Recap: Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve Dig Day
Last Saturday, we teamed up with the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to host another successful Dig Day alongside 57 amazing volunteers at the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve (BDER). Big thank you to Dig Day sponsors the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and Adidas Five Ten for making this event possible, plus hospitality sponsors Togo’s Scotts Valley, Verve, Sierra Nevada, NewLeaf, and Cracked Cookies, for making sure our volunteers enjoyed a fun day of trail work with full bellies.
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County has recently taken on maintaining the maintenance of the trail network at BDER in support of the future Laguna Creek Trail. This trail is part of the larger San Vicente Redwoods public access project. They hope to have this trail open by the end of the year. The Laguna Creek trail is short but mighty, with some steep grades. Great for hiking! It will be exciting to have a new trail in Santa Cruz County.
Before we dig in: The land on which we gathered is the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.
Wondering what a Dig Day is and how to get involved? Check out our Dig Days page!
Now back to the recap!
The week of our Dig Day events, our crew visits the worksite ahead of time to flag the various projects and ensure there is enough work for each volunteer. We line out the trail work for our volunteers by staking group signs into the ground so each crew will know where they are working, and even put pin flags on the trail to establish what work should be done. This information is then handed off to our incredible volunteer Trail Crew Leaders and Trail Sages, who will be the crew leads for the day. For this event, the SCMTS Trail Crew spent a day with the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County staff to perform tree work in preparation for Saturday's Dig Day. In other words, there is a lot of prep to make events like these possible before they even start!
The Dig Day kicked off in the morning at the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve, where volunteers checked in, signed up for their crew for the day, and enjoyed delicious bagels and steaming Verve coffee. Seeing both new and familiar faces come out to fix up fire-damaged trails was amazing! Once bellies were full, volunteers signed up for their trail work groups and gathered ‘round for instructions for the day.
SCMTS’s Katie Teschler, Trail Stewardship Coordinator and event facilitator, led the “circle up” discussion and introductions. We were joined by staff members Carie and Brian from the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Terris from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the incredible Dawn, Volunteer Coordinator for Friends of Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve. Dawn has been voluntarily leading programs at the Reserve for over 20 years, and we were so happy to be included in her trail restoration efforts. We then heard from both volunteers and staff alike, as each person went around and shared what animal they would like to be for a day. Once everyone had shared, we then broke out into smaller trail crews with SCMTS Trail Crew Leaders, a group of volunteers who are trained to lead crews at Dig Days (learn more here). After Trail Crew Leaders talked volunteers through the plan for the day, key safety topics, endangered and endemic species, groups headed out into the field, hard hats secure and tools in hand.
Many volunteers and staff marveled at how interesting it was to see evidence and effects of the 2020 CZU Lightning Fire Complex throughout the reserve. Despite the landscape’s charred appearance, there was about a year of new growth peeking out between the blackened manzanitas and knobcone pines. It reminded us that our trail work is only one piece of the fire restoration puzzle. Mother Nature is extremely resilient, and the flora throughout the BDER are working hard to rise from the ashes.
Tasks for the day varied between the trail work groups. A few crews worked on rerouting 900ft of trail to make it more aesthetically pleasing, sustainable, and pleasant for users. Another reason our Trail Crew decided to reroute and decommission 600ft of the existing trail was because it was directly under a few large and hazardous trees! Other volunteers took part in the in-person Trail Academy class, 105: Basics of Trail Maintenance. Trails Planning Director Drew Perkins taught students how to evaluate and repair common trail issues like blocked drainage, tread wear, and overgrown sightlines.
Volunteers used shovels to dig out stubborn roots, loppers to trim bushes away from the trail, and rakes to remove all the dead brush. Sets of pink pin flags placed by Katie earlier in the week set the course for the day, outlining the path that the newly rerouted trail would take. In the ashy and warm conditions, volunteers powered through. It was amazing to see how quickly the trail reroute came together and how suddenly the old trail began to disappear! We spoke to Ross Berry, a first-time volunteer, who was cheery despite the hard day of work. “Everyone is excited to be here and is really friendly. It’s a beautiful day and I am happy to be here!”
At around noon, volunteers and Trail Crew Leaders took lunch out on the trail and chit-chatted about their completed work so far. Everyone enjoyed the sandwiches provided by Togo’s Scotts Valley, which refueled them for the rest of the day.
After a long day's work, everyone met back at the tents for the best part of any Dig Day, the post-dig celebration and raffle! Beers and hard kombucha, kindly provided by Sierra Nevada, plus Martinelli’s apple juice and sparkling water, refreshed volunteers after all their strenuous work. Strenuous day it was, but we couldn't agree with Brian Homberger, of Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, more; "working together, the arduous task of re-routing, rehabbing, and opening the trail felt more like a party." Finally, it was time for the raffle! This Dig Day’s giveaway was sponsored by Adidas Five Ten with additional prizes courtesy of REI. Volunteers joyously raised their hands and smiles spread across their faces when their raffle numbers were called. We hope that all our winners enjoy their new shoes and gear!
As always, we are so thankful for our gracious volunteers. Their hard work makes an everlasting impact on the trails we all love. If you came out and joined us, thank you! If you did not make it this time, we’ve got good news–there will be plenty more Dig Days in the months ahead. Sign up for our newsletter or keep your eyes peeled for sign-ups on our Dig Day webpage because spots fill up quickly.
Happy trails!
Team SCMTS
All photos generously provided by GDK Photos, Jossy Andrews, and Maddie Ortenblad!
