Woo Hoo for Chaparral

Fond Farewell to Heidi Anderson

If you’ve spent any time along the Ventura trails over the past decade or so, no doubt you’ve crossed paths with Heidi Anderson at least a few times.  Heidi has been the Wilderness Trails Manager for the Ojai Ranger District for the past 13 years.  It’s a sad week for us as Heidi will be leaving the LP after accepting a promotion with the Fremont-Winema National Forest in southern Oregon.  During her time on the LP, Heidi was the main cog for trail projects within the Ojai District.  She organized and led most of the volunteer projects within the district and famously provided timely water and trail updates from across the Ventura Backcountry.  In addition, Heidi was a regular out in the forest and it was not uncommon to see her trekking the trails she worked so hard to maintain.  I remember the first time I met Heidi, I was backpacking the Red Reef Trail and she came hiking up in her Forest Service uniform with a smile on her face and excited to be out in the forest.  Her enthusiasm for the forest was infectious and you could clearly see that through her devoted volunteers who followed her literally anywhere across the ORD swinging tools and lopping brush.  The trails around Ojai surely won’t be the same without her but I think I speak for all of us in saying we’re happy for Heidi as she continues her journey.  Best of luck Heidi, thanks for all your help and one last…… WOO HOO!
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 LPFA TRAIL TALK IV
We’re really excited to announce the next LPFA Trail Talk event is on February 16 at 6pm, at the Balboa Building in Santa Barbara.  We’ll be welcoming chaparral expert and author Rick Halsey to discuss our favorite community of local plants: chaparral!  Rick is the founder of of the California Chaparral Institute and brings more knowledge about our local plants than you probably knew existed.  2017 marks the 10 year anniversary of the Zaca Fire and our Trail Talk Events this year will have a Zaca theme to them starting with Rick discussing the cycle of post-fire chaparral regrowth.  Rick’s talk is titled: Grizzly Bears, Condors and Chaparral and chances are if you are reading this, then you’ll love the talk on the 16th.  For more details or to get tickets, click this link and as always the event is FREE for LPFA members or $10 for guests.  We hope to see you there.  INFO@LPForest.org with questions…..

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Pinos Purity, first tracks by Tessa Soutar