SALINAS – The public is invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for new recreation and habitat improvements along a trail on the Fort Ord National Monument this weekend.
The Bureau of Land Management, Monterey Off-Road Cycling Association, and CSU Monterey Bay Habitat Stewardship Program, are hosting the event this Saturday beginning at 9 a.m., along Trail 31.
The section of trail where the ribbon cutting will occur is a new segment of Trail 31 that replaced a different segment of trail that was inherited from the Army and was restored. The new trail was constructed in partnership with Monterey Off-Road Cycling Association.
Attendees can park at the Creekside Terrace Trailhead then hike or bike a half mile up Trail 31 to the trail’s intersection with Trail 72 for the festivities.
Creekside Terrace Trailhead is just off Highway 68 near the intersection of Reservation Road and Portola Road.
Community partners worked with the BLM to develop the new trail and restore the old trail, according to the Bureau of Land Management Central California District.
Fort Ord National Monument Manager Eric Morgan said the work on the trail was about three-quarters-of-a-mile long.
The process involved planning and proposing a new trail alignment, surveying the rare plants, among other tasks that are “the unexciting stuff of trail building.” Once an environmentally-sound design was accepted, the Bureau of Land Management used a trail tractor to carve it in and hand crews working with Monterey Off-Road Cycling Association followed up with finishing touches of constructing drainage and surfacing the trail. The restoration was done in partnership with Habitat Stewardship Project with BLM working with public volunteers and elementary school students.
Trail 31 comes right off of the Creekside Terrace Trailhead, along with access to other trails and roads. The trailhead has about 350,000 visitors annually with about three-quarters of those traversing Trail 31.
“It’s the heaviest-used trail out at the Monument,” said Morgan.
Part of Trail 31 was constructed back around 2009, he said, and part of the trail was an old road inherited from the Army went it closed Fort Ord in 1994. The road’s path took it through a wet meadow with various habitats including coastal scrub and other plant habitats.
“The ribbon cutting is a great way to celebrate all the partnerships that help to support the monument and how special it is,” said Morgan.
Most of the trail work and habitat restoration was done by volunteers. The habitat restoration was completed using seedlings grown from native seed collected during National Public Lands Day in October 2023.
These improvements provide greater public access and help restore and enhance sensitive habitats.
Since 1996, CSU Monterey’s Bay’s Habitat Stewardship Program has worked with the BLM to restore more than 250 separate scars on Fort Ord National Monument, totaling 160 acres into beautiful, flowering landscapes. CSUMB maintains a greenhouse where seeds are sown and grown into seedlings for out planting.
The Bureau of Land Management manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The agency’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. Diverse activities authorized on these lands generated $96 billion in sales of goods and services throughout the American economy in fiscal year 2017. These activities supported more than 468,000 jobs.
