Restoration
Since the Friends of Madera Canyon was founded in 1987, we have contributed well over $1 million in infrastructure and trail improvements in Madera Canyon. In addition, the Friends have invested several thousand volunteer hours, in support of the work of the U.S. Forest Service, to ensure a positive experience for visitors, no matter the recreational activities they choose.
Below you will find a partial listing of the various ways in which the Friends have provided that financial support and those volunteer hours. In some instances, tasks have been immediate, like the removal of a fallen tree when Forest Service personnel are otherwise engaged. Other examples of the work of the Friends are vital if not urgent, such as the re-making of the Old Baldy Trailhead, in partnership with many other organizations (see video below), or the replacement of aging and, in some cases, unusable fire grills in the picnic areas.
Bear in mind that infrastructure requires maintenance, repair, and sometimes replacement. Trails, intended to be used, often show the impact of frequent usage and need tending and tread repair. So, the work of the Friends of Madera Canyon, in its role supporting the Forest Service, will be ongoing and engage the Friends with new friends eager to help.
The Friends have been fortunate to have financial partners for its work, foundations such as the Greater Green Valley Community and the Burton Family Foundations and corporations like Vulcan Materials and Freeport McMoRan, and individual donors committed to addressing specific needs within the Canyon.
Our success over the past nearly 40 years in supporting the Forest Service as it takes care of the Canyon has depended upon individuals who have responded to the financial and volunteer needs of the Friends. We welcome your help.
Replacing Deteriorating Benches
Over the course of several decades, the U.S. Forest Service installed benches at intervals along the Proctor and Whitehouse Loops and the Bud Gode Nature Trail. A few years ago, a FS official created an inventory of those benches and suggested that many of them needed repair or replacement, another example of the on-going need to monitor the condition of infrastructure in the Recreation area.
Thus began the bench project for the Friends of Madera Canyon. Using the initial inventory, members of the Friends worked with FS staff to identify the benches that would be replaced and to indicate benches that might be completely removed. The Friends requested and received grants from the Greater Green Valley Community Foundation, and the project was completed.
There are many ways in which benches serve those visiting the Madera Canyon Recreation Area. For some, a bench is a place to sit a spell to catch one’s breath during the gradual but real ascent of the trail. Other benches provide observers of nature, especially birders, a place to wait for birds to fly by or survey the varieties of life nearby. Still other benches offer visitors a place of solitude where the principal activities are the absorption of the beauty of nature and reflection.
Some bench boards have provided housing for Carpenter Bees, a place for show-and-tell with visiting students. We did not forget the bees in completing our project. Behind several benches are boards from the old benches dotted with the beginnings of a bee abode, “bee boards.”
Holes drilled in a bench by a carpenter bee where she will lay eggs.
Carpenter bee approaching a bench.
Bench under repair. Each new board, a wood-based composite, weighs 30 pounds.
Bench partially finished. Backboards are new, seat boards are old.
Completed bench with a “bee board” mounted on the back. The bee board is just an older piece of the bench, and we assume it will be acceptable to the carpenter bees.
A fully completed bench with new boards which should last over 25 years.
Conservation through Education is the mission of the Friends of Madera Canyon, incorporating a variety of programs and activities that promote concern and action toward conservation and preservation.
Restoration at Madera Canyon
Restoration at Madera Canyon, a 9-minute video produced by Richard and Christine Olsenius for Friends of Madera Canyon (FoMC), documents the completion of the largest restoration project ever undertaken in Madera Canyon by the Forest Service and FoMC.
Downed tree by #19 picnic area on stairs
On Monday morning July 21, a downed tree was discovered by the cleanup crew during their usual cleanup of the picnic areas. It was so heavy it bent the stair railing. The USFS personnel normally called for help on this was in California on fire duty. Our FoMC trail maintenance members, Stan Egbert and Bob Achterberg, then took their saws up on Tuesday and disposed of it! Thanks to Stan and Bob for their extra work in keeping Madera Canyon a safe place to be.
FoMC Volunteers Work to Improve Hiking Trails
Our FoMC volunteers have been active in the Canyon working on improving various hiking trails. The Canyon Preservation and Maintenance Committee has organized numerous trail maintenance events in the last few months. Here are photos of a group of volunteers working on the Old Baldy Trail near the trailhead at the Roundup parking area.
Our folks also have recently been involved in training events including tread repair and graffiti removal from trees and signs.
Most of us don’t realize the amount of upkeep trails require in order to sustain a safe hiking experience. Fortunately, our volunteers greatly enjoy the satisfaction of working outdoors in the beautiful Canyon as well as appreciating the camaraderie of likeminded individuals.
David Linn
