Cummings Creek Interpretive Trail Given a Face Lift

   In the fall of 1996, Bill Matson and the Cummings Creek Watershed Advisory Council coordinated the construction of a new section of Cummings Creek Road, a gravel road that is the only inlet and outlet to the small rural community that lives high within the Cummings Creek watershed.  After the old road was decommissioned, Bill and his colleagues realized that Cummings Creek itself had much potential for restoration.  An educational trail was put in on the old road bed in the fall of 2000, complete with puncheon bridges and wooden steps.  During the summer of 2001, with the assistance of Curtis Ihle of Coastal Streams Restoration Group, 18 instream habitat structures were set in the creek.  Equipment work was completed by Mullins Restoration, and the anchoring work was done by the CCC. 
   This past August, the ERWIG returned to expand the interpretive aspect of the trail, which leads visitors along the creek through mature and developing riparian vegetation, by installing six informational signs along the 1/4-mile length of the trail.  The signs, designed by Bill and constructed by the Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO), describe various aspects of the old roadbed and the surrounding landscape.  Along with the installment of the signs, the ERWIG crew spent a couple of days putting on a fresh layer of gravel to improve the aesthetic value of the trail. 
   If you are interested in visiting the trail, it can be accessed via Hwy 36 onto Cummings Creek Road.  The trailhead is located approximately one mile up the road, just after the first bridge spanning Cummings Creek.  Parking is limited to the available turnouts.