Volunteers Finish Major DeLaveaga Project

From Lisa McGinness:

Volunteers from all across the US, Europe and East Asia have traveled to Santa Cruz this spring to volunteer with American Conservation Experience (ACE).

Working alongside AmeriCorps members and ACE staff, the diverse crew spent the last five weeks in DeLaveaga Park creating safer, more accessible trail conditions for the runners, mountain bikers, hikers, and other recreationalists that enjoy the park.

Since beginning the project on April 2, ACE crews have worked 1,960 hours refinishing over 5,700 ft of trail, removed boulders, fallen trees, crumbling retaining walls, rehabilitated "social" (unauthorized) trails, and removed brush like poison oak from the side of the trails.

They have also built retaining walls and improved drainage to help mitigate erosion in the park. The crew will be departing May 10.

American Conservation Experience is a local non-profit organization that provides an opportunity for volunteers from home and abroad to contribute to meaningful conservation projects in the United States. The AmeriCorps members of ACE, with a grant through California Volunteers, gain practical field experience for careers in resource management while working on diverse international crews.

Heather Reiter, Chief Ranger for the City of Santa Cruz says, "This crew has been particularly effective and really fun and interesting to work with." Reiter says, "With crew members from Belgium, England, Germany and Korea, as well as the US, it has been a wonderful international experience as well as a productive conservation effort."