Locals push China Camp trail rehab projects

July 28, 2014

Trails in China Camp State Park will undergo rehab over the next seven months, a $360,000 effort initiated by the Friends of China Camp.

About a third of the 15 miles of trails at the park along the east shore of San Rafael are eroding and deeply rutted in parts. Because of budget shortfalls in state park accounts, officials had deferred trail work.

That meant water has channeled on trails, carrying sediment away from the park and into nearby wetlands, helping silt them over and essentially choking marshes. The poor hydrology also has made the trails unsafe for walkers, hikers, bikers and equestrians.

"For the last 10 years the trail maintenance has been really lacking," said Ed Lai, chairman of the Friends of China Camp, the group coordinating the effort. "We are going after the worst areas."

Starting last week, crews from the California Conservation Corps began work on fixes on the east end of Shoreline Trail in the park. The Back Ranch Trail will also see work.

"There are areas that are really eroded, and as volunteers we can't do all of that work," said Andy Kives of San Rafael, a volunteer with Friends of China Camp. "It needs equipment and it needs to be dug out and gravel put in and then graded and drainage put in."

It was the Friends of China Camp that came to the park's rescue in 2012. It raised money to save the park after it was marked for closure when the state said it had no cash to keep all parks open. The group also contracts with state parks to provide personnel for the park's operations.

The group and others were stunned when it was revealed in the summer of 2012 that more than $50 million in money that could be used for parks was discovered in hidden accounts. That prompted legislation led by former assemblyman and now U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, to put a freeze on the closures and develop a plan to provide matching funds to support local operating agreements.

Friends of China Camp was able to utilize that legislation to get state money for the trail work.

"People have donated a lot money, but we got a state match for the money, so we are using state money," Kives said. "The money that people have donated stays in the bank for other needs."


Source: By Mark Prado