Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Ever since I can remember, my family and I have gone camping whenever we have vacations. One of the activities that we like to do when we go camping is hiking. After many years of hiking, I have grown a love for this and for the nature which I observe when I hike. And, after having hiked many seemingly hard to navigate trails, I decided that now it was my turn to do something for this area which has given me much throughout my entire life. The area where I conducted the project was the Upper Coulter Pine Trail found overseeing the Big Dalton Canyon in Glendora, California. The Glendora Wilderness Park is part of the Angeles National Forest. After having made contact with Mr. Swinney, a naturalist and chairmember of the Glendora Trails Committee, I took up this project on behalf of the city of Glendora.
This trail which had not seen any restoration for over ten years was overridden with many foreign Mediterranean vegetation and covered with fallen debris, such as trees. The city of Glendora provided me with all the tools and I supplied the volunteers and also, with the help of a few sponsors such as Home Depot, we were able to commence and complete this project. I had started off the day with giving everyone proper instructions on what is to be done and the proper use of every tool. Then after splitting everyone up into three groups and assigning group leaders we headed up the trail. The groups were split up by where they were going to work, the start of the trail, the end of the trail, and the middle portion of the trail, each group having about 200 meters of trail to restore. What needed to be done to the trail was that all grass, extra dirt, brush, and branches needed to be removed the trail. Also, the trail was to be widened from a mere two feet to a more comfortable four feet, along, with removing the poison oak that is found on the trail to keep hikers safe. We needed to level out the trail so that it would not be as dangerous to navigate and to cut off the portions of fallen trees that obstructed the trail. We were also given instructions to not remove anything natural from the forest. Something additional that I decided to add to the trail was to place steps on the switch back turns because many were incredibly steep and easy to slip and fall.
It was important that this trail were to be restored because after the 2002 fire in this area, the many various invasive and foreign plants have not given much of a chance for the chaparral plant community to grow. Many members of the community enjoy walking the various trails existing in the Big Dalton Canyon, but due to the lack of maintenance taking place, many of the trails have become increasingly difficult to hike therefore decreasing the use of the trails. This project will give benefits to the city of Glendora by easing up the amount of work needed to do in this part of the forest because my brother and I have restored a total of 1.4 miles of trails. Also, it will help because it gives a better and improved trail for the community to observe the native plants to this region. The beneficiaries are the city of Glendora, Angeles National Forest, and the many visitors to the forest. This project has, also, enriched me because now after having completed much work over the span of a few months, I have gotten to spend more time out on the trails and know what it requires to maintain these trails safe for visitors. This time allowed me to appreciate more what the forest has to offer and to hike more safely so that I make less of an impact on the forest, which goes along with the scouting principle of Leave No Trace. My awareness of the environment has grown because now I know all the hard work it takes to keep the trails functional so now I try to do less on the trails to affect the nature surrounding me, such as before I used to hike a bit off the trails to explore; now I know that though it is tempting to do this, I should really be more careful to take better care of the environment to allow for more to enjoy the beauty that is just crawling through forests.