Author: Addison Jerlow

2024 Los Padres Calendar – Call for Photos

Posted on by Addison Jerlow

Ready or not, 2024 is right around the corner…(!) In order to help decorate your office, kitchen or gear nook, the LPFA will once again be producing a Los Padres wall calendar for the upcoming year. The 2024 Los Padres wall calendar will continue to feature photos of many of the amazing animals, vistas, plants, sunsets, mountains, trails, waterfalls, trees, canyons, and potreros we love from across the Los Padres Forest. The calendars will be 17×11″, printed on high quality stock and available to order on our website. We are expecting to print and ship calendars in early December 2023. Pre-order your 2024 Los Padres calendar here! All proceeds will go to the LPFA Trail Care Program.

PHOTOS NEEDED!

We are looking for photo submissions of your best, high-quality shots from across the Los Padres, preferably from the past 12 months. The only theme is that the photos were taken in/of the Los Padres Forest. Please, limit your submissions to 15 photos! The last day to submit a photo is Friday, November 3rd, 2023. If we use your photo(s) in the calendar, we’ll of course credit you and send you a complimentary calendar to grace your office and amaze your friends – “wait, that’s the Los Padres!?” Be ready for that astonished response.

If you’d like to send in a photo or if you have any questions please email us at INFO@LPForest.org.

Thanks everyone and we hope to see some of your incredible Los Padres photos soon…..

Thomas Fire Trail Damage

Posted on by Addison Jerlow

Thomas Fire Perimeter as of December 22, 2017

• 272,800 Acres Burned (12.22.17)

• 34 Los Padres System Trails Damaged

• 52 Recreational Trails & Roads Damaged

• 127 Miles of Trails Damaged (approximate)

• 100 Miles of FS Recreational Roads Damaged (approximate)

• 24 Forest Service Campsites Damaged

— • — • —

The Thomas Fire started December 4 near Santa Paula and spent the next three weeks raging across Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Thomas has been a horrible fire.  The Los Padres is no stranger to wildfires and Thomas has literally broken all the records with regards to acreage burned, damage caused, overall destruction and impact to the communities.  This fire has been a nightmare and even after the flames are extinguished and Thomas is fully contained, we will still be dealing with that nightmare due to fire-related storm damage.  Thomas will continue haunting us in one form or another for many years to come…..

In addition to the horrible lose of homes and personal property; the Thomas Fire has destroyed so much of the Los Padres Forest including 24 campsites and over 200 miles of trails and Forest Service recreational roads.  It’s overwhelming to think that all the frontcountry trails from Santa Paula to Santa Barbara were burned.  This includes all of Ojai, Nordhoff Ridge, Matilija, Rose Valley, Franklin Trail, Jameson Lake watershed and all the Montecito trails east of Gibraltar Road.  Right now it’s hard to grasp the magnitude of work needed to restore these trails but don’t worry, the chaparral will grow back and along with it the need to get boots on the ground and start pushing dirt and clearing downed trees.

From the onset of the Thomas Fire the LPFA has been involved in helping the forest however we can.  We assisted the fire fighting effort by providing crews with intel updates on road and trail conditions.  We’ve helped inform the public as best we can and now that the flames are dying down we’re getting ready to turn our focus towards restoring the damaged trails.  The first step will be surveying the 34 FS system trails to ascertain the extent of the damage and provide that information to the FS to help with their management of the land.  The process of surveying the trails will occur repeatedly throughout the winter and spring depending on our storm season.  After each survey, that information will be passed to the FS as well as the public (www.HikeLosPadres.com).  Depending on the trail damage and how the FS manages the Thomas Closure, we’ll get to work partnering with as many trail groups as we can to raise money, organize volunteers and get out onto the trail to swing Pulaskis and chain saw downed trees from the trail corridor.

It’s going to be a bit of a shock as we get back onto our familiar trails and realize that we don’t recognize them anymore.  That shock will be followed by a feeling of being overwhelmed at just how much work is needed to restore the trails.  We’ve been through this before with previous fires like Day, Zaca and Jesusita.  It may take a while but together with the Forest Service and partnering trail organizations we’ll get the trails back on the ground and feet/tires/hooves back on the trails.

If you’d like to help you can donate to the LPFA and note that you’d like your donation to go to Thomas Fire Trail Fund.  You can also donate to other trail organizations and of course get ready for lots of volunteer help needed over the coming months…..  Stay tuned and thanks for your help.

Thomas Fire tearing up Romero Canyon, photo USFS