Friends of the Forest Helps with Coconino Forest Trail Maintenance

Friends of the Forest volunteers who hike the 77 trails covering 178 miles in and around Sedona often hear positive comments about trail conditions. Perhaps a million people hike, bike and ride horses on these trails, and their condition is the culmination of the hard work of the Red Rock Ranger staff, various conservation groups and volunteers with the Friends.

In recognition of the importance of Sedona’s hiking trails as vital to the Red Rock experience, the Trail Building and Maintenance Committee was one of the first groups established under FOF in 1994. Norm Herkenham, a retired National Park Service employee and native plant expert, founded and chaired the committee for many years.

Currently, Joe Landholm heads the committee, and Jesse Kennen, the District Forestry Technician for the Red Rock Ranger area, supervises the work. In 2004, 906 hours of volunteer trail work saved the Forest Service $11,968 in labor costs.

“The FOF trail work is essential to our small Forest Service trail crew here,” Kennen said. “Without the help of the Friends, I wouldn’t be hearing all the compliments from visitors about the great condition of our trails.”

Trails Committee members are graduates of the Forest Service Trail Boss program that teaches durable trail maintenance techniques and helps construct new trails. The popular Soldier’s Pass Trail and the Huckaby Trail are just some of the fruits of their labor. Members are also working on connecting a series of trails with the goal of completely encircling the community.

Protecting ecologically sensitive vegetation is also part of the committee’s role. Members eliminate and naturalize “social trails,” areas where people have hiked off established trails and damaged crypto biotic soil and plants. This damage takes a minimum of five years to become reestablished and revitalized.

Friends of the Forest provides funds for high-grade native plant seed at about $15 a pound to spread on the soil after it’s been scarified to enhance the visual effect and reduce erosion. Restoration also includes transplanting prickly pear cactus to close social trails and discourage those who try to go off the regular trail.

Longer Wilderness trail projects are also part of the group’s contribution. Last year, both FOF and TRACS volunteers backpacked into West Clear Creek to work on the four-mile trail in the lower portion of the canyon.

And the trail fairy didn’t carry in their tools.

The men and women on this committee wear hard hats, gloves, leather boots and eye protection when necessary. They use hand tools to move dirt and rocks to make water bars, rolling dips and other structures to divert and carry rushing rain off the trails. They clean and repair storm damage, including removing fallen trees from the trails.

These volunteers come from all walks of life. They were, or are, accountants, teachers, chemists, pilots, ranchers, engineers, veterinarians, photographers, marketers, or executives who live here part or full time. They are baby boomers or older. If you are looking for the “retired from,” don’t look here. This is the group who RETIRED TO.

When asked what the reward is from this strenuous work, chairman Joe Landholm said, “It’s the people, the companionship, the camaraderie. We enjoy what we do and have a sense of accomplishment when we look back at our work.”

It doesn’t get much better than that.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Friends of the Forest Trails Committee, or one of their less physically demanding groups, contact the Red Rock Ranger Station at 928-282-4119 or visit our web site at www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org.