This weekend, ForestWatch and UCSB Adventure Programs joined forces to clean up a popular bouldering area known as the Playground in the Los Padres National Forest near Goleta. The team of 12 volunteers from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Isla Vista removed over 40 pounds of trash from the Playground itself and 400 pounds of tires nearby!
We called this project the Cleanup Hike at the Playground, but a more fitting name would have been the Cleanup Scramble at the Playground. Our fearless volunteers climbed, rock hopped, and squeezed through crevices to get every beer can and piece of broken glass in the area. And one of our volunteers even found a full set of truck tires (rims and all) in the chaparral near the trailhead.
The group managed to find their way to “The Narrows,” a long and narrow crevice deep within the Playground. This is one of the more unique destinations in the Santa Barbara frontcountry, but finding it can be a challenge.
We were excited that there was not more trash at the Playground. It was good to see leave no trace ethics being practiced by the many climbers and hikers that frequent the area. However, graffiti is another issue there that we plan to address in the future.
Thank you to the volunteers who spent their Sunday morning exploring and cleaning up this beautiful area. And a big thanks goes out to the Coastal Fund for funding this work. If you are interested in joining a volunteer team for one of these projects, be sure to check out our Upcoming Projects page.
See some more photos from the cleanup below:
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