#GivingTuesday – Los Padres Forest Association

LPFA Trail Work GivingTuesday

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Bryan Conant

**How many #GivingTuesday emails did you receive today?**
**We’re setting the over/under at 15. How’d you do?**

Hi Everyone – Sorry to inundate you with another #GivingTuesday email but we believe in our goal of restoring the Santa Cruz Trail and we believe that you as trail users should believe in it as well. Of course your contributions go to the LPFA but more importantly they go to support the Los Padres Forest, they go directly to the Santa Cruz Trail and they go to help folks like yourself who are out there using the trails. If you use the trails, this is for you!

If you haven’t volunteered with us yet or don’t know about the LPFA, we can almost guarantee you’ve enjoyed the trails we help maintain. We’ve put together a list of 12 trail accomplishments we’re proud of from 2022. If you’ve not enjoyed these trails listed below, please do so, now is the time before they get overgrown again…. trail work in the Los Padres is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, it never ends!

For 2023 we will be making a big push to continue work on the Santa Cruz Trail and connect the dots between Upper Oso and Santa Cruz Station. We have funding in place for much of this work but not all of it just yet. If you use or have used the Santa Cruz Trail or any of the trails across the Los Padres, please consider supporting our Santa Cruz Trail campaign. Thank you all for your support and see you on the trails…..

– Your Friends at the LPFA

LPFA Accomplishments !

#GivingTuesday 2021 – Thanks to your donations in 2021, the LPFA fixed a mile of the Sespe River Trail including repairing the Alder Creek Slide.
Figueroa Mountain – Over 10 miles of trail restored along the north slope of Figueroa Mountain including Davy Brown, Willow, White Rock and more….
Cold Spring Trail – Brushed, repaired and rebuilt the entire northern Cold Spring Trail from East Camino Cielo to Forbush and down to Mono. That is us!
Indian Creek – April Working Vacation at Meadow Camp, cleared the Indian Creek Trail up to Indian Creek Camp. It had been decades, go explore this canyon NOW!
Red Reef Trail – Restored 10 horribly overgrown miles of the Red Reef Trail in the Sespe Wilderness with help from our awesome volunteers and Trail Crew!
Sulphur Spring Trail – Opened and brushed the Sulphur Spring Trail, which was super helpful for San Raf hikers while NIRA was closed. Yes, that was this year!
Blue Canyon Trail – Took a few years but we finally punched through the Blue Canyon Trail east of Romero. We did mention painting the Golden Gate Bridge…
Garcia & Ventana – Completed 2 weeks of work in the Ventana Wilderness with VWA and 3 weeks of work in the Garcia Wilderness with SLOPOST. Teamwork!
Ventura County – Maintenance on an assortment of trails including Santa Paula, Matilija, Murietta, Lion, Pot John, Snowy Creek, Piru, Agua Blanca, Boulder, etc….
SB County – Regular trail work including Mission Pine, Big Cone Spruce, Manzana, Rattlesnake, Jesusita, Sisquoc, Tequepis, Franklin, Buckhorn, Grapevine, etc….
Sespe Trail Work – We had a super fun and great November volunteer Working Vacation based at Willett where we opened 4 miles of trail down-canyon. SO FUN!
Santa Cruz Trail – Continued work on the Santa Cruz NRT, focusing on the section between Alexander and Santa Cruz Station. Please considering helping us continue!

Click here to watch a YouTube of our 2021 #GivingTuesday accomplishments in the Sespe.

Click here to donate for #GivingTuesday 2022 on the Santa Cruz Trail.

Have a great day everyone!

THANK YOU!

Sespe Working Vacation & Exciting Santa Cruz Trail News!

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Bryan Conant

*Sespe, Red Reef & the Topatopa’s – shining!*

Hello Friends – HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

While there is much to be thankful for here in the Los Padres, we are most thankful for the 32 volunteers who helped out last week on our Sespe Working Vacation based at Willett Camp. The LPFA has hosted dozens of Working Vacations over the years but they just keep getting better, more efficient and more fun. We had a great time out there, the Sespe in fall is hard to beat and we watched the colors get better and better with each passing day. We’ll share the whole story later but for now some quick bullet points of what we accomplished:

*Otis, Annie, Tommy, Honey, Floyd & Jessabelle – could not have done it without you!*

Our awesome volunteers cleared and restored 4 miles of the Sespe River Trail, mainly between Willett and Coltrell Camps.
We hauled out, thanks to the mules, over a dozen trash bags filled with garbage left along the trail and at Willett Camp. Willett is clean now, please help keep it that way!
We repaired 4 disastrous fire rings around Willett while creating defensible space for when the fire ban is lifted.
Repaired and cleaned most of the out-buildings at Willett Camp. Much more love is needed!
Cut out 13 downed trees which were blocking both the Sespe River and Red Reef Trails.
Somehow kept everyone well fed and energized despite the freezing conditions and daily long hikes to the work sites.
Engaged with countless dozens of backpackers who were out enjoying the Sespe and its fall colors over the past week!

*They don’t call him the Shermanator for nothing…..*

We want to also thank Southern California Edison, who provided a grant to complete some of this work and a private anonymous donor (you know who you are THANKS!) who paid for all the food and drinks for our hungry and thirsty volunteers.

We are working on scheduling next years Spring Working Vacations and as of right now will be working on the Alder Creek Trail within the Sespe Wilderness and hosting another Working Vacation at South Fork Station in the San Rafael Wilderness. Stay tuned for updates and we hope you can join us in 2023 and beyond……

You likely know that #GivingTuesday is this coming Tuesday November 29. Last year the LPFA raised funds to fix a sketchy section of the Condor Trail within the Sespe Wilderness called the Alder Creek Slide. This year we will be focusing our #GivingTuesday efforts to continue our trail restoration along the Santa Cruz Trail within Santa Barbara County. Thank you everyone who helped support our efforts this past year and we hope you choose to support this #GivingTuesday as well.