Inland Land Trust Supports Trail Expansion

Nature abounds outside our doors in Mendocino County. This is one of the joys of living here. Until recently, discovering places where we can enjoy the beauty surrounding us could be challenging. Over the past few years, several local groups have created opportunities to enhance our experience of the nearby natural world. These groups include the Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Project, the regional Audubon and Native Plant Society groups, the Inland Mendocino County Land Trust, and the California Naturalist Program at UC Hopland Research & Extension Center. Another organization, the Ukiah Valley Trail Group (UVTG), is proving to be a key to the success of these programs. Literally and figuratively, UVTG has made great inroads to our natural areas, repairing existing trails and creating new ones. Their work includes forging and maintaining routes into both the western and eastern hills, around Lake Mendocino, and beyond.

The Ukiah Valley Trail Group grew out of a trail experience that Neil Davis had a dozen years ago. Neil recalls, “A couple of us were running and we came upon a section of trail that had been re-routed around a wash out. We were complaining about the poor quality of the work and, around a turn in the trail, we came upon members of the Youth Conservation Corps. It was in the high 80s and the ground was really hard and they were obviously working really hard. We were embarrassed to have been caught complaining when we weren’t helping.”

Learning that there was no mechanism for them to contribute to the improvement of regional trails, Neil and his wife Andrea gathered their trail-using friends to brainstorm. Luckily for our community, the group organized as a non-profit dedicated to improving existing trails through hands-on involvement.

“We wanted to get stuff done, so we immediately contacted BLM and the Army Corps at Lake Mendo to find out where we could work. We had our first trail day in May 2004, just a few months after our first meeting,” says Neil.

Both the UVTG’s spade-in-the ground approach and choice to work collaboratively with existing agencies have paid off. In many cases, members have contributed the muscle while the Army Corps of Engineers, for example, has provided the heavy equipment necessary for trail work.

Since 2004, the organization has teamed up with the Army Corps of Engineers at Lake Mendocino, the City of Ukiah and the County of Mendocino at Low Gap Park, and the Bureau of Land Management at Cow Mountain. These collaborations have resulted in thirty miles of trail improvements and seven miles of new trails.

The UVTG’s current workload is substantial. Members have raised funds to craft a Low Gap Park Trail Plan, re-route a section of the notoriously steep Valley View Trail on Cow Mountain, and add a half-mile of new trail at Lake Mendocino. But UVTG has an even bigger vision. Its Expanding Horizons Trail Planning project brings public land managers and private landowners together with the group to discuss opening currently inaccessible areas to the public through trail building.

As a colleague organization that aims to preserve our oak woodlands, open space, and wildlife corridors, the Inland Mendocino County Land Trust recently made a donation to the UVTG’s $10,000 fundraising campaign to explore the possibilities for public access to riparian and oak woodland areas of our valley.

Founding Board Member Phyllis Curtis says, “The more access that we can provide our local community to the nature that surrounds us here in the Ukiah Valley, the more aware our residents will be of the value of conserving our natural landscapes.”

—Dot Brovarney