Motor Wheelbarrow Donated to Parks

The donors of a motorized wheelbarrow had fun with the vehicle Monday as they officially handed it over to the California Parks Assn.

“It looks like a little tank,” said Les Hardie, a board member of the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, as he and another member drove it around the grounds of Reagan Ranch, a parks association storage yard.

The four-horsepower Honda wheelbarrow, reportedly able to haul up to 770 pounds of material in one load, was purchased by the council for nearly $2,500 with a grant from the Santa Maria Trails and Parks Assn. The council, in turn, donated the machine to the parks association.

Frank Padilla Jr., a supervising ranger in the California Parks’ Angeles district, said the vehicle was a welcome addition.

But the equipment isn’t considered a necessity. “This is something that would never have made it through our [funding] process,” said Padilla as he demonstrated the wheelbarrow by piling on stacks of wood and other materials.

“It would take 12 persons working to carry everything up to a site, and the whole day would be spent transporting materials,” he said. “This machine would cut down a lot of construction time.”

The council and the Santa Maria association were looking forward to seeing the machine in action, helping to build, maintain and repair trails in the Santa Monicas. As volunteers in the effort to keep trails available to the public, the groups know the amount of work it takes, especially with a primarily volunteer staff.

And “not everybody who volunteers for this [work] is a weightlifter,” said Ruth Gerson, council treasurer.

However, the wheelbarrow does have its limitations, including a restriction on using motorized vehicles in the wilderness, and some trails may not be able to accommodate the vehicle’s tread.

“We’ll have to do some experimenting,” Padilla said. “But if it’s a continuous, smooth trail, this will be great.”