Ventana Wilderness Alliance

For nearly a decade the Ventana Wilderness Alliance has led the grassroots effort to protect the wilderness qualities of the Ventana Region, along the Big Sur Coast. VWA volunteers also contribute thousands of hours each year maintaining the public trails in the Ventana back country. I support their conservation work and endorse the Ventana Trails Forever campaign.

 — Robert Redford, Actor, Director, Conservationist

Trails connect us to the great outdoors. They are nature’s  invitation to venture forth, to take time to notice and to feel the earth beneath our feet.

The trails of the Ventana Region were first traveled by Native Americans. They were essential to generations of homesteaders and are cherished by modern-day hikers. Today they provide 320 miles of spectacular wilderness experiences and a natural outdoor classroom that inspires current-day and future land stewards. Forest Service trail budgets have shrunk drastically
in recent decades, leaving the Forest Service unable to keep all of its local trails open to the public. Only a concentrated effort by the public land management agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the general public will save these trails from extinction.

The goal for Ventana Trails Forever Campaign is to raise $500,000 by 2012 to provide permanent funding for the maintenance and restoration of the public trail network of the Ventana Region.
The 320 miles of public trails in the Ventana Region would cost more than $25 million if built today. By comparison, the $500,000 goal for the Ventana Trails Forever Campaign requires only 2% of the total asset value of the trail system it will preserve. This leveraging of private dollars and volunteer labor on public lands is an excellent example of a productive public/private partnership.

 

 

Massive wildfires burned over 215,000 acres of  Ventana Region public lands in the summer and autumn of 2008. Public trails in the burned area were severely damaged by the fires and by fire suppression work. Many side-slope trails have been buried by dry erosion which occurs when brush on steep hillsides burns away. Hundreds of fire-killed trees have fallen across trails. Accelerated winter runoff scoured  gullies across trails and severely impaired stream crossings.Bulldozed fuel breaks disrupted miles of ridge top trails.

The Forest Service has been able to restore some  of the most popular fire-damaged trails including  sections of the Pine Ridge and Carmel River Trails. But Forest Service funds are grossly insufficient for the restoration needs in the aftermath of these fires.  Many fire damaged trails are now virtually impassable.

There has never been a greater need for private  donations to fund the restoration of our public trails.
Your contribution to the Ventana Trails Forever—2008 Fire Fund will go directly to the recovery of back-
country thoroughfares like the Ventana Double Cone, Lost Valley, Marble Peak and Stone Ridge Trails which will otherwise revert to eroded slopes and  impenetrable thickets.

In the Ventana Region, backcountry access is our  best assurance that future generations will be able to experience this wonderful wilderness and learn to  
protect it. Please make your contribution today.

The goal for the Ventana Trails Forever Campaign is to raise $500,000 to provide permanent funding for the maintenance and restoration of the Ventana Wilderness’s public trail network.

Eighty percent of the money raised will be deposited in a restricted-use fund at the Community Foundation for Monterey County. The remaining twenty percent will be available for immediate use by the Ventana Wilderness Alliance for maintenance and restoration of the public trails of the Ventana Region.

Income generated by the restricted-use fund will be used to purchase and maintain trail work tools and supplies; provide technical training for trail crew volunteers; engage consultants; and most importantly, hire specialized crews to do the work that volunteers are unable to do. The campaign goal will fund professional crews to retread and stabilize up to 15 miles of tread each year.

Restricted-Use Fund at Community Foundation	$400,000
Immediate-Use Fund at VWA	$80,000
Fundraising and Community Outreach	$20,000
Total Campaign	$500,000

Donor Recognition

Donors providing gifts of $1,000 or more will be recognized on a commissioned fine-art piece designed and built by Big Sur artist and sculptor Greg Hawthorne. This permanent monument will be placed at the public entrance to the Multi-Agency Facility at Big Sur Station, which is the hub of backcountry visitor activity in the Ventana Region and operated by the United States Forest Service and California Department of Parks and Recreation. Donors contributing at the following levels will be acknowledged:

Junipero Serra Peak $50,000
Ventana Double Cone  $25,000
Cone Peak  $10,000
Ventana Cone  $5,000
Silver Peak $1,000

Donor Recognition Plaque design (pdf file)

Donate to the Ventana Trails Forever Campaign

Download the VTF Donor Directive and Pledge form and mail it with your donation to:

Ventana Wilderness Alliance
PO Box 506
Santa Cruz, CA 95061

 

 

Max Chaplin, Past President, Big Sur Land Trust
Yvon Chouinard, Founder, Patagonia, Inc., 1% for the Planet
Rev. Paul Danielson, Board Member, Big Sur Land Trust
Sam Farr, US Representative
Gary Felsman, Author, San Luis Obispo County Trail Guide
Ginger Harmon, Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Heidi Hopkins, Big Sur Resident, Conservationist
Tom Hopkins, President, Co-founder, VWA
Lindsay Jeffers, Stevenson School Wilderness Expedition
David Knapp, VWA Trail Crew Chief and Board Member
John Laird, Former California Assembly Member
Jon Libby, Past President, Co-founder, VWA
Richard Popchak, VWA Board Member, Editor, Ventana Wilderness Watch
Robert Redford, Actor, Director, Conservationist

Download the Ventana Trails Forever Map (6 mb pdf file):