MAR 2016 - 2 Crews Part II

Rain usually brings out the crew and in the light rain on the March workday 10 members showed up.  Again we had enough members to split up with Norm taking on and I took another.

Norm: Our merry band, consisting of Curt, Kurt, Dale S. Dale P., David P., & I, headed up the Sequoia Trail looking for our 24" tree.  About a quarter of the way up we found a 20"ish Madrone that was totally blocking the trail.  Dale P. used his chain saw for the big stuff & we lopped & hand sawed the rest.  There was quite a lot of water running down the cleared trail so used 4-5' long Madrone branch to create a water bar to shunt the water down into a drainage.  Kurt walked up the trail to 236 & found no further stuff.

We drove out to the kiosk on N. Escape and headed up Hollow Tree Trail, looking for the 3 trees in Curts' pictures.  We came across a small Doug fir not on our list and took care of it.  Hiking further up we came upon Curts' 3 trees - already cut and cleared!!  We headed back down HTT to the cars, and did a little clearing of small stuff on the way back to HQ.  Dale S. & I went in the office where we noticed on our map a post it about an 18" tan oak behind the campfire center and walked over to check it out.  It's leaning across the access road, several feet off the ground and we agreed it was a bit too much for the two of us.  Thankfully we didn't really get rained on until we we were done!  Not a great day but a good one!

Dale S: We started off driving out North Escape Rd. to Sequoia Trail, after a short hike we found a Madrone tree patiently waiting for us

With a few precise cuts with his saw, Dale P. and the rest of us had the tree cleared in no time.

Next we were off to Hollow Tree Trail were we found

A few more saw cuts and we ended with this

Our final stop on Hollow Tree Trail was some saw dust. Apparently a Parks crew got to our destination first.  So just on account of because, we did a little clearing of North Escape Rd. on our way back, including a spot marking X.

We left just a slash

Jeff: I took Mike, Jan, Janie, Janette, and David B. to do the Sequoia Eastridge loop.  I guess the rain was on our side of the park but it was light and after we ended the day it started to rain in for real totaling 4.3" through Sunday.

 

 

The first thing we can across was this 6" Fir

 

Small 6" oak  was quickly cleared

 

At the bridge leading to the Huckleberry Campground a 12" Fir took out some oaks completely closing the access

I would like to thank the wet crew of Norm, Curt, Kurt, Dale S. Dale P., David P., Mike, Jan, Janie, Janette, and David B. for putting in 98 volunteer hours.

See you on the trails

Blog by Jeff, Dale S. and Norm

Photos by Jeff and Dale S.

Birds of the Day

Allen's Hummingbird
Common Raven

Hairy Woodpecker

Pacific Wren

American Robin

Northern Flicker

Acorn Woodpecker

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Dark-eyed Junco

Varied Thrush

FEB 2016 - 2 Crews

There were 9 members out this month and it was another warm morning for early February.  We split up into 2 crews with Dale S. heading up Crew1 with Norm, Peter, Michelle, and Janette.  they started off heading out Gazos Ck. Rd to the tree that has the road blocked. After a few minutes of discussion they decided that they didn't want to spend all day on this one. Janette measured it to be about 38".

We removed a smaller 6" tree that came down with this one. Not knowing how far the other 3 smaller ones were, we turned around and did some rock and limb clearing of Gazos Creek Rd on our way back to the tree on Creeping Forest Trail. This one was about 38".

Corncob pipes have nothing on our Douglas Fir pipe...

 

Cleared and finished...

When Peter found out the my crew would be looking for an American Dipper he bailed.  My crew included Mike, David B., and David P.  We started at Blooms Creek Tail and cleared an 8" and 12" oak.

Next up was Last Chance trail and the search for the American Dipper.  I have seen a nesting pair along the creek for the last 2 years.  We first came across an 18" Tan Oak.

Not too far down the trail we came across another 18" oak.

 

We then headed down the trail in search of the Dippers and about 1/4 mile after crossing the creek we did find the pair and with nesting material so now 3 years in a row.  Another bonus was White-throated Swift flying along the cliffs above us.

 American Dipper on the falls

 Banana Slug

Newt

After watching the Dippers over lunch  headed over to Eastridge Trail where it crosses Lodge Road.  This was a 22" oak and after a few cuts we had the trail open.

 

Between the 2 crews we put in 70 hours and I would like to thank Dale S., Norm, Michelle, Peter, David P., David B., Janette, and Mike.

See you on the trails

Dale S. and Jeff

Birds of the Day

Varied Thrush

Pacific Wren

Acorn Woodpecker

Hutton Vireo

Northern Flicker

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

American Dipper

White-throated Swift

 Turkey Vulture

American Robin

Dark-eyed Junco

JAN 2016 - Sequoia and Creeping Forest

We had a surprise group joining us this work day: the California Conservation Corp (CCC), Monterey Bay.  There were 8 of them and with 12 regular crew out that made for a great turn out for the start of the New Year.

Dale S. and Dale P. with the CCC group started off on Creeping Forest Trail clearing a 10", 12" and 28" redwood. Fortunately it was only about a hundred yards from the 1st jump off to Gazos Creek Rd. After clearing these trees part of the CCC crew volunteered to walk Creeping Forest back to Sky Line to the Sea and meet us at headquarters for lunch. Note: they had a hand saw with them.

After lunch, we drove up to Middle Ridge Rd to the turn around, we found 24" oak across Middle Ridge, the portion that goes off to the right up the hill. There was also a 10" oak across Gazos Creek Rd. between the two sections of Middle Ridge Rd. After clearing these trees we headed back for lunch. After lunch we headed back out Gazos to Creeping Forest again, the volunteer walkers had found a tree across the trail. It was a couple hundred yards back toward Sky Line to the Sea from Dec's tree. As Dale S. was getting his chain saw ready to go, I politely pointed out that wecould have taken out this 8" madrone with a hand saw.

 

I took a second crew to look for a reported blockage on Shadowbrook near Sempervirens Falls.  We didn't find anything but the falls.

  2nd Crew

Sempervirens Falls            Road up Slippery Rock

We hiked up Slippery Rock and over Hwy 236 along the Sequoia Trail.  About 1/2 mile down the other side we found a partially clear Fir.  We did a couple of cuts but my saw saw a too small for the 3-4' tree.  We clear the rest to reduce trip hazards and fixed up trail.

 The first crew was lead by Dale S. and Dale P. with CCC volunteers Andrew A., Daniel M., Ryan H., Trevor H., Nicholas G., Richard T., Charles C., Robert F. and the second crew was made up of Janie, Jan, Bill, Norm, David B., David P., Michelle, Peter, and me.  Total hour that were put in were 190.  That's a great start for the new year.

See you on the trails.

Jeff and Dale S.

Photos by: Jeff and Dale S.

Birds of the Day

American Robin

Common Raven

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Hairy Woodpecker

Townsend's Warbler

Steller's Jay

Hutton's Vireo

DEC 2015 - Holiday Party

I was in the kitchen with J finishing off the chowder and other stuff.  Here's more from Mike.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Holidays! It seems like it was just New Year's Eve, but the second Saturday of the month is this weekend and the Trail Crew will be out at Big Basin regardless of the weather. We already have reports of more trees down on the Creeping Forest Trail (deja vu for those out last month) and this week's rains will no doubt create more work. 

After four years of drought and quiet winters for the Trail Crew, it looks like we will have lots to do. Hope you can make it out Saturday.

December has become a month of traditions for the Trail Crew whether it's the Holiday Party in afternoon or hauling firewood in the morning. Last month we started the workday portion by splitting and hauling firewood for use in the Sempervirens Room fireplace on those cold wet days. While most of the Crew headed up to load firewood into a park truck, Peter and Mike stayed in the VC area and cut and split several logs that had been laying around. By time everything was finished we had moved and split enough wood to last the winter.

With still time to kill before the party we decided to follow up on a report of a tree blocking the Creeping Forest Trail near the top of the initial uphill climb. As most of the group drudged up the hill, David Bryan shot ahead and found what we were looking for - a Tan Oak and so much debris sprawled across the trail that we initially couldn't tell where the trail continued beyond the blockage. After cutting and removing all the small stuff it was fairly easy to chainsaw the trunk portion from the trail (even with my dull chain!).

Welcome Party: Kodi and Kaja

The afternoon was dedicated to what has become the traditional Trail Crew Holiday Party and Jeff and Jeannine were gracious enough to host the gathering and cook most of the meal. Jeff had promised a 'gourmet feast' and he was dead on as always. There was a whole lot of outstanding food (it was a food coma evening), but probably the highlight was Jeff's seafood chowder. He had started it two days before and even Jeff said it was one of his better efforts.

Good Friends and Good Food

Thanks to Norm Beeson, David Bryan, Bill Drulias, Peter and Michele Gelblum, Jan Hill, Janette Mello, Mike Peasland, David Philleo and Dale Stadelman, for their help in the park and Gene Nelson, Jack and Barbara Schultz, and Shelly Graham, for joining us for the party afterwards. And of course Jeff and Jeannie for making everything come together in the afternoon.

Even though it looks to be a wet winter ahead, the redwood forests have endured four years of drought and there have been several studies to track the impact of dry winters on redwoods. One study has been looking at ferns,another moisture loving plant, as an indicator of problems redwoods themselves may face as the result of climate change and the Save the Redwoods League is sponsoring a presentation on just this at Henry Cowell on Wed. Jan. 20th at 7pm, Details are below if you're interested.

  

Where: Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Visitor Center

When: Wednesday, January 20, 7:00-9:00 pm

What Ferns Tell Us About Drought in the Redwoods

The height of the most common plant in the coast redwood forest is affected by how much rain and fog fall among the coast redwoods. Western sword fern, grows tall fronds in wet redwood forests of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties and much shorter fronds in the dry forests of Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. In dry years, sword ferns lose many of their fronds and show signs of stress before other species — like the redwoods themselves — do. For this reason, sword fern is an important indicator of climate change. Since 2012, Fern Watch volunteers have tracked the health of Western sword fern every year in more than 100 plots scattered across 11 coast redwood forests in Northern California.

Big Basin is all about history being the oldest California State Park and the Trail Crew has some history itself having been around for over 40 years. There is also the warning you often hear about not putting things out on the Internet as they never truly go away. I'll end this month's note with a little piece of Trail Crew history in the photo below which I found on the Internet recently. I forget who the responsible party is for the sign in the photo, but it proves that not all Trail Crew work is serious!

Happy New Year to everyone, hope you can make it out this Saturday and many times during the year.

Mike

NOV 2015 - Redwood Loop

It started out cool and we start a little early.  I arrived around 8:30 to scope out the work needed to repair the fence around the Redwood Loop Trail.  The Redwood Loop was one of the first things I worked on when I joined the BBVTC back in 1996.  Someone had the idea that instead of using the old style of using wire to secure the rails to the post that bolts would be better.  Well, between then and now the fence was back to using wire and the bolts were gone.

Unloading the Posts and Rails

 Wiring the Rails to the Posts

 

Work preping for the repairs

Lunch in the Amphitheater

Prepping to replace the posts 

 

 We finished around 4pm but there was still at least another good days work left.  We put in 93 hours with the help of Norm, Dale S., Jan, David P., Herman, Janette, Peter, Michelle, Mike, David B., and new member Barry and with help from park interpreter Susan.

 Our Dusky-footed Woodrat would like to reminder you of the Dec 12th Holiday Get Together

See you on the trails

Jeff

Birds of the Day

Robins

Pacific Wren

Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)

Steller's Jay

Acorn Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Chestnut-back Chickadee

Spotted Towhee

Varied Thrush

Raven