Trails at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook receive needed maintenance

Vice Mayor Dan O’Brien worked together with Culver City-based Parks Project to help repair trails at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook on Saturday. There was a pressing need to address the condition of the trails in the area after the past two rainy winter seasons created mudflow that made them uneven and rocky.

An estimated 20 to 25 volunteers — consisting of both Parks Project members and outside volunteers — began work on the trails around 9 a.m. on Saturday and spent all morning on the job.

Parks Project was co-founded in February 2015 by current CEO Keith Eshelman, who was a frequent visitor of parks but didn’t know how they were managed or maintained before starting the organization. Eshelman got off the ground by selling park-inspired merchandise to the public, using those funds to finance projects that improved or repaired those same parks.

“I quickly dove into volunteering in the parks,” Eshelman told Culver Crescent, “Through all that time, I realized how many projects there were…there were a lot of parks that were underfunded and needed support.”

The idea took off, and Eshelman’s products were soon hitting the shelves at major retailers like REI, with which he landed a partnership in 2018. Parks Project’s success eventually led them to move into an office at 8540 Washington Blvd. in the Arts District, grabbing the attention of Vice Mayor O’Brien.

With the help of Baldwin Hills Conservancy Executive Officer David McNeill, O’Brien reached out to Eshelman and Park Maintenance Supervisor Jason Finley with California State Parks — whose job focuses on maintaining the Roads and Trails Program in the Angeles District — about three months ago to discuss repairing the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook trails, citing the poor conditions.

“The surface became this rippled surface that one could easily sprain an ankle on,” O’Brien said. “There were also a couple of places where the lower portion of the path had eroded down the hillside.”

The Angeles District is one of 21 park districts in the state, consisting of 23 parks in Los Angeles County and Ventura County. The borders of the District reach Castaic Lake State Recreation Area on the north end, as far south as the Marine Stadium Boat Launch Ramps in Long Beach, as far east as Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier, and Point Mugu State Park in Malibu on the west end.

Volunteer work has been crucial in supporting the condition of parks and trails in the Angeles District, including groups that work each Saturday to help maintain the hundreds of miles of trail in the district.

“We have pretty extensive volunteer support throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, which is the nexus of our program,” Finley said. 

Repairing these trails is a multi-step process, as the original surface must be de-compacted and essentially ripped out before new material can be placed, according to Finley.  A mini excavator was brought in the previous Monday to assist with unearthing the old surface, and workers spent the five days leading up to Saturday making the trail easier to work with.

“They needed the mini excavator to break through the hard soil,” O’Brien said. “It would take significantly longer to do with picks and shovels.”

After the flattening, the new dirt is placed on top, and water is added to help compact the new dirt to create a flat walking surface that is safe for hikers. A special mixture of dirt was brought in from a quarry in Camarillo for the project, whose aggregate soil blend is natural but gives stronger stability to the trails than the current surface.

“You have clay and sandy soil here,” Finley said, “so you want a good soil particle mixture.”

To support these efforts, O’Brien spent Saturday morning traveling up and down the Culver City Steps. A fundraiser was put on Facebook by O’Brien before Saturday’s event that raised about $850 for Nature Nexus, a state park partner that removes invasive plant species and replaces them with native foliage.

Nature Nexus — an organization in which McNeill is a board member — has done work on the hills of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook in the past, and representatives from the organization were among those at Saturday’s event. O’Brien says that while it will take years to fully remove invasive species from the area, he has seen significant positive change resulting from their work.

“I think it’s a great organization,” O’Brien said, “so I am glad that they are getting a little money.”

For more on Parks Project, visit their website here.