Trail maintenance is a vital part of preserving the trails and keeping them safe for trail users. Without regular maintenance, the trails would become overgrown or washed out, limiting their use and compromising the safety of trail users.
Will This Be Your First Time Working With Us?
We’ve been in your shoes and understand the nerves that can come with meeting a new group for the first time. Rest assured - we’ll do our best to make your experience both welcoming and productive.
Read more?Why are volunteers needed?
In the current economic conditions federal, state and local municipalities are strapped for funding to support activities such as trail maintenance, habitat restoration and removal of invasive plants. Government agencies have reached out to non-profit groups to help in supporting these activities to promote the goals of each of these organizations and to keep the natural resources available and safe for the public to enjoy. Volunteering is a great way to preserve the region's incredible trail network for the present and future generations. Volunteers have played a critical role in the development of new trails throughout the Santa Monica Mountains and other areas. If all trail users volunteered just one day a year we could meet the demands of maintaining more than 500 miles of trail and make the trails that much better! The Trails Council works under the direction of California State Parks and the NPS. Our crew leaders are trained and authorized to perform trail maintenance. All events are cleared in advance by NPS or State Parks in regard to sensitive native plants or archaeology.
Why is habitat restoration important?
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California has lost 90 percent of its wetlands and riparian (living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse, such as a river, lake or tidewater) habitats, yet these ecosystems provide habitat to 80 percent of the state's wildlife species. Non-native plant invasion has been occurring in this fragile ecological zone since early explorers arrived with mustard seeds to mark their trails. Non-native grasses, trees and plants have found a similar home far from their lands of origin, and are a threat to native plants and animals.
Trail Work Tasks
- Brushing: cutting back overgrown brush to open up the trail corridor, especially on the uphill side of the trail. Loppers are used to clip small branches and hand saws for larger branches.
- Logging out: sawing out trees that have fallen down, blocking the trail - sort of rare but possible.
- Drainage: creating new paths for water to flow off the trail or clearing out debris that has accumulated in drainage structures and prevents water from flowing off the trail.
- Restoring tread: reworking the trail’s surface by digging it to the proper width, removing organic material, digging out protruding rocks and roots and restoring the trail’s outslope.
Before You Sign Up
- Most trail work is on Saturdays and we usually start work at 8:00AM. Be punctual.
- Sometimes we may hike a mile or two to the work site. Are you okay with that?
- Meeting places and times vary as noted on the schedule/calendar, and are subject to change.
- We have a 30 minute lunch at 11:30 AM and work until 1:30 PM with some variation (rain, heat or we run out of work)
- We plan to arrive back at the trailhead by 2:00 (with some variation), when you contact the leader, please let them know if you need to leave earlier. Leaving early is not always feasible - we often car pool, shuttle or hike to the actual work site.
- A parent or legal guardian must accompany any volunteer under the age of 18. If you are part of an organized group such as Boy Scouts, the organizations adult leader must accompany them. Their organization assumes the liability and therefore is the adult supervisor to sign for the group. These are State Parks requirements.
- If you represent a group that would like to work with us, let us know!
- If you can't find a date that works, our partners may have something for you.
When You are Ready to Join Us
- Please contact the leader before the event to ensure enough tools are on hand and to the confirm meeting time and place If we know you are coming, then we can contact you should our plans change on account of changes beyond our control. We have had to cancel or change location on account of rain or fire danger. If you can't reach the leader call Dave Edwards @805-279-3029.
- Review the “Workday Tips” Page.
- Interested in Car Pooling to the Work Location? For many events we meet at T.O.T.C. Call one day prior to confirm! Departure varies according to destination (usually 7:15 to 7:45)
Day of the Event
- Bring water and lunch.
- Wear sturdy shoes or boots, long pants, work gloves, hat, long sleeve shirt and eye protection. Long pants and long sleeve shirts are to protect from the sun and the thorny plants & shrubs you will encounter.
- Sandals, flip flops and street shoes are poor choices for this type of work.
- Work gloves, we have a few spares in case you forget or do not have them.
- Please arrive a few minutes early - there is paper work to sign and possible transportation arrangements to be made.
Be Mindful of Your Surroundings and Your Self
- Pace yourself. If you do not regularly engage in manual labor, trail work can tire you out fast.
- Poison Oak is often found on our trails. We will do our best to alert you to its presence.
- We will stop working if it gets too hot. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are very serious threats when doing manual labor in warm weather.
- When lifting, bend your knees and lift using the power of your legs.
- Be wary of thorn—laden plants — they are prepared to strike when you least expect it (as when you become very focused on your work).
- Steep slopes sometimes do not offer secure footing and rocks can be easily dislodged. Avoid working below others on a steep slope.
- Watch out for snakes. Be cautious around undercut rocks, fallen trees and deep shady bushes.
- Rattlesnakes are normally not a problem because they prefer to avoid you even more than you want to avoid them.
- Other interesting creatures that live below the surface are often uncovered while digging and moving rocks. Be sure to wear gloves, then tip the rock and look underneath before lifting.
Working Around Others
- Keep a generous distance between yourself and your co-workers.
- Call out “coming through” as you approach others who are engaged in work so they may stop and allow you to safely pass.
Handling Tools
- Carry only one tool in each hand at your side — never over your shoulder. Sharp and heavier tools should be carried on your downhill side.
- Keep about ten feet distance between you and others when carrying tools to a work site.
- Store tools not in use on the uphill side, off of the trail. Make sure that tools and packs are placed in a stable, horizontal location.
Tools You Might Use
- Pulaski: used for grubbing and chopping, especially in building or fixing tread.
- Shovel: scraping and digging, often for tread work.
- Grub hoe: grubbing and pounding; useful for creating tread or drainage.
- McLeod: raking, scraping, grubbing or tamping new trail.
- Corona saw: for cutting small branches and trees.
- Loppers: for cutting out stems, roots and very small branches.
- Rock bar: for prying heavy rocks out of the ground.
- Pick-Mattock: for picking, prying or digging tread, rocks and roots.
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