Mountain bike clubs in Redding, California have teamed up with Fall River Brewing to collaborate on a beer, and portions of sales will go toward a trail fund to help rebuild and maintain trails after the Carr fire.
The Redding Trail Alliance and the Redding chapter of Loose Riders Global Alliance partnered with the brewery for the project. One dollar of each Singletrack Obsession beer sold will go back into the local trails.
The Carr fire destroyed 1,100 residences and hundreds of other structures in Redding. Three firefighters also lost their lives battling the monumental fire.
The trails in Redding weren’t directly harmed by the fire, but the worst may be yet to come. Most of the vegetation that tends to soak up rainfall is no longer in place.
“Erosion is going to happen for sure, we know that’s going to come,” says Kyle Adams.
Adams heads up the Redding Loose Riders chapter and is a part of the Redding Trail Alliance trail crew. They had a lot of Manzanita bush in the area that spread the fire across the Redding area. The fire took out the Manzanita, and most of the other vegetation in the area along with it.
The increase in sun exposure may mean that trails will be dustier than ever next summer.
“This is a big concern for us,” says Adams about rainfall and erosion. “It’ll all grow back, but it’s going to take time.”
In the meantime, they have to keep an eye on the weather forecast, and on the trails, and try to raise money to help rebuild the trails when it’s time.
“We just had a ton of rain come through and might have more on the way,” says Adams.
For now, the Singletrack Obsession IPA will be a limited run, but Adams says it may turn out to be a seasonal beer.
The beer is available at Fall River’s brewery and tap house in Redding.
For more information on the Redding Trail Alliance or to donate, visit the website.
2 Comments
Dec 10, 2018
It will be interesting to see if the trail org can partner with forest management folks to replant native groundcover before the manzanita returns.
Dec 11, 2018