The Trailies will be back at CicLAvia in August!

The Santa Monica Mountains Task Force and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council are teaming up again for a public outreach at CicLAvia on Sunday, August 17th.

We had great helpers at the San Fernando Valley event in December 2024, whose efforts paid off in attracting over 500 visitors to our information booth to learn about trail stewardship opportunities in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Our 2025 outreach will be along one of CicLAvia’s most popular routes: Culver City to Venice Beach. This 10 mile route runs from the Culver City Arts District to Venice Beach. Along the way, you’ll pass the old Helms Building, the Culver City movie studios, the Mar Vista Farmers Market, the Venice Canals, and the boutique shops at Abbott Kinney, before reaching Venice Beach and Muscle Beach. A truly eclectic microcosm of the melting pot we call home.

In return for supporting this incredible event, we have again been allocated space for our trail work information pop-up booth near one of the route’s major hubs. Lights, cameras, and loads of action (and many costumed participants) make this a fun time all around!

We need volunteers!

As before, we have two roles to fill:

Assisting with Traffic Control
Slow and stop participants at the traffic crossing when vehicles are allowed to pass. Barriers will be in place to slow them as they approach. You get to wave foam fingers, flags and such to make sure they pay attention. We need 5 people per shift. All traffic supporters will receive a snazzy yellow and blue CicLAvia Volunteer t-shirt to wear during your shift, which you get to keep.

Staffing the Booth
Work the outreach table by telling active, curious people about what we do. We need 2 people per shift.

There are three shifts available, all of which are three hours:
8:30am – 11:30am
11:00am – 2:00pm
1:30pm – 4:30pm

All volunteers will be provided lunch.

Can you help? We need your response by July 17th!

SIGN ME UP!

Please help us spread the word about the Santa Monica Mountains’ incredible volunteer trail crews. You can contact either of us if you have any questions or would like to sign up to help out on Sunday, August 17th.

Robert Bittner – Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council
(310) 941-9459
rsdinc86@gmail.com

Rachel Glegg – Sierra Club
(310) 985-2826
rachel.dorman@gmail.com

Intro to Trail Maintenance at Topanga State Park on Saturday, June 14th

It takes our full community to care for public lands. Volunteers and partner organizations contribute so much to keeping California’s State Parks system healthy, beautiful, and rich in biodiversity!

Join the Trailies on Saturday, June 14th for an Intro to Trail Maintenance at Topanga State Park, taking place during CA State Parks Week, and discover how you can help to protect and steward our State Parks as a volunteer with the Sierra Club.

We’ll be cleaning up trails at Trippet Ranch from 8:30 am until about 12:30 pm, and then head down to the oak-shaded picnic area outside the skeet lodge (near the Trippet parking lot) for lunch. The work will include vegetation clearance, removal of invasive plants, and minor trail tread repairs. Participants will receive lunch and a complimentary gift.

Registration is required.

SIGN ME UP!

Palisades Fire trails update #4

Trails that have been closed since January 2025 are gradually reopening in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Several parks and trails managed by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) have been reopened to public use in the past week, with a few notable exceptions. An amended order of closure was posted on Friday, along with an update on MRCA’s Instagram.

In March, we joined forces with the SMMTC and CORBA trail crews to help CA State Parks with post-fire trail restoration work on the north side of Topanga SP. There was a huge turnout for these events, and our volunteers did great work! Together we made repairs to the fire-damaged Gizmo Trail, with a second team simultaneously working nearby on the Rita Walters Trail, outside the burn perimeter.

State Parks program managers have outlined the next phase of reopening of roads and trails in Topanga State Park, and, if there are no ongoing concerns after a final review, they’re looking to reopen Eagle Rock Fire Road, Eagle Springs Fire Road, and Fire Road #30 to the Hub Junction in the next couple of weeks—once DWP has completed their work on the power lines, and cleared their equipment from the roads.

They wish to reopen Garapito Trail at the same time, which makes a really nice loop hike when combined with those roads. Getting Garapito ready for reopening is currently the #1 priority for the Sierra Club trail crew and our partners!

Subscribe to our mailing list to volunteer with us.

Check the Topanga SP webpage for news, as this will invariably be the first source of official announcements about CA State Parks trails reopening and extended closures.

Trails Council crew members among the greenery on Garapito Trail. Photo by Steve Messer.

East Topanga Fire Road to Parker Mesa from Trippet Ranch is also poised to reopen in the coming weeks, but we expect there will be a longer-term closure beyond the Parker Mesa junction to avoid feeding the public into the Palisades closure areas.

Los Liones Trail had only minimal damages. The State Parks crew went in in March and cleared all the burned vegetation, removed landslides, and widened the trail bench. However, with the trail still closed and lack of foot traffic through springtime, it’s probably growing in very quickly and may well need some additional rehab.

Work on Santa Ynez Canyon Trail is tentatively set to begin in late June, depending on access.

Fire followers: large-flowered phacelia (California native) and black mustard (highly invasive). Photo by Rachel Glegg

Will Rogers State Historic Park is closed until further notice while the park is supporting the clean-up effort. Staff have been working to get the trails into shape, ready to reopen when the time comes. They’ve finished cleaning up all the day-use trails, as far as removing obstructions. They’re currently doing finish-work, and rebuilding structures like retaining walls and small bridges.

Rogers Road—the Backbone Trail section between Will Rogers and the Hub Junction, which includes the Chicken Ridge—remains closed indefinitely.

Check the Will Rogers SHP webpage for official updates.

-Rachel G.

P.S. On Saturday 6/14, we will be hosting another Intro to Trail Maintenance event for California State Parks Week. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive details.

Get your tickets for SAMO Fund’s “Trails Forever” launch on June 7th

To respond to increasingly severe wildfire seasons, habitat loss, and shrinking federal budgets, Santa Monica Mountains Fund is launching Trails Forever—a bold new campaign to restore and reimagine the trail system that connects us to this extraordinary place, and safeguard our trails for generations to come.

They’re kicking off the campaign on Saturday, June 7th (National Trails Day) with a community celebration at the Anthony C. Beilenson Visitor Center at King Gillette Ranch, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. We’re looking forward to connecting with fellow Santa Monica Mountains advocates and hearing more from SAMO Fund about the campaign.

Book your ticket on Eventbrite ($50).

Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act

(Opening excerpt from a press release on Senator Adam Schiff’s website. Bold highlights are our own)

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and U.S. Representative Laura Friedman (D-Calif.-30) introduced the bicameral reintroduction of the Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, landmark legislation that would protect some of the last wild and open spaces in the Los Angeles area and allow the National Park Service (NPS) to work with local communities to better protect natural resources and improve access to nature. This bill would add over 118,000 acres to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) and is based on an NPS study that was reported to Congress in 2016.  

The Rim of the Valley stretches from the Simi Hills and Santa Susanas to the Verdugos and the San Gabriel Mountains, making a “green belt” that encircles the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi, and Conejo Valleys. 

See the rest of the press release here.

Sierra Club campaign planning workshop

The Sierra Club Grassroots Network will be hosting a 4-part Campaign Planning Workshop on consecutive Mondays in June (9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th).

This training is geared toward volunteers and staff leaders across all Sierra Club entities and programs. To get the most out of the workshop, you should plan to attend all four sessions, which will be held on Zoom.

Through these highly interactive sessions, each one 90 minutes long, participants will gain a better understanding of campaign planning, and how to apply what they learn to their own campaigns.

Register here

The free workshop will cover the essential components of effective campaign planning, including:

  • Choosing your issue focus
  • Setting goals
  • Figuring out the key players
  • Setting strategy
  • Messaging and communications
  • Tactics

Questions? Contact the Grassroots Network Program Director, Gwyn Jones, at gwyn.jones@sierraclub.org, or speak with our own Volunteer Coordinator, Rachel Glegg.

UCLA researchers conducting visitor counts, need volunteers to help

A team of student researchers from the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) at UCLA is conducting visitor counts and surveys at trails in the Santa Monica Mountains this spring.

Their work is a collaboration between UCLA IoES, the Anthony Pritzker Family Foundation, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), and the Grateful Bench Project.

The visitor counts will provide a better understanding of trail use since the last SMMNRA trail survey conducted in 2018. The data collected will help the Grateful Bench Project improve visitor access to trails, inform their efforts to educate visitors about the trails, and deepen visitor appreciation of natural resources in the park.

The UCLA IoES team is recruiting volunteers to help with the visitor counts.

Volunteers will be stationed at one of 20 trailheads (see map below) and will count visitors for four-hour shifts on Saturdays, April 26th or May 3rd.

If you would be interested in volunteering with this team of UCLA researchers to perform visitor counts at certain Santa Monica Mountains trailheads, please RSVP using their Volunteer Registration Form

Trailheads where visitor counts will be conducted on Saturday, April 26th and May 3rd, 2025.

In addition, the team will be installing fliers on newly installed benches with QR codes linking to a short visitor survey. These surveys will gather data on trail usage and visitor experience, helping Grateful Bench design outreach and educational material for park visitors.

The goal is to eventually install permanent QR codes on benches that will bring visitors to location-specific information about park natural history and ecology. While benches throughout the park provide a place for hikers to rest and enjoy the mountain scenery, equipping them with these electronic “plaques” transforms the otherwise simple amenities into educational tools. Their goal is to offer visitors a wealth of information about the habitats and ecosystems in front of them, fostering a deeper appreciation for the nature that surrounds them.

Trail Days 2025: that’s a wrap!

In the post-dawn chill, the caravan grew, car after car, along the unassuming dirt strip leading to a service road. With a beckon, it began to move, this serpentine line of vehicles full of people eager to join those already camped under soft oak shade in the beautiful, rain-greened depths of Point Mugu State Park…

Welcome to Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days 2025! For those who participated in this year’s event, thank you so much! We hope that you had as much fun as we did.

By all accounts it was a huge turnout. Cars packed what spaces tents didn’t. At Danielson Ranch, people caffeinated, breakfasted and mingled across many different groups and organizations, including California State Parks, National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council (SMMTC), Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association (CORBA) and your trusty Sierra Club Santa Monica Mountains Task Force (SMMTF).

SMMTF crew leader Bill Vanderberg gathers volunteers from the Chinese University Alumni Association Alliance of Southern California (CUAAASC) Hiking Club for a safety talk before work begins. Photo by Sara Hanson Nicholl.

Sierra Club crew leaders oversaw about 60 volunteers in our group alone on Saturday, who, after a brief orientation from our own Bill Vanderberg, trekked a mile further into the brush to work on the Coyote Trail.

Others took their McLeods, loppers and saws to trails such as the Upper Sycamore Canyon, Two Foxes, Blue Canyon and more.

SMMTC crew members demonstrate one of several methods that may be employed to control water drainage and mitigate trail erosion. Photo by Dave Edwards.

After a thoroughly gratifying, sweat-beaded day of trail work, everyone reconvened at camp for some much-deserved refreshments, appetites further whetted by the BBQ smoke twisting through the air.

Sponsors of Trail Days 2025

Now forty-plus years old, Trail Days has been integral in elevating awareness of — and engagement with — the welfare of the Santa Monica Mountains. It happens every April.

Ventura Boy Scout Troop 111 accompanied by scoutmaster Craig Carey made repairs to a retaining wall on the Upper Sycamore Trail. Photo by Dave Edwards.

The work highlighted by Trail Days is what the Trailies of the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force do nearly every Saturday, from September to June. Physically or financially, we could always use a helping hand, so if you appreciate what the mountains have to offer, please consider volunteering and/or donating!

Members of the Mountain Bike Unit volunteer park patrol were among those working with the CORBA crew. Photo by Steve Messer.

If you had your camera out, we’d love it if you could share your favorite photos and videos on our…

Community photo gallery!

(While we know that you may have lots more to share, we ask that you please limit your upload to the shared album to 3-5 files, as we want to give everyone the chance to participate.)

How to upload your pictures to our gallery

1 – Go to the event photo album: Trail Days 2025

2 – Click the “Add Photos” icon in the upper righthand side of the screen.

3 – Log in to your Google account, if prompted.

4 – Select a handful of your favorite images from the weekend.

That’s it!

Also, please feel free to tag us on Instagram @smmtf.trail.crew — or on Facebook @smm.task.force.1972 — on photos or videos you post from Trail Days 2025

Till next year. Happy Trail Days!

State Parks interview on the Palisades Fire, April 8th

Join Parks California for an Instagram Live interview on Tuesday, April 8th, at noon, and an in-depth look at resilience in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire.

The chat will feature colleagues from the Wildfire and Forest Resilience program, and CA State Parks staff members including Senior Environmental Scientists Lisa Andreano and Brooke Sheridan, and Forester I Azalie (Oz) Welsh.

These team members had to tap into their training quickly as they faced the destructive Palisades Fire in January. We’ll hear how they took action to help firefighters minimize the effects of fire on archaeological sites, rare plants, endangered species, tribal assets and wilderness areas.

Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days, April 4-6

Join our annual celebration of local trails and parkland!

There’s an important task for everyone at Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days, from seasoned trail builders to first-time volunteers, as well as age-appropriate activities for children.

Registration is required. Sign up here.

There will be trail projects on Saturday and Sunday, a complimentary BBQ dinner on Saturday evening, a jumbo thank-you gift drawing on both days (generously sponsored by our organizers and community members), and much more.

Come out for a day to help clean up trails — or perhaps stay for the weekend, and enjoy a night or two of free camping at Danielson Group Campground.

Organizing partners are the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, the Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association, and ourselves, with support from California State Parks and the National Park Service.

We hope to see you there!