Dry thunderstorms rolled across California’s Central Valley into the Sierra Nevada range on August 17, 2020. Lightning-caused fires, fueled by hot, windy conditions, would eventually burn more than 300,000 acres there, an area roughly the size of Los Angeles.

The 2020 North Complex Fire was devasting to communities; 16 people died and more than 2,500 structures were burned.

“It was just catastrophic,” said Francisco Rico, looking out at the burned hills surrounding the Feather Falls Trailhead on the Plumas National Forest. “All the pines, all the conifers, all the hardwoods. They were all burned. Unfortunately, these are the kind of wildfires we see nowadays.”

Rico works as a civil engineer on the Mendocino National Forest. He’s just one person among a team of engineers, ecologists, silviculturists and biologists working towards recovery from the North Complex Fire.

As a civil engineer, that means he’s repairing recreation areas and infrastructure, so these areas can be reopened and enjoyed by the public.

“Access is a huge part of part of the Forest Service’s goal. We’re working to make sure people have access to these areas and can recreate in the forest.”

So much burned in the fire — campgrounds, fire stations, bear boxes, bridges, roads, lookout platforms, stairs, toilets and retaining walls. In many cases, these areas were closed due to damage and burned standing trees that can fall.

“These sites are pretty meaningful to the local people, to tribes, to businesses. So that's why it’s important, and it’s part of my job to get these areas reopened.”

Feather Falls repair

One of these damaged and most visited areas on the Plumas National Forest is Feather Falls.
It’s the sixth highest waterfall in the nation with water freefalling from 640 feet to the Fall River below. While the waterfall itself was not damaged in the North Complex Fire, trails and bridges leading out to Feather Falls and the viewing platform were destroyed.

“Before the fire, Feather Falls received 40,000 people every year,” said Rico. “And since it burned, people haven't been able to enjoy it.”

The Plumas National Forest received over $4 million in disaster supplemental funding to replace the bridges and overlook, and repair the trail, road and parking area affected by the fire.  On October 28 and 29, replacement bridges and stairs were flown in and contractors with AGE Construction helped set them in place.

“Though the work here is not yet completed, we’re one step closer,” said Rico. “The supplemental funding to repair these areas is absolutely essential. The Forest Service just can't come up with that funding to fix these trails fast enough without it.”

More to do

So many sights to be seen and experiences to be had on national forests and grasslands. Explore a new trail, paddle down a mountain stream, switch gears and ride, cast out and wait, or reach up the rock face for your next hold.

Michelle Zuro-Kreimer enjoys many of these activities herself, and as a project manager for the Pacific Southwest Region, she knows all the work, time and money required to make these experiences possible.

“Maintaining these recreation opportunities is an elaborate task,” said Zuro-Kreimer. “To give you an idea, across 18 national forests and one grassland in California, there are over 2,700 recreation sites like campgrounds, boat ramps, and trailheads and over 16,000 miles of trails that the Forest Service is responsible for operating and maintaining.”

Zuro-Kreimer is all too familiar with the scope and intricate challenge to maintain recreation opportunities on public lands. She has spent the past 20 years coordinating large infrastructure projects for the National Park Service and the USDA Forest Service — cleaning up everything from illegal dumping, to reconstructing trails and bridges for resource protection and visitor’s needs.

It’s estimated that about 85% of national forest visitors are coming to recreate, and recent years have only highlighted the national importance of outdoor spaces.

“COVID-19 really shined a light on our need for accessible outdoor recreation,” said Zuro-Kreimer. “And those associated infrastructure needs across public lands are getting a lot of recent funding support from Congress through bills like the Great American Outdoors Act.”

These and future sources of funding are not only helping to meet increased demand from visitors but are also essential to the agency’s strategy to address recreation-related deferred maintenance. That recreation-related maintenance is estimated at $182 million across California, while the state itself has an estimated $1.33 billion backlog in deferred maintenance.

Traditionally, the Forest Service only receives a set amount of funding to replace amenities and make improvements each year. Over the last 20 years, the purchasing power of that funding has eroded due to higher fuel, labor, materials and transportation costs.

But there’s another factor impacting recreation infrastructure across the West — natural disasters.

“The natural disaster events that we are seeing — heavy storms, wildfires — they are bigger, stronger and are causing more damage,” said Zuro-Kreimer. “This funding is essential to addressing those costs and rebuilding that infrastructure.”