July Trail Day 2026| Advocates for Nisene Marks State Park

July 2026 Trail Day Report

7/19/26

On this gorgeous Sunday morning, 37 volunteers joined forces in The Forest of Nisene Marks to help the park by removing encroaching and invasive plants as well as repairing and building fences and repairing Margaret's Bridge.

The Advocates are so grateful that so many of you took this precious time out from your weekend to make a difference - and you HAVE! The forest, Advocates and park visitors thank you. Without your efforts and devotion the park would be a much less pleasant place to visit and less healthy for our native flora.

First Stop: Signing-In, Signing-Up,
Munching Down and Forming Teams.

After enjoying coffee from Pacific Coffee Roasters, pastries from Companion Bake Shop and fruit from New Leaf, the group organized into teams. A big thank you to our hospitality sponsors!

Second Stop: Tools!

Third Stop: Hitting the Trails.

Here is how we improved the forest and made a difference with our efforts!

Our projects this month included:

Led by Jim, Chris, Mikhail, Andrea and Gary, we brushed-back plant growth to reestablish trail tread on the Porter Trail, the Oak Ridge Trail (upper+lower), the Aptos Rancho Trail and the approaches to Margaret's Bridge. The trails are now much more walkable thanks to the amazing energy of our crews!
Led by Gary and Gui, we repaired the Porter Picnic Area Trail fence. These sorts of repairs are not just to keep the park looking great but they show that we take pride in this amazing local natural resource!
Led by John, Susan, Teresa and Ellen, this team of 13 continued to remove invasive English ivy from the Old Growth Loop Trail. The team made great progress in helping the redwoods and other native plans recover from being suffocated by non-natives! In all, 13 trees were freed (9 Redwood, 1 Douglas Fir, 3 Live Oaks), some with large 2-3"vines (see pics below), and significant ground ivy removed amongst fallen tree branches which made the work more challenging.
Removed, cleaned, adjusted and reinstalled half of the original (but loose) two-track decking material on Margaret's Bridge. The remaining half will be completed at a future Trail Day. Special thanks to Joe for spearheading the project again from start to end!
Gilbert from State Parks led a small team to build a new fence with redwood rails and posts that were split from earlier Advocates Trail Days. See the team's handiwork at the kiosk lot!