SJT update, Funding, National Trails Day Recap
Greetings and salutations!
Here is the news about our Cleveland National Forest Trabuco Ranger District trails plus a recap of last Saturday’s National Trails Day happenings.
Forest Service Meeting
San Juan Trail
The Warriors of the Santa Anas met with Trabuco Ranger District staff on Friday, June 5th to discuss our assessment of San Juan Trail, among other topics. Our hope, as we’ve been promoting, was to begin restoring the trail starting now. As it turns out, we’re not likely to begin SJT rehabilitation this month, as the Forest Service is not ready to commence this project. They need to perform environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as post-fire environments are legally protected and highly fragile. The environment is still recovering.
We must exercise patience. While we’ve known our district is understaffed and under-resourced, we are also experiencing additional slowdown due to the nationwide Forest Service reorganization. You can read about the reorganization here. If you have questions, please do not reach out to our already overwhelmed District staff; feel free to contact us instead.
The good news is that, even during this difficult time, the Trabuco Ranger District staff are dedicating additional resources to help us begin restoration on SJT. Next month, we will meet again with a focused group of Forest Service staff (GIS, environmental, etc.) to put a strategic plan together for the entire region. District staff need to figure out how to best use our efforts and where they need to stretch or expend their funds. Yes, the District secured some funding to support Airport Fire recovery (see below)!
Rest assured, the currently closed and damaged trails are our top priority, and we will continue to work with the Forest Service to restore and reopen these trails. Our District staff is doing everything they can to expedite the process. When we’re ready to begin, we will need your helping hands!
Additional Funding
Another topic we discussed in our meeting was funding for our damaged trails. Following the devastating September 2024 Airport Fire, our District staff requested nearly $2.9M for post-fire trail repairs through the BAR program. This program was previously shut down nationwide, but has now been reinstated. Our District was approved for $1.25M.
We are vastly underfunded. To put this in perspective, the amount we were awarded is approximately the cost to rebuild the three Trabuco Canyon trails (Holy Jim, West Horsethief, and Trabuco Canyon). While we can reduce the overall cost through our volunteer work, the gap is huge. If anyone has $1.6M lying around, let our District staff know!
Since that amount of cash is not likely to drop in our laps, the next best thing we can do to support the rebuilding of our damaged trails is to simply help rebuild them. Come join our work days, our social rides, and our trash pickups. Get involved now to get ready for the coming rehabilitation effort.
Trabuco Canyon Trails
Work on the three Trabuco Canyon Trails is progressing by the Forest Service contractor. These trails will be closed, as per the Forest Closure Order, while work continues.
National Trails Day Recap
Last Saturday, June 6th, on National Trails Day, we hosted a group ride on East Horsethief Trail. We had an exuberant diverse group, including some young, talented riders, and a few OGs. Your very own Keith Eckstein showed us up by riding a hard tail, with a bag of trail tools on his back, to boot! If you missed the ride, check out the video trip report here.
Following the ride, Keith and Darshan joined the Trabuco Ranger District staff, and other volunteers, for a potluck social gathering. We talked about our favorite tools and demonstrated how to best carry them on our bikes. Check out the photos on the Cleveland National Forest’s Facebook page.
Events
Saturday, June 20, 2026 7AM
It's been a month since we’ve done a stewardship activity together. We need to get the band back together! Save the date for the weekend of June 20th. Maybe it's time for a tune up on the Motorway, on some of the upper parts we didn’t reach–or feel free to contribute your work suggestions. Prior to then, I’ll be in touch with a time and location to meet up.
