The extent of my knowledge of fires is the wikipedia page and now some dubious info from the chapparal page, and a spurious reference in that book. While it is clear Native Californians ignited fires to manipulate their immediate landscape, it is less clear how frequently they burned, at what seaso...

Rose pruning gloves can be great protection on a bushwack. I found some well fitting leather ones with Cordura gauntlets about 8 or 10 inches long that provide excellent protection to the forearms while pushing through heavy brush. The gauntlets also protect the lower sleeve and particularly the pla...

Similar trends among American youth have been documented. Gone are the days of the kids going outside to play on some vacant ground in the neighborhood where they can get up close and personal with soil and plants and critters. Between parents being fearful some harm will come to their children if t...

This is a response to the comment on this thread by Jack Ellwanger of Pelican Network regarding VWA participation. Yes, the VWA has been invited to attend the meetings and VWA members did attended some meetings. VWA has also been kept informed of the progress the Big Sur community committee has made...

At the core of this issue is the 1964 Wilderness Act and its purpose to preserve America’s remaining wilderness in perpetuity. To accomplish that a definition of wilderness was crafted and limits set on how designated wilderness is to be managed. Although beautifully and wisely crafted, like other l...

The Forest Service has issued a Proposed Action to construct 24 miles of fuelbreaks on the Monterey Ranger District with approximately 7.5 miles of constructed fuelbreaks in the Ventana Wilderness Area. The fuelbreaks would follow traditional firebreak lines built during past wildfire suppression em...

Nice work Mike. Your selfless and tireless effort leading the restoration of the Cone Peak Trail Network has almost reached its completion at the apex above the Twitchell elevator. What are you going to do for an encore now that you have become a living legend in Ventana lore? :D Best wishes, Tom Ho...

After several years of effort, the local Coastal Trail Working Group recently completed their Proposed Process For Writing The Master Plan For The Big Sur Portion Of The California Coastal Trail . Given all of the effort and the length of time required to draft the “plan to do the plan,” the Working...

A huge thank you to VWA Trail Crew Leaders Mike Heard and Robert Parks for being in the right place at the right time and having the presence of mind and skills to do the right thing:

Paul Danielson, Jon Libby and I hiked that trail about ten or twelve years ago as part of the ground truthing of the proposed Chalk Peak wilderness addition. It was mid-winter and there was fresh snow on the trail. We got as far as the top of the ridge you describe and, absent trail tools and unsure...