Campground Project

Date: 2022-08-15
Location: Prisoners Harbor campground, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park Crew leader: Dave Edwards Summary: We had two consecutive day trips, 15 and 16 August, to construct tent pads for the new campground at Prisoners Harbor. The work consisted of clearing and leveling six campsites for 9 x 21 ft pads for tents and a picnic table. We also cleared and cut in several small trails leading to each campsite. The next phase (unknown dates, probably several weeks from now) will consist of installing 6x6 inch by various lengths of pressure treated timbers to border the tent pads. The pads will be filled in with decomposed granite and leveled. A crew of 7 worked for 4 hours on 15 August for 28 total hours. Crew members: Dave Edwards, Cindy Kimmick, Carlyn Taggart, Anne Russell, Barry Dydyk, John Kross and Lindsay Coony A crew of 11 worked for 4 hours on 16 August for 44 total hours.
Total hours: 72

Date: 2022-08-16
Location: Prisoners Harbor campground, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park Crew leader: Dave Edwards Summary: We had two consecutive day trips, 15 and 16 August, to construct tent pads for the new campground at Prisoners Harbor. The work consisted of clearing and leveling six campsites for 9 x 21 ft pads for tents and a picnic table. We also cleared and cut in several small trails leading to each campsite. The next phase (unknown dates, probably several weeks from now) will consist of installing 6x6 inch by various lengths of pressure treated timbers to border the tent pads. The pads will be filled in with decomposed granite and leveled. A crew of 7 worked for 4 hours on 15 August for 28 total hours. Crew members: Dave Edwards, Cindy Kimmick, Carlyn Taggart, Anne Russell, Barry Dydyk, John Kross and Lindsay Coony A crew of 11 worked for 4 hours on 16 August for 44 total hours.
Total hours: 72

Date: 2023-11-29
Summary: We met at Island Packers at 8:00 and filled out paperwork for NPS. We departed on the Island Packers boat at 9:00, arriving at Prisoners Harbor at 11:00. We then walked from the pier, with all of the tools, a quarter mile to the site of the new campground and had lunch. We previously cleared and leveled six sites over a year ago and are just now getting back to it. Three weed whackers were deployed to clear vegetation around the tent pads and the trails leading to them and through the campground. We also cleared weeds and brush around the site of the pit toilet and a stack of 6x8x8 timbers. After finishing work in the campground three of our crew were dropped off a short distance up the Navy Road to clear a helicopter landing site. I drove the remaining crew of 5 in a pickup truck to the Del Norte cabin site with Sterling Holdorf, our NPS coordinator, following behind in another pickup. We loaded 36 or so 6x8x8 timbers into the pickup and drove them to the campground where they were unloaded. Sterling picked up our crew of 3 at the helicopter LZ along with the weed whackers and met us at the campground. The timbers will be used to border the tent pads with decomposed granite filling in to level the sites. We still have lots of work to do to complete this project. It will require a Chumash monitor to observe our work in digging in and leveling the timbers bordering the tent pads. This will most likely be a few months from now. We hope to get back to finishing the Eagle Ridge trail sometime next year (also requiring a Chumash monitor). We departed Prisoners Harbor at 2:45 and arrived back at Ventura Harbor at 4:15. Crew size: 8 Total hours: 28
Crew: Dave Edwards, John Kross, Ruth Feldon, John Reynolds, Carlyn Taggart, Don Brusselars, Cindy Kimmick, Greg Giloth

Date: 2024-07-15
We began work in the new campground at Prisoners by digging in and installing 6 X 6 inch X 8 ft timbers on the tent pads we had previously created. These timbers outline the tent pad area of 9 ft x 21 ft. We drove rebar into the ground to stabilize them. A second or third course of timbers was required in two of the campsites to level the pads. These additional courses were secured with 10 inch screw nails. Two of the tent pads were completed and are ready to finish with weed barrier and decomposed granite. Two more pads were partially completed. A Chumash monitor was on site both days to observe our ground disturbances. He also helped us a lot although he wasn't required to do so. There was an NPS person with us both days as well. The work was completed over a period of two days, with day trips each day. On September 17 we departed on the NPS boat Ocean Ranger and returned via Island Packers that same day. On September 18 we took Island Packers both ways. We will return next week with five of us staying at the Del Norte cabin from Tuesday through Friday. We will continue with the campground work with a Chumash monitor on Tuesday and Wednesday. Crew: Dave Edwards, Carlyn Taggart, John Reynolds, Kirsten Rosselot, Anne Russell, Barb Thomas
Total Hours: 54

Date: 2024-09-24
We continued working on the new campground. We completed 4 of the 7 campsites with two almost completed and the admin/handicap site laid out and cleared. The work will continue in the near future with a few more day trips. We had a Chumash monitor the first two days observing our work for any archeological stuff. He also pitched in and worked alongside us. There was an NPS person with us the first two days. Total hours worked: 29 (8 Tues, 9 Wed, 6 Thurs, 6 Fri) Crew: Dave Edwards, Carlyn Taggart, Don Brusselars, John Reynolds
Total Hours: 116

Date: 2026-02-12
Here is a summary of our trip to SCI on Feb 12: The purpose of our trip to Santa Cruz Island on a day trip was to check on the condition of the campground at Prisoners Harbor. We had previously worked there many days in the past couple of years. We also conducted an inventory of various materials needed to complete the project. We found that the campground sites and pathways are very overgrown and will require extensive weed whacking and hand weeding. One of the sites for the handicap is not complete. The other six sites are complete except for clearing vegetation. We hope to get going on finishing the project but the weather is holding us up. Once the rain has stopped for a while and things dry out, NPS can book boat reservations for Monday and Thursday day trips. Until then it is an unknown as to when work will begin. Dave, Ruth and Carlyn spent 3 hours each on the island.

Date: 2026-02-26
We cleared 4 tent pads of weeds. We still have 2 more regular size pads to clear and one double size. Once cleared the pads are ready for application of decomposed granite to be added to a depth of at least 4 inches. Hours: 3 each for Dave Edwards, Ruth Feldon, John Reynolds, Larry Marino and Anne Russell for 15 total hours

Date: 2026-03-05
We cleared the two remaining regular tent pads and the double size pad for handicap/admin. The crew removed a few inches of soil from 3 of the pads so as to allow for a minimum of 4 inches of decomposed granite. Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, John Reynolds, Ruth Feldon, Larry Marino, Peter Sullivan and Denise Pomonik for 24 total hours

Date: 2026-03-09
We cleared the two remaining regular tent pads and the double size pad for handicap/admin. The crew removed a few inches of soil from 3 of the pads so as to allow for a minimum of 4 inches of decomposed granite. Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, John Reynolds, Ruth Feldon, Larry Marino, Peter Sullivan and Denise Pomonik for 24 total hours

Date: 2026-03-12
We assembled 5 of the smaller picnic tables and positioned on site. One unassembled small table was placed on site. There remains one small and one large table left to assemble. The crew worked on site 2 to clear a few inches of soil for the application of decomposed granite.Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, John Reynolds, Don Brusselars, Kirsten Rosselot, Juan Carlo and Mary Hubbard for 24 total hours.

Date: 2026-03-16
We continued to fill three more tent pads with decomposed granite. Continued leveling the large handicap tent pad. Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, Ruth Feldon, Kirsten Rosselot, Peter Sullivan, Larry Marino and John Reynolds for 24 total hours

Date: 2026-03-19
We filled the 6 regular tent pads with the remaining decomposed granite. A vibratory plate tamper was used to tamp down the DG in the 6 pads. We also almost finished leveling the large handicap tent pad in preparation for tamping the native soil on the next outing. We figured we need 12 more bags of DG with 8 going to the handicap pad and the remainder going to the other pads which didn't get quite enough DG. Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, Peter Sullivan, Larry Marino, John Reynolds, Denise Pomonik and George Sherman for 24 total hours

Date: 2026-03-23
We used the gas powered dump buggy to drag the fox boxes to each tent pad site. We cleared and leveled a spot for the boxes and bolted the two front legs to the timbers. The two rear legs rested on concrete pavers. We affixed 2 of 7 boxes to the timbers. We assembled the remaining small picnic table. Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, Ruth Feldon, John Reynolds, Larry Marino, Barry Dydyk and Barb Thomas for 24 total hours

Date: 2026-03-26
We affixed two more fox boxes to the timbers and cleared a path to the handicap site. Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, Ruth Feldon, John Reynolds, Larry Marino, Barb Thomas and Peter Sullivan for 24 total hours

Date: 2026-03-30
We leveled and bolted the remaining two fox boxes to the timbers. This was as far as we could work on the campground until we get 12 more mega bags of decomposed granite delivered to the site. Hours: 4 each for Dave Edwards, John Reynolds, Larry Marino, Barb Thomas, Kirsten Rosselot and Barry Dydyk for 24 total hours

Date: 2026-07-21
Work narrative: We finished our work on the Prisoners Harbor campground project for the Channel Islands National Park. The work involved clearing brush and leveling an 8 by 20 foot area for 6 tent pads and one 12 x 30 foot pad for handicap/staff. We filled and compacted the pads with 32 cubic yards of decomposed granite. The campground is ready for NPS to put up signage and register it with Reserve America. Hopefully, it'll be open in the next month or so. Crew: Dave, Carlyn, Juan Carlo, Peter, John R., Livia
Hours 108

Date: 2026-07-14
Work narrative: We finished our work on the Prisoners Harbor campground project for the Channel Islands National Park. The work involved clearing brush and leveling an 8 by 20 foot area for 6 tent pads and one 12 x 30 foot pad for handicap/staff. We filled and compacted the pads with 32 cubic yards of decomposed granite. The campground is ready for NPS to put up signage and register it with Reserve America. Hopefully, it'll be open in the next month or so. Crew: Dave, Peter, Juan Carlo, Larry, Livia, Cindy
Hours 96