, but a year after the fires a Marbled Murrelet was observed returning to one of the few unburned large trees along N. Escape Rd to lay its egg.
No nesting sites have been observed in Basin since then, but Resource Ecologist Portia Halbert recently said they have been seen flying below the canopy level which is considered nesting behavior since actual nest sites are so difficult to locate.
Portia says they are also using the unburned Pescadero Creek drainage north of Big Basin (toward Pescadero County Park) more consistently since the fires , but they remain part of the Big Basin recovery story.
Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) (winter plumage)
by Mike and Jeff
photos by Mimi and Mike