Analysis and Plan of Work
On Monday night, December 4, 2017, the Thomas Fire began nearly 40 miles away near the town of Santa Paula. Within two days, the fire raced towards the city of Ventura and spread west, crossing Highway 33 at several locations, and within the next two days, it moved further west towards Santa Barbara County.
Three days later, on the evening of December 7, a massive fire front blew through Matilija Canyon, quickly rushed over Murietta Divide, and then ran down the upper part of the Santa Ynez watershed, burning the brush on both sides of Jameson Reservoir and consuming everything below the dam to the Camuesa jeepway, including the Dam Caretaker’s cottage.
Sundowner winds then pushed the fire south towards the ocean, burning most of the Alder Creek drainage and then the front side of the mountains, reducing everything behind Carpinteria, including the Santa Monica, Sutton and Carpinteria creek watersheds to mineral soil.
As a result of this destruction, the Franklin Trail has arguably been impacted more by the Thomas Fire than any other trail in the burn area.
- Almost 100% of the vegetation along the entire length of the Franklin Trail has been completely burned away.
- Lack of brush on the downhill side of the trail has made a large portion of it dangerous, if not life-threatening, with tumbles of 200-300 feet on the steepest sections.
- The tread width has been reduced by as much as 50%, with the average width less than 18”. Uphill slumping has contributed to the problem, but without vegetation to hold it in place, the outside berm has eroded or is very fragile along more than 50% of the trail.
- Widening the trail will be difficult in place due to the embedded rock. Along a large portion of the trail, crib walls or armoring will be required to secure the trail's outer edge.
The 50-page report, prepared by Ray Ford, is available for review at this link
https://santabarbaratrails.org/docs/franklin/Franklin-Trail-Assessment-12-02-2018.pdf
