The normally bustling Big Sur Visitor Center…. no tourists right now but always a hub for helping the community in times of need. Thanks Tim!
Howdy Friends,
The BIG news across the Los Padres Forest is of course the Timber Fire, which started near Timber Top just outside Big Sur on August 8. At the moment the fire has burned just shy of 5,200 acres and is 21% contained. The Los Padres National Forest issued a forest closure covering most of the Ventana Wilderness and Highway 1 is closed from Fernwood to Julia Pfeiffer Burns. Needless to say, access into Big Sur and the Monterey County backcountry will be restricted for quite some time.
As far as the fire behavior goes, we’ve been lucky to have favorable weather over the past week and the fact that the fire is “only” at 5,200 acres is a testament to both the cooler than normal weather and the expertise of the fire crews. While the majority of the fire crew efforts have been rightfully focused on the southwest flank near the highway and communities, the flames continue to creep and run within the Ventana Wilderness and the Big Sur River drainage. Note that portions of the Pine Ridge Trail have burned but at the moment the fire remains on the south side of the Big Sur River. This part of the forest most recently burned in the 2016 Soberanes Fire so we’re looking at a decade of fuel loads, which is better than it could be. Fighting wildfires and providing fire crew access is very challenging in the Big Sur Backcountry and it could be a little while before it’s all buttoned up.
Good news is that there doesn’t appear to be any crazy heat waves in the foreseeable future and the containment percentages continue to climb. Knock. Knock. Big thanks to everyone involved in the fire efforts, it takes a village and then some to organize and manage all the logistics involved during a large fire operation.
Stay safe everyone……
There is no shortage of resources to help follow the fire efforts. Below are a few links to check out:
Los Padres Forest Service – Facebook
First days of Timber, photo to right by Big Al
Despite the summer heat and wildfires, there are still plenty of Los Padres pools to cool off in.
We’re just getting out of the dog days of summer and while the heat is continuing to slow down our volunteer opportunities, we’ve got a few things in the works. Check em out:
August 28: Franklin Trail
We’ll be working with an all-star cast of local trail orgs and legendary volunteers to restore the Franklin Trail above Carpinteria. The upper part of Franklin is currently closed due to storm damage and our hope is to complete enough work on the 28th so that the trail can be reopened in September. For more information please click here and don’t forget to RSVP ahead of time.
September 19: Santa Paula Cyn
Speaking of local legends, Strohm and the Santa Paula Canyon Crew will once again be out on Santa Paula Cyn cleaning trash, covering graffiti and helping teach visitors how to love a place without loving it to death. If you haven’t joined them, you gotta check it out. Click here for more information and be sure to follow all this epic work:
• September 26ish: National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is just around the corner and we’re working on a couple events in Santa Barbara and Ojai. Stay tuned…..
• November 5-15: Working Vacation (WV) at Alamar Saddle. We’ll be focusing our fall WV on restoring the wilderness trails out from Alamar Saddle. This includes the Sisquoc, Madulce and Mission Pine Trails. This will be epic and we’ll be sharing more information soon…..
• We just wrapped up the second weekend of A-Zone South general deer season. A-Zone is being impacted by the Timber Fire as a large portion of the northern Los Padres is included within the fire closure. This could push some additional hunters into the Central and Southern Los Padres. Be careful out there everyone, good luck and remember our current fire restrictions. A-Zone lasts through September 20.
• Speaking of the Timber Fire, here’s a pretty cool story of rescuing two condors from the wildfire. Great work by CalFire and Ventana Wildlife Society!
• And… speaking of displaced A-Zone hunters, Hwy 33 will be closed to through traffic the weekend of August 28 for road repairs. The hard closure will be at the tunnels downstream from Wheeler Gorge and will start at 10pm on Friday 8/28 and last through 5am on Monday August 31. Hwy 33 will be remain open (but not to thru-traffic) from the Cuyama side in case folks want to access Rose Valley, upper Sespe or the Pine Mtn areas.
• The Forest Service just announced new office hours for their Ranger Stations across the forest. Check them out here.
• Don’t look now but some of the leafs are starting to change color…. It’s very faint but fall is out there, somewhere….
• We are starting the hiring process for our fall/winter season of trail work on the Trail Crew. If you are interested or know anyone who loves trail work, please click here to learn more and apply.
• Speaking of the Trail Crew, we’ve been busy working all across the forest from OHV trails in the Pinos, to BAER work in the Garcia Wilderness and from Lake Fire restoration on Fig Mtn, to private trail work in the Santa Ynez Mtns. While we’ve been bouncing around a bit, our main focus of late has been working with Montecito Trails Foundation and the SB Ranger District to repair trails currently impacted by the 2023 storm damage closure. The Trail Crew has been working hard on Old Romero and will be moving over to Franklin and Arroyo Burro early next month. The hope is to have these trails repaired and reopened by September 17th. Stay tuned….
With the help of saw instructors from the Ventana Wilderness Alliance (VWA), the LPFA was able to certify and re-certify 19 crosscut sawyers. Downed trees beware, we’re coming!!!
