At the end of October, volunteers joined ForestWatch to clean up two popular areas in the Santa Barbara frontcountry: La Cumbre Peak and West Fork Cold Spring Trail. Masked up and socially distanced, the crews put a major dent in the trash accumulation at both sites.
Atop La Cumbre Peak—the tallest of the mountains directly adjacent to Santa Barbara—volunteers spent a Friday afternoon removing trash from around the area. Beer bottles, cans, a tricycle, and broken glass were among the items found strewn along the road and around the peak.
The next day, several volunteers met at the West Fork Cold Spring Trailhead along Gibraltar Road to help continue our efforts to remove lead ammo and microtrash from the site. The area was long used as an illegal target shooting site, so there are still decades worth of lead bullets, broken glass, and other microtrash along the trail and nearby.
We were even able to get some drone footage of the cleanup thanks to long-time volunteer, Craig Prater, who is a licensed drone pilot. Check it out:
Altogether, these amazing volunteers removed over 250 pounds of trash from the two sites, including about 20 pounds of lead—all while wearing masks and keeping distance between each other! And thanks to UCSB Coastal Fund for their ongoing support of our cleanup efforts in the Santa Barbara frontcountry.
We will likely be pausing our volunteer events until COVID restrictions ease, which may not occur until next year. In the meantime, stay tuned for news on upcoming virtual events we’ll be hosting.
See more photos of the cleanups below:
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