2015_08 SGWA Newsletter - San Gorgonio Wilderness Association

Wilderness Link
San Gorgonio Wilderness Association
August 2015
Calendar of Events
Calendar of Events
These are the major events of
the year. For more information about
Theseand
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the major
events
these
activities,
or of
to sign
theforyear.
Forgo
more
up
events
to information about
these and other activities, or to sign
www.sangorgoniowilderness.org.
up for events go to
www.sangorgoniowilderness.org.
February
8 Cucamonga Wilderness training
25 SGWA board meeting
August
27
Banff Mountain Film Festival
8
Mill Creek Restoration Day
March
Forest
FestivalFilm Festival
115 Banff
Mountain
25 Board
Board
25
of Meeting
Directors elections
29 LNT Awareness Day
April
5September
Trail boss training
5 Ranger
Mill Creek
Restoration Day
12
talk training
26 Board
National
Public Lands Day
29
meeting
29
Board Meeting
May
3 Whispering Pines cleanup
17 Volunteer training day
October
24
Trail patrols, ranger talks begin
4
Close Barton Flats
June
RadicalFlats
Reelscleanup
76 Thurman
10or 21
Awards
Lunch
14
INFRA
training
11
Close Tulakes
27
Board Meeting
July
5 Thurman Flats cleanup
5November
Birthday Bash
TBARanger
USFStalks
Volunteer Appreciation
4-5
August
2December
Thurman Flats cleanup
16
Festival
12 Forest
Christmas
Party
30 Volunteer potluck
31 Last ranger talk
May 2016
September
21
Orientation Day
3 50th anniversary Wilderness Act
Questions?
Mill Creek
Heaistoric
Volume 3, Issue 3
Wilderness Begins to Heal in
Aftermath of Historic Lake Fire
By Bettye Miller,
Val Silva and
Ted Schofield
When the Lake Fire
roared through the
San Gorgonio
Wilderness in June,
charring favorite trails
and campsites, many
of us felt as if we’d
lost our best friend.
While some areas,
like Grinnell Mountain Aspen Grove. Photo by Robin Eliason, USFS
and Fish Creek, will take years to recover, the forest is beginning to heal.
Just weeks after the fire was contained, ferns and wildflowers began
poking through the ash along the decimated waterline trail. In the
treasured aspen grove, new trees are sprouting and are knee-high.
The fire consumed 31,539 acres, much of it in the wilderness, and is
still burning. It won’t be out until there are many days of drenching rain
or heavy snow. Smoldering tree stumps and roots, dangerous snags and
See Lake Fire on page 3
Annual Forest Festival Returns Aug. 15
The annual Forest Festival will be held Aug. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. at the Barton Flats Visitor Center. The family-friendly festival is free
and open to the public. Picnic facilities are available. Food and beverages
will be available.
Smokey Bear will greet visitors as they use a crosscut saw to create a
“tree cookie” that is then branded with U.S. Forest Service and Smokey
Bear logos; try their hand at nature crafts; learn what it takes to serve on
a search-and-rescue team; meet horses used to pack in tools and supplies
for wilderness trail maintenance crews; and visit with SGWA members.
Information also will be presented about long-term impacts of the
recent Lake Fire that devastated the San Gorgonio Wilderness, and what
to expect as the forest recovers.
SGWA Launches Gear Exchange for Members, Volunteers
By Vic Rousso
SGWA is pleased to introduce free to all of our
members and volunteers the Gear Exchange. On the
Internet at padlet.com/sgwa/gearx, it is a place
where we can buy, sell, trade or donate our unused/unwanted/unneeded outdoor gear/clothing/books.
Got a pair of vintage SMC crampons? Sell ‘em! Not
using that old Thermarest? Trade it! Those Lowa
Alpsitz’s don’t fit anymore? Donate ‘em!
The format of the exchange is much like an old
bulletin board where you tack up an index card of
what you have available. In this case the postings
have a header, a text body, and space for a photo.
Complete instructions can be found on the site, and
there is a “help” feature provided by padlet. You
may create, edit, and delete any of your posts/ads.
There is no limit to how many you can post, but
we ask that you limit your ads to outdoor gear,
clothing, and books. No old washing machines or
vacuum cleaners, please.
There is no cost for users but you may donate, if
you wish, any of your proceeds to SGWA. All posts
require approval and moderation, with a turnaround
time of 24 hours or less.
For questions, concerns, and feedback contact site
moderator Vic Rousso at redbanks71@yahoo.com.
To obtain the password, contact Rousso or Val Silva
at sgwa@earthlink.com.
Gifts to the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association help support our efforts to preserve the wilderness and the forest surrounding it. We
are thankful for these supporters whose generosity makes it possible for us to further our mission to serve, protect and educate. If you
would like to make a gift in memory of a loved one or to honor someone special please contact our office at (909) 382-2906, or visit our
website at sgwa.org. Gifts may be mailed to: San Gorgonio Wilderness Association, 34701 Mill Creek Rd., Mentone, CA 92359
Individual membership/family
President’s Summit Team
In memory of Louis Hammel
Kirt Babuder Viviane Helmig Eliza Lee
Scott Allen
Dr. & Mrs. Marvin Band
Gary Berry
Bo King
Joyce McIntire
Janie & George Bingham
Doris Borrsatino
Jeffrey Boehler Lee Crandall
Susan Rice
Diana Gossard
J. Lane & Cynthia Harris
Steve Cologne R. Murray
Nanette Peykani
Jim Hill
Marie Jelonek
Lee Crandall
Anitra Kass
Darcy Shepard
Terry & Laurence Grill
John & Barbara McCarty
Kathy Davis
Frank Sprinkle Jamie Smith
Jaimie LaPointe
Lisa and Kevin McClelland
Carol Graves
Chris Waldheim Val Silva
Ted Sledzinski & B.J. Whithall
Robert & Carole Ottosen
Sharon Greer
Jim Weyant
Frank Sprinkle
Robin Thuemler
Zachary Taylor
Bob Oppermann & Reiko Snow
Morgan Sprinkle
Charles Marrs
Margaret Winningham
John Farley
Alexander Smirnoff Fred Hanson
Audrey Scranton
Kevin Burg
Martin Gutierrez Albert Lee
Bettye Miller
Family of Robert D. Thomas
Alexander Kaklamanos Liz Levis Linda Jones
Leslie Groenwold
Jim Matiko
Patrick Shih
Saturnino Garcia
James Barbour
Santa Ana River Cabin Owners Assn.
Kelsie Anderson Cyndi Johnson Sung Yoo
Dave Knapp
Wendy Sanyk
Tim Elder
Kevin Burg
Val Silva
The Anza-Borrego Foundation
Shannon Stratton Gregory Misbach Patricia Shearer
Walt & Susie Kirkwood
in honor of Bob Hazelton
William Fisher
Linica Suceava Vivian Helmig
Malcolm Swift
Victor Rousso
Janelle Zarate
Wilderness 50th Anniversary
Trailblazer
Jan Gudgell
Pat Peters
Ana Soltero
Mason Consulting
Lifetime Member
Bob Hazelton
Ann Robinson
Lisa Aniello
Scott Modic
Gitty Denver
Michael Gordon Charlene Schramm
Jennifer Callaway Russell Rudeseal
Bob Hazelton
Dennis Stine
John Eisel
Matthew Bell
Dan Scott
John Farley
Judi Hazelton
In memory of Harry Krueper
Ted Schofield
Matthew Schreiner
In memory of Don Davis
All the members of Girardi Keese
Mike Hahn
Scott Stark
Lyn Sandeford & Judy Stump
Goldberg & Osborne Janelle Zarate
Ryan Muldoon
Irene V. Wakimura Gale
Kim Itakura
Sheila McMahon
In Memory of Roger Gossett
Cory & Audrey Scranton Rigg & Dean
Donna Erlewine John Flippin
In memory of Howard Simpkinson
Alissa Rose & John Ing Copple & Copple
Daniel McClory/Brookridge Special Place
Val Silva
Jeffrey S. Pop & Associates
The Brandi Law Firm
Lake Fire
Continued from page 1
trails at risk of disappearing
under mud or debris flows
mean that the northern part of
the wilderness will remain
closed for some time to come.
The fire removed the ground
cover and burned fiercely in
drainage areas where the
terrain forms natural chimneys.
Information about the Lake Fire is available at
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4302/.
Information about the Lake Fire Burned Area
Emergency Response report is available at
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4346/.
As a result, even the lightest
rain will cause debris flows
which will be dangerous and
unstoppable. If you are traveling
Highway 38 and it starts to rain,
be especially cautious. Your car
could easily be washed away by
the water or debris flows. Have
a plan when you are in the
wilderness or participating in
activities at places like Tulake,
Barton Flats and the
campground areas; all will have
emergency evacuation plans or
plans to shelter in place. If the
forecast includes rain, be
prepared to spend the night.
The Forest Service Burned
Area Emergency Response
(BAER) team has developed a
detailed map that anticipates
areas inside and around the
burn area that are likely to be
hardest-hit. Mud flows have
already buried the South Fork
campground on Highway 38.
BAER teams are composed of
hydrologists, soil scientists,
engineers, biologists, vegetation
specialists, archaeologists, and
others who evaluate the burned
area and prescribe emergency
stabilization treatments, often
beginning their assessments
before the fire has been fully
contained.
The Lake Fire BAER team
assessed soil burn severity and
determined that 4,327 acres
within the fire perimeter did not
burn, 17,100 had low burn
severity, 8,420 were moderate,
and 640 were high. Soil burn
severity includes surface and
below-ground factors that
relate to soil hydrologic
function, runoff and erosion
potential, and vegetation
recovery. Areas with high soil
burn severity are at risk of
flooding.
More than 11 miles of trail in
the wilderness – about 10
percent of the total – are in
moderate or high burn severity
areas. These trails are
threatened by excessive erosion
of trail tread from severe runoff
off of steep, burned slopes.
Among the trails at increased
risk are South Fork, Dollar Lake,
Aspen Grove, Fish Creek, and
sections of the Pacific Crest Trail
and Santa Ana River Trail.
Forest Service officials have
made it clear that SGWA will be
included in restoration and
stabilization efforts because of
our knowledge and
commitment to the wilderness.
A trail crew repairs part of the popular
trail to Big Falls near Forest Falls. Photo
by Diana Gossard
Horse Meadow was spared, as seen
from Poopout Hill Road.
There will be plenty for all of
us to do.
Trail patrols have resumed on
the south side of the
wilderness. Trail maintenance
crews have been busy, tackling
a number of ambitious projects,
including rebuilding a
deteriorated part of the trail to
Big Falls in the Falls Recreation
Area.
The Barton Flats Visitor
Center is open, ranger talks at
the Greyback Amphitheater are
back, and the Saturday
children’s nature programs have
relocated from the Heart Bar
Campground to the visitor
center.
SGWA earned its reputation
as the best wilderness
stewardship group in the nation
by being dedicated, professional
and hard-working. The next two
or three years could be our
finest hour.
Barton Flats Visitor Center: Information Outpost
Leave No Trace
By Bob Hazelton
After the Lake Fire burned more than
31,000 acres the question of campfire vs.
stove is one to help us explore Principle
#5 – Minimize Campfire Impact.
Some areas, like the San Gorgonio
Wilderness, have fire restrictions that
require the use of stoves for safety’s
sake. A stove with a valve for
extinguishing the flame is the safest,
lowest-impact method for cooking.
In areas where you can have a campfire
there are some options for keeping the
impact as small as possible.
 Use an existing ring – Use small
wood, keep the fire small and let
the wood burn to ash.
 Make a mound fire – When
there is no existing fire ring,
gather some mineral soil, sand,
or gravel from an alreadydisturbed source. The root hole
of a toppled tree is a good place.
 Lay a ground cloth and pile up
the soil on it about 6 to 8 inches
high. The soil insulates the
ground below from the heat of
the fire and the ground cloth
makes clean-up easy.
Remember the 4 Ds of gathering wood:
 Dead – Never take wood from
live trees.
 Down – The wood should be
only ground by itself.
 Dinky – The wood should be
small enough that you can break
it with your hands. This also
helps to keep the fire small
 Distant – Walk away from your
campsite to collect wood so that
the immediate area is not
stripped clean by repeated stays.
Clean-up is just as important for safety
and minimizing the impact. Learn more at
http://lnt.org/learn/principle-5.
C'ya on the mountain!
By Jean Rogers,
Resident Host
It’s more than
a wide place
halfway up
Route 38 to
speed by on the
way to Big Bear.
It’s more than a
pit stop on the
way to Big Bear,
or down the
mountain after
a great vacation.
The Barton Flats Visitor Center, located halfway between Big Falls and Big
Bear, is a welcome center for relaxing families and serious hikers to stop and
get their second wind while on their way to San Bernardino National Forest
adventures.
Starting Memorial Day weekend, the visitor center is open Thursdays
through Sundays, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., until mid- October.
SGWA volunteers who staff the center sell Adventure Passes, and provide
information about local trails and Saturday evening Ranger Talks, craft
activities for all ages, maps of the wilderness and the surrounding area,
directions to places on the south side of the San Gorgonio range and beyond,
directions to area campgrounds (public and private), weather and water
conditions, and occasionally emergency services.
Other services that volunteers provide is upkeep of the ranger station and
extra eyes for law enforcement, if requested. The volunteers at the visitor
center, as well as on the trails, are many times the first ones to find an
emergency situation and report it to the
proper authorities.
The visitor center also is a meeting
place for groups of off-road vehicle clubs,
film crews, birding clubs, vintage car
clubs, bicycle riders, mountain bikers,
and family reunions.
When the Lake Fire ignited June 17,
the center briefly served as the Incident
Command Post for the unified
firefighting effort. SGWA volunteers
currently have up-to-date information on
which wilderness trails have reopened
and which ones remain closed.
The Barton Flats Visitor Center is a
great spot to stop for a picnic, stretch
your legs, walk your dog, air out the kids,
and get your first glimpse of the
wonderful opportunity waiting for you in
the San Bernardino National Forest.
Visit us soon!
Volunteer Profile
Jean Rogers, Jan Gudgell, Pat Peters
By Bettye Miller
Life is never dull at the Barton Flats Visitor Center,
as volunteers who staff the outpost of information
on Highway 38 can tell you. One day might bring a
host of families looking for child-friendly hikes and
backpackers needing wilderness permits, and
another could see fishermen on the hunt for prime
fishing spots and a visit from Big Foot on location for
a Toyota Tacoma infomercial.
For Jean Rogers, Jan Gudgell and Pat Peters –
SGWA volunteers who are key to keeping the visitor
center open – every day is all about sharing a love of
the forest and wilderness, and helping others learn
to do the same.
Rogers, an English teacher
at Fontana Summit High
School, is in her third season
as the Barton Flats Visitor
Center resident host and her
fourth year as an SGWA
volunteer. During her first
year as a volunteer she did
trail patrols, helped as a
fishing buddy during the
Jean Rogers
Fish Festival, and counted
people attending the Forest Festival.
“The best part of volunteering at the Barton Flats
Visitor Center is sharing my love of the wilderness
and the forest in general with the visitors, especially
the children,” she said. “My favorite part of
volunteering at BFVC is talking to the kids about the
animals and plants in the forest. Probably my most
favorite part of that is when the woolly bear
caterpillars are active in the manzanita bush next to
the visitor center. The kids are amazed by the
caterpillars. I also love the fresh air, and the solitude
of Barton Flats. It's just a beautiful place. I also like
swearing in the Junior Rangers, and being Smokey's
helper.”
Rogers has welcomed a number of interesting
visitors in the last three years as well. Big Foot
dropped by while shooting a Toyota Tacoma
infomercial, the Over the Hill Gang Car Club from San
Bernardino made a pit stop, and two women drove
in with a fawn they had "rescued" along the side of
the road. There were told to put it back where they
found it.
Sisters Jan Gudgell and Pat Peters volunteer at the
visitor center Thursdays and Fridays when Rogers is
back in school, and fill in other days as well.
The two are 26-year veterans of SGWA and its
predecessor, the San Gorgonio Volunteer
Association, spending many years doing trail patrols
on horseback, staffing the horse camp at Heart Bar
campground before a concessionaire was in place,
and serving on the SGWA Board of Directors.
Both are retired college
teachers and varsity tennis
coaches whose teams
competed against each
other for years. Gudgell
coached women’s and
coed tennis at Mt. San
Antonio College, and
taught physical education
classes. Peters coached
women’s and coed, and
occasionally men’s, tennis
Jan Gudgell
teams, at Riverside City College, where she also
served as assistant director of athletics.
“We have participated in everything SGWA has to
offer. We were there at the beginning,” Peters said,
recalling their participation in establishing Tulake as
the organization’s base camp, helping to develop the
equestrian program, and volunteering at interpretive
sites. “We rode the South Fork drainage for years.
Val (Silva, SGWA executive director) said they
needed someone at Heart Bar. We hosted the camp
and kept the water tank running. It was a fun time.”
“They can’t get rid of us,” added Gudgell, who also
wrote the SGWA newsletter for several years.
The sisters said when they started volunteering at
the Barton Flats Visitor Center when it reopened in
the mid 1980s they were told they had to know the
answer to the three most commonly asked
questions: How far is it to Big Bear? (26 miles)
Where is the bathroom?
Where is the Barton Flats
Campground? (.8 of a mile
up the road).
Visitors have many more
questions, of course,
especially if they are
visiting the forest for the
first time.
“I am enchanted with the
number of people who
Pat Peters
See Volunteer Profile on Page 6
Director’s Desk
Val Silva
Amazingly it’s only been a few weeks since our
world has changed. Seems like a lifetime. I have
received calls, emails and texts from many of you
about the status of the fire, and what it means for
SGWA.
Tulakes camp did not have any damage but our
water system is toast. PVC doesn’t hold up well
when burned, and the fire went right over our spring
box and waterline. We don’t plan to replace it until
spring. With the debris flows expected with winter
rains, it makes sense to wait. But we are exploring
the possibility of buying a water tank and hauling in
water. Stay tuned.
We are naturally wondering what will happen.
Some things are becoming clearer, but many
questions remain. I want to assure you all that SGWA
will be part of rebuilding the wilderness. What part
we play will be up to the federal guidelines for safety
after the fire and protocol about restoration. No
specifics yet because no one knows.
One thing I do know is that we are part of a
historic event. There has not been a fire in the
wilderness for over 100 years. In the future we will
be an integral part in the restoration and well-being
of the San Gorgonio Wilderness. You can tell your
grandchildren that when you were younger you saw
the wilderness burn for the first time in 100 years,
and you helped with the regrowth and change that
they will enjoy.
So let’s make history!
Volunteer Profile
Continued from page 5
come to the forest and know nothing about it,”
Gudgell said. “It pleases me to tell them something
they didn’t know. I like to see the gleam in their eye
when they see where they are and it becomes
something important in their life. I especially love to
share this with children.”
“Nowadays we see people who want a 2-mile hike
with the family, or ask where they can go fishing or
why they are required to have a permit to hike in the
wilderness,” Peters added.
“You have to have a good background on the
trails,” she said. “We hiked and helped clean up the
trails for years. We fell in love with the forest and
like to tell people what we enjoy about it. We like to
educate them about what’s theirs and how to take
care of it. Let a little of our love rub off on them.”
All three volunteers said SGWA makes a difference
to forest visitors by showing people ways to enjoy
the forest.
“Most of the visitors know only organized camping
at the campgrounds,” Rogers said, “but when we get
them out on a trail with their families, like the Jenks
Lake Trail, they really open up to what the forest is
all about.”
√ Check this out
Teddi Boston, SGWA lead volunteer coordinator
and board treasurer, was interviewed by KPCC
(Southern California Public Radio) in Los Angeles
about her epic solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail in
1976.
KPPC quotes Jack Haskel of the Pacific Crest Trail
Association, who says Boston has a lasting legacy in
the hiking community. “People recognize her as one
of the early solo female hikers, and today there’s a
lot of solo women out on the PCT, and Teddi is one
of them that pioneered that.”
Listen to the story at
http://www.scpr.org/programs/taketwo/2015/08/03/43936/teddi-boston-recallshistoric-solo-walk-on-the-pac/.
The Wilderness Link is published quarterly by the
San Gorgonio Wilderness Association.
Editor: Bettye Miller
Contributors this issue:
Bob Hazelton, Vic Rousso, Jean Rogers
Submit story ideas and photos to sgwa@earthlink.net
or wellsmill@aol.com .
Restoring
Mill Creek, One
Rock at a Time
SGWA volunteers removed several
large, illegal dams from Mill Creek during
Mill Creek Restoration Days in July and
August. Some of the dams were 5 feet
tall, with more than 4 feet of water – and
a few fish – behind them.
Volunteers spent several hours
removing large rocks, tarps and sheets of
plastic from the illegal swimming holes to
restore the flow of water in the creek.
Members of the public also helped with
brushing and weeding at the Thurman Flats
Picnic Area, and picked up trash along
Highway 38, in the picnic area and along the
creek.
The final Mill Creek Restoration Day is
scheduled Saturday, Sept. 5, at 9 a.m.
This dam was about 5 feet tall. SGWA volunteers
dismantled the rock wall, emptying the
swimming hole and restoring the natural flow of
the creek.
President’s Corner
Ted Schofield
Fire is a natural part of the forest's cycle of life.
Prior to the Lake Fire, the San Gorgonio Wilderness
had not burned for over 100 years. As a result, there
was a tremendous amount of fuel on the forest
floor. Large areas had unhealthy tree densities. Add
to that the many standing dead trees from the bark
beetle infestation and a yearslong drought, and the
fire seems inevitable.
Many of us feel that we have lost our "home away
from home," but the truth is the forest is still there;
it has just entered a new phase of life. SGWA's
mission to serve, protect and educate remains, but
there will be changes.
Like many of the volunteers I feel a sense of loss
and I wonder what am I going to do with my
weekends.
The SGWA board of directors is meeting on a
regular basis to develop a plan of action for the
organization and our volunteers. They are working
SGWA
San Gorgonio
Wilderness Association
34701 Mill Creek Road
Mentone, CA 92359
P: (909) 382-2906
F: (909) 794-1125
E: sgwa@earthlink.net
www.sgwa.org
Serve
Protect
Educate
hand in glove with the Forest Service to determine
how SGWA can help with the recovery and continue
to serve and protect both the wilderness and the
visitors.
The fire is still burning within the containment
lines and may continue to burn until there is a
substantial rain or snow event. It is too dangerous
for those without fire training to enter the area.
But there are many activities that continue: Mill
Creek, Big Falls, trail work, Barton Flats Visitor
Center, our interpretive programs and, recently,
patrols and trail work on the southside trails. These
include Forsee Creek to John's Meadow, San
Bernardino Peak, Momyer and Vivian.
I have talked to several Forest Service members
who have been in the burn area. Yes, there are areas
of total devastation, but the vast majority of the
burn area received much less damage. Also, within a
week of the start of the fire some of the burn areas
already had new growth pushing through the ash.
Next spring should have the best wildflowers in
memory.
This is not the end of the forest and SGWA. It is
the transition to the next phase of the forest's life
cycle. SGWA volunteers will be there to help with
the recovery.