A Letter From Our Executive Director
Hi there,
Matt here, Executive Director of SCMTS. I’m jumping in today to ask for your help. SCMTS is on track to do more for trail access in the Santa Cruz Mountains this year than ever before, and we’re at a critical point where we need additional funding to achieve our 2022 goals. All of our projects are on track: we’ll open over a dozen miles of new trail on lands never before open to the public, break our record for volunteer hours, and begin work to rebuild and reopen Big Basin. But we need your support to keep things moving in the months ahead. I hope you will consider making a donation to our Timeless Trails campaign today.
At Cotoni-Coast Dairies, our crews are working hard to complete the first two of three loops of the Northern trail network for a winter opening. This will include an accessible trail on a marine terrace that's fun for everyone as well as a more challenging, singletrack route that will take users into a dense redwood forest. While both of these trails will be amazing, the third loop is really the crown jewel. It will offer views that rival the best in Big Sur. It will gently climb through coastal prairie, descend a steep and rocky chaparral-studded canyon, and end next to a placid creek emerging from a cool redwood canyon on its way to the Pacific.
…sounds pretty good, right? We think so too but our crews can't begin construction until funding is complete and we are facing a $250,000 gap in construction costs. We need your help to build this trail. Please consider donating today to keep our crews working towards the full build-out of the jaw-dropping northern trails at Cotoni-Coast Dairies.
In addition to building new trails, we’re also doing more trail maintenance than ever before. We set the audacious goal of completing over 10,000 hours of volunteer work this year, and as of right now, we’re at about 7,260 volunteer hours logged across twelve open spaces. You’ve filled up 50+ person volunteer signups in just a matter of hours–we’re grateful for the hard work you’ve put into making local trails fun and safe for everyone. This heroic amount of work takes similarly heroic amounts of coordination, and our trails program staff are some of the best in the business. Donating to Timeless Trails today will allow us to keep trail maintenance events on the calendar so we can reach that 10,000 hour goal.
Finally, we are looking ahead at getting to work in Big Basin. This winter, our crew will join in with California State Parks staff to assist in the monumental effort of rebuilding and reopening a reimagined and more resilient Big Basin State Park. The CZU Lightning Fire devastated the park, and while the forest is rebounding, there is still years of work to do to reopen trails and make the park more resistant to such extreme fire events. As long as we have funding, we will devote our crews and volunteers to trail work in this historic park. Donating today will allow us to get California’s first State Park fully open and rebuilt as soon as possible.
Together, we stand to make a meaningful impact on trail access in our community. Let’s make it happen!
