Mojave Road Rehab and Reconstruction Project

[andy steiner]

Conservation Project

Sponsored by the CA4WDC South District
April 25-27, 2008

The South District of CA4WDC will host a conservation and rehabilitation project April 25 - 27 on the Mojave Road in conjunction with the National Park Service.

The project will be on the portion of the Mojave Road that goes around Piute Hill to the south following the old AT&T Underground Telephone Cable Route. The road, as it approaches the top of Piute Hill, has several small washouts and two very large ones that need to be filled in. The project will be to rebuild the water bars that have been washed out and to place gabions in the two washed out areas. This corrective maintenance will be done to prevent further washouts and keep the road from being closed because of safety concerns.

The work will consist of digging ditches to channel excess water off the road during storms to prevent the accumulation of water at the culverts, cleaning out the culverts, building water bars to direct water into the culverts and filling in the two badly eroded and washed out areas. The alternative to fixing the road is closure.

The National Park Service manages the Mojave Road in this area. Park Superintendent Dennis Schramm and South District Vice President Harry Baker have entered into an agreement to have their two organizations work together to repair the washouts.

The park service will provide the equipment and supplies needed to repair the road and the South District with help from others in the Off Road community will provide the manpower. The project will entail throwing a lot of rocks! Basically we'll be moving rocks from a stockpile area and filling in gabions and building water bars

The area to be repaired is best accessed from the west. It is between miles 27 and 30 on the Mojave Road and is depicted in the book The Mojave Road by Dennis Casebier. Enter the Mojave Road from the intersection of Lanfair Road, north out of Goffs, and Cedar Canyon Road , 17 miles north of Goffs, and travel east on the Cable Route to the camp area at the base of Piute Hill. Signs will be posted at the turn offs. The Mojave Road is not appropriate for other than 4 wheel drive or high clearance vehicles.

Jeep trailers, shovels, picks and pry bars will be helpful.

There will be a free dinner for all volunteers on Saturday, April 26.

For questions or to RSVP contact Harry Baker at 818-705-3930 or bakerhab@aol.com
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