Before.

This past year two trees have fallen across the trail, and in some kind of freak coincidence they were both at head level (see pic of the 2nd one). As you can imagine, this presents a particular hazard to hikers — and especially runners. Thankfully, the City of Sonoma Public Works Department has been very good at responding quickly to these situations, and in both cases were able to remove the tree within a day or two of it being reported. We are sincerely thankful for this, as the volunteers who do much of the other maintenance of the trail do not always have the necessary equipment and skills to deal with a large fallen tree.

So although the group of volunteer stewards are responsible for many of the smaller maintenance activities, such as cutting channels to move water off the trail as quickly as possible, some of the larger, more complex tasks require City staff involvement. The City of Sonoma owns the property, as they also now do for the contiguous Montini Preserve, so this makes sense.

After.

This is a great example of collaboration between volunteers and the City to maintain a safe and enjoyable trail experience.