Trimming Trails

Holiday season in the San Fernando Valley means clear, cool, sunny days. You feel as if you should be hiking in the surrounding hills.

People who are really grateful for our system of hiking trails through the Santa Monica Mountains from Griffith Park to Point Mugu in Ventura County spend their weekends volunteering on crews to repair and maintain these trails.

One such crew--organized by the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council--will be out Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., clearing brush and filling ruts in the trail that runs through Fryman Canyon in Studio City.

The council works on a different trail every weekend except during the hot months of July and August, said organizer Linda Palmer. But this is the first year the council has been asked by the National Park Service to work in Fryman, the easternmost area the park service supervises in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, she said.

The team will be led by Jean Brugger, a West Valley advertising executive and veteran council volunteer.

“What we use the most are the McLeod, a fireman’s tool, which is a giant rake-and-hoe combination, and loppers for clearing overhanging brush,” Palmer said.

Among the agencies that regularly solicit help from the council are the state parks system, the Mountains Restoration Trust, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and local counties and cities.

The council’s teams, usually 10-15 strong, will be deployed this month along the Los Padres Trail near Thousand Oaks, Lower Musch Trail in Woodland Hills and Phantom Trail near Agoura Hills.

This type of volunteer effort was initiated in the early 1970s by Sierra Club activist Ron Webster, who continues to lead trail repair teams for the organization almost every weekend. For information about the Sierra Club’s schedule of events call (310) 559-3126).

In the 1980s, at the urging of Milt McAuley, a respected author of mountain trails guidebooks, the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council was organized with the primary purpose of preserving and maintaining trails. Its membership of hikers, equestrians, bicyclists, landowners and developers is so loyal that of the 18 participants in its earliest training sessions, five are still regularly involved, organizers said.

BE THERE

Fryman Canyon trails rehabilitation, a volunteer activity sponsored by the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, is scheduled Saturday from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Reservations required to participate. Call (818) 222-4531.