Real estate mogul Mohammed Hadid is seeking to erect an enormous development in Franklin Canyon, specifically over the Hastain Trail in the park’s southeast section. Our Task Force Chair, Eric Edmunds, has been in correspondence with Nithya Raman, Los Angeles City Councilmember of the 4th District, over this incursion. Visit her official website to read the statement recently published by her office.
Category: Uncategorized
2021 Trail Worker of the Year award goes to Bill Pitts
On Sunday, June 27th, members and friends of the SMMTF trail crew held a gathering at the home of Mary Ann Webster to mark the end of the crew’s traditional work season.
During the festivities, we honored longtime volunteer Bill Pitts with the Trail Worker of the Year Award, for which he took home a collection of kudos, and a shiny new pick mattock. Bill has been a dedicated crew member for more than 30 years, beginning with helping to build the Hondo Canyon Trail.
The photographs above and below show Bill with Ron Webster during a 1997 trail project, and working with Russ Marshall and Mary Ann Webster in Hondo Canyon not long before the new trail’s completion in 1993. As you can see, Bill has no qualms about the possibility of getting a bit muddy in the process of trail building!
Since its inception in 1978 to help build the Musch Trail at Trippet Ranch, the trail crew has been blessed with decades of dedicated volunteer work. Little slows them down — even, it would seem, a pandemic.
Working directly for California State Parks as an organized collective of independent volunteers, members of our crew still managed to log more than 1,100 hours of trail maintenance between September 2020 and June 2021. This is easily comparable to — and even surpasses — the Sierra Club crew’s previous years. In those months, these volunteers worked heavily on Rivas Canyon Trail and the Beehive Trail, as well as Saddle Peak, Garapito, Viewridge and others.
Recently, we received this heartening note from Jason Finlay, California State Parks Angeles District Trails Coordinator:
“Last Friday I stopped by Rivas Canyon Trail. Two enthusiastic hikers stopped me to let me know how much they appreciated the work that was done and to say how great the trail looks. Evidently they hike there two or three times a week and said it’s the best it has looked in years. They were also very happy that Sierra Club was active in trail maintenance as they were long time donors and supporters! Thank you for the great work!”
Indeed, we want to extend a massive THANK YOU to all the volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to caring for our parks and trails.
Sierra Club Outings have returned!
The more adventurous aspect of the Sierra Club is dusting itself off and stretching back into action. The Santa Monica Mountains Task Force itself sponsors two Sierra Club hikes every Tuesday: the Tuesday Moderate Hikers (TMH) and the Tuesday Conditioned Hikers (TCH). So if you’re free, join us!
New events are regularly added to our schedule. Bookmark our Activity Calendar to see all upcoming hikes sponsored by the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force.
We typically have 10-20 people on each hike, everyone there to enjoy the outdoors and be with like-minded people. The hikes range all over the Santa Monica Mountains, from Topanga State Park to Point Mugu State Park and everywhere in between. We also hike on adjacent parkland such as Ahmanson Ranch and Cheeseboro Canyon.
The moderate hikes are usually about 8 miles with close to 1,000 ft gain, and the conditioned hikes are usually about 12 miles with about 2,000 ft gain. Of course, that varies from week to week. The moderate hikes usually end in the early afternoon, the conditioned hikes somewhat later. Our hikes are all “O” rated. Most are on very well-established trails; some, not so much!
We’re always on the lookout for new leaders to help lead our Tuesday hikes. Becoming a leader is a great way to support the Sierra Club by showing members of the public the land our efforts have helped preserve. If you would like to know more about becoming a Sierra Club leader, contact our Outings Chairs. Information is also available on the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Leadership Training Program web page.
Summer 2021 update from the Task Force Chair
Happy Summer, Sierra Clubbers! And Santa Monica Mountains Task Force members and contributors.
My editors asked me for a more positive and upbeat report this time. Sometimes that’s hard, as we look at the dismal and accelerating effects of climate change, drought and heat, particularly in the Santa Monicas. It’s only June, and already we’ve had weather and heat events that didn’t used to be seen until August and September. The fire season is at our doorstep, and the first one (arson) already hit the Palisades Highlands — 1,200 acres burned in beautiful Santa Ynez and Trailer Canyons, in May.
But the good news is that the Club, which has been in lockdown mode for well over a year, is emerging from the cave. Vaccinations have changed everything. Now you don’t see anyone, or hardly anyone, wearing facemasks on the trails and fire roads.
Once the intense summer heat is past, our Trail Crew will resume its work, maintaining trails throughout the mountains. Kudos to crew leaders Rachel Glegg and Bill Vanderberg. Thanks to social media and other outreach efforts, we’ve attracted a huge influx of new blood, honoring our patriarch, founder and godfather Ron Webster, who passed away at the beginning of the year after an amazing life preserving the mountains.
Also resuming this month is our Outings program, under the auspices of Howard Strauss and David Finch. Everyone, from tiger hikers to first-timers, is welcome. I know we’re all itching to get out and hit the trails again.
Meanwhile, our political and legal activism got no time off during the pandemic. We’re firing on all cylinders against the many threats by developers — and even government bureaucrats — to damage the mountains. We’ve got our hands full, even after winning an epic legal victory in the Court of Appeal against a noxious development in Malibu in 2019.
If any of this interests you, please join our next Zoom meeting on August 2nd. Welcome to the Task Force!
Eric Edmunds, Chair
Santa Monica Mountains Task Force
#SaveLACougars
In January, the Sierra Club West Los Angeles Group hosted a special presentation from the National Wildlife Federation’s regional executive director, Beth Pratt, titled Mountain Lions As Neighbors: Building the Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon.
Following a brief introduction from the David Haake (West L.A. Group Chair), Beth takes the virtual stage to talk about the Liberty Canyon crossing and the general effort to save the big cats in our midst.
Watch it here (run time: 1:27:50).
This educational webinar, free to Sierra Club members and non-members alike, is part of a bi-monthly series of guest speaker events sponsored by the West Los Angeles Group, which has shifted to an online format during the past year of social distancing. Keep an eye on their Meetup page for more events coming up in the series.
Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing: $18M reached in fundraising
The National Wildlife Federation’s campaign for a wildlife corridor over the 101 freeway has, with the $1.4 million boost from a private donor, hit the $18 million mark. While still short of the full estimated price tag, this hefty bag of change puts it that much closer to being realized.
Spring 2021 update from the Task Force Chair
It’s early spring. The weather suddenly has turned warm. It was 80 degrees today, and is expected to get warmer in the coming week. (Climate change? Hello?)
The climb in temps has brought a climb in discourtesy. People are emerging from their COVID bubbles intent on catching up on lost time. The day I wrote this, March 28th, 2021, the beaches were packed and Pacific Coast Highway a parking lot northbound. The hiking trails are covered with people, large groups, young and unmasked, no social distancing — even though the epidemic is surging among young unmasked people. Older folks who have received both our shots, like me, are luckier. The young’uns don’t seem to have gotten the memo.
Today, in the space of two minutes, three people cut me off in traffic, including one who blocked the intersection of Ocean and California, when I had the green light. He didn’t budge. If a cop had been around, he would be appearing on my Traffic Court calendar in Santa Monica Superior Court. People are street-racing on surface boulevards as never before, including car-rallies on Sunset and other thoroughfares. The L.A. Times has been reporting on this discourtesy, with its lethal results. Today and yesterday, motorcyclists were killed, one colliding with a tree, speeding, in Pacific Palisades.
This extends to the mountains and the trails. Which are now packed with people (not in itself bad). When people approach, you just raise your mask or bandana, look the other way and move as far to the other side as is convenient.
Mountain bikes are another matter. When you’re on a wide fire road, it’s not a big deal. You just get out of their way, and have a little less time to raise your mask as they whiz by. Most bikers aren’t masked.
But on a single-track trail, it’s a different story. Single-track trails are narrow, obviously. In my humble opinion, bikes don’t belong on single-track trails in the mountains. They belong on fire roads. We lost a skirmish in that battle about 10 years ago when State Parks opened up the Backbone Trail to bikes.
Most mountain bikers are courteous and respectful of other trail users. The problem is the outlaw shredders. Not long ago, I was almost killed on the very steep Meteor Point trail connecting Sullivan Canyon up to the Westridge Fire Road. I was making my way up the twisty, steep trail, when a shredder burst over the top of a hill above me, clearly unable to brake or stop, headed straight at me. I froze, panicked, then leaped into the brush just in time to avoid getting run over. I screamed profanities but he didn’t slow down, just cussed at me for being in his way.
Had he hit and killed me — which he almost did — there was no way he could have slowed down or stopped, or climbed back up the steep hill to where my body was. He didn’t give a shit, he was on a thrill ride. I would have become carrion for the coyotes and hawks before any humans came down this lightly-used trail and found me.
Electric bicycles are another threat. And it’s growing. These machines require little to no physical effort to power on the part of the user. The bike just powers up the trail. Once upon a time, I ran up a hill at about the same speed as a mountain biker. No more. Now I may get run over. And I’m seeing more and more of them on the trails and fire roads, with their wide heavy treads.
That is the discourtesy problem I’m preaching about from this (such as it is) pulpit. And it’s only going to get worse, as temps warm and more people come out of their bubbles and hit the trail.
Speaking of the Backbone Trail, in this issue we have a memorial to the founder and patriarch of our trail crew, Ron Webster. I’ll miss him greatly.
Eric Edmunds, Chair
Santa Monica Mountains Task Force
Federal armor for the Rim of the Valley
On February 26th, 2021, a major milestone was passed in the fight for federal protection of the Rim of the Valley, the catch-all name for the various lands, ecosystems and open spaces occupying the hills that surround the San Fernando Valley, and the site of the in-progress, 200-mile Marge Feinberg Rim of the Valley Trail.
Specifically, the House of Representatives passed The Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, legislation included in the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act.
This is a bill Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) has, in his words, “been championing for nearly 20 years.” Schiff’s website offered the announcement here.
In memory of Ron Webster (1935 – 2021) — our own literal trailblazer
For my four years as a student at Palisades High, I’d look upon the inviting green sprawl of Temescal Gateway Park and wonder, not without some imaginative embellishment, what sorts of wild little treasures might be hidden in its crevices and canyons. Regretfully, it wasn’t until I was out of high school that I decided to see for myself. Two decades later, and with untold miles of mountain trails under my feet, I never really considered the creators and caretakers of these trails beyond the passing assumption of faceless state park folks, or an organic caravan of hikers carving their way past oak and chaparral.
Then, in October 2019, I knock on the door of Ron and Mary Ann Webster, having arrived early for my first meeting with the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force. Ron opens the door, I introduce myself, and he dutifully pops open a beer and hands it to me (his hospitality quite at odds with the self-designation “Rotten Ron”). Sitting with him for the twenty minutes or so before others arrived, I learn, casually and unexpectedly, that I live just a few blocks’ walk from the person responsible for many of the hikes enjoyed by myself and so many others in Los Angeles.
Here we celebrate the life and legacy of our own Ron Webster, who passed away January 7th, 2021 at the age of 86. As a premiere trail-builder and founder of the trail crew, his is a name virtually synonymous with the Task Force.
Since the lockdown, I sometimes think back to Ron’s words on solitude. “I enjoy being alone more than anyone you know,” he said, in describing solo journeys across the mountains, usually to flag (or mark out) a new trail. The potential dangers — mountain lions, rattlesnakes, ticks — never bothered him, just as any potential hardships wouldn’t dissuade any born artist. And certainly trail-building is an art, one in which patrons can fully engage with the canvas. “I love seeing people walk all over my best work,” he often remarked with a smirk.
Bill Vanderberg, our vice chair, trail crew leader, and friend of Ron’s for over twenty years, said, “He was a mentor who taught me the value of public lands comes from building trails that allow people to experience its beauty.” Indeed, Ron’s was a sensitive touch, crafting trails that complemented the natural splendor and didn’t suggest themselves too strongly. “Trails,” he noted, “should lie lightly on the land.”
Before rounding out a legacy that began with Topanga’s Musch Trail and included 31 miles of the Backbone Trail, Ron worked as a machinist and led hikes for the Sierra Club, usually up fire roads. As we all know, though, fire roads are less… immersive. After some thought, Ron wrote a letter to someone in state parks asking about building a proper trail. Star-wipe to an early retirement, and a $25,000 grant from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy that allowed him to become a Los Angeles industry of one — a full-time trail architect.
Of course, it’s not an industry of one. Ron — who, among other accolades, was in 2017 granted a Lifetime Volunteer Achievement Award from the California Trails Conference Foundation — would go on to lead many hardworking volunteers over the years in the building and maintaining of local trails. Most assuredly, he still looks over our shoulders as the McLeods fly, the pickaxes clang, the brush falls and the sweat drips.
It would be a foolish chef that never indulged in the fruits of their own cooking, and Ron created hikes in more ways than one. With a network of trails blazed across the mountains, he continued leading excursions for the Sierra Club, including his own “Tiger Hike”, a tidy, 25+ mile jaunt from Will Rogers to Malibu Creek State Park. Much as when I made the six-block hike to his home for my first Task Force meeting, I’m told he had beer waiting at the end.
We honor him directly here, but we honor him also as caretakers and conservationists, and as sheer nature lovers.
Here’s to you, Ron.
Gondolas over Griffith: a soaring controversy
Imagine a hike through scenic Griffith Park: great California weather, fantastic views of the city, and… a giant metal pillar? Cables, stretching across the sky?
Possible aerial tramway routes are currently being assessed across the park, as well as plans for a visitor’s center, and a viewing platform near the Hollywood sign. Mayor Garcetti has shown public support for the project, despite backlash from various groups such as Friends of Griffith Park and the North Hollywood Zoo Magnet Center, the latter of which was offered as a start site for one of the tram routes despite not being consulted on the project.
Each of the routes would stretch roughly 2.5 miles, requiring 19 to 24 towers placed throughout the park. The construction would mean the protracted closures of the park’s trails and other popular attractions. The tramway itself would threaten the habitats of many plants and animals, alter wildlife behavior and biodiversity, and undermine the founding spirit of the park as a touchpoint of rest and recreation for the community at large.
The Santa Monica Mountains Task Force stands with those opposing this project, including the Sierra Club LA Central group who are calling for concerned Angelenos to voice their opposition to the tramway. One simple action you can take right now to help keep Griffith Park wild is to sign their petition and share it with your friends.
You can also make an impact by emailing, calling, and putting pressure on local politicians to heighten their awareness of the problems this project will create.
We ourselves issued a letter to Mayor Garcetti on September 20th, clarifying the Task Force’s opposition to the aerial tram.
