Saturday, June 13th, over 100 community volunteers joined local sustainable trail organizations and City, County, and Forest Service staff to make National Trails Day in the Jesusita Fire Burn Area a huge success!

Volunteers worked on Jesusita, Tunnel, Rattlesnake, and West Fork trails removing "ravel" and slide debris that in some cases completely covered and made the trails unusable. Volunteers also significantly improved the water control structures along these trails in anticipation of the coming winter's rains. The energy and work the day's participants put into the trails was incredible - the trails have been recovered where they appeared to no longer exist!

Local experienced trail leaders or "trail bosses" instructed the volunteers on the use of trail tools, trail safety and trail maintenance techniques, including pulling ravel down to the original or stable trail bed, bench cutting, and water control. The trail bosses included representatives from the following organizations: The Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers, Santa Barbara County Trails Council, the Multi-use Trails Coalition, Los Padres Forest Association, and the Sierra Club.

City, County, and Forest Service trails management staff made this event possible and successful. Kerry Kellogg of the FS, Jill Zachary of the City, Erik Axleson of the County, and their staff have spent a significant amount of time determining the safe use and management of our trails before and after the Jesusita Fire (among all the other fire related issues). They organized an event that really surpassed expectations for the day.

Agency trails staff will now be reviewing the burn area trails after June 13th's trail work, determine what additional work needs to be done, and then most likely develop a staggered schedule for the re-opening of the trails to the public. Additional planning and events are in the works to ready the trails before the rainy season commences. One hundred volunteers - an incredible display of caring and determination from the community when given the opportunity and means to help. The trail work was amazing! Congratulations!