Lucy Van Der Hoff
Phase 1: Picking up trash
We had our first trail cleanup on October 5th, 2024, which lasted from 9-12 in the morning and took place on Lucy Van der Hoff. It was very successful and we were able to bag almost all of the trash on the trail! We filled over 15 bags with purely trash, and the trail appeared much less squalid once we left.
Phase 2: Clearing Compost / Weeding
For our second cleanup (11/04/2024), we shifted to phase 2 of our project: clearing compost / weeding. With our time spent on the trail, we were able to rake aside loads of leaves and branches to the side, and bag them for the city to remove. Also, we got some weeds pulled out of the hardened soil of the trail. Even though we made a lot of progress, there was still significantly more of the trail to cover.
Our third cleanup took place on 11/16/2024. We focused on accomplishing the same tasks as we did in our second cleanup (clearing compost and weeding), and mainly worked on parts of the trail that we hadn’t perfected yet. While at work, we met up with Walter Clark, the founder of fullertonWalks.com, Carl, and Angela, a leader of the Friends of Coyote Hills organization. Additionally, we met Mr. Richard, who lives on the trail, who offered to fund us if we helped with his area of the trail specifically.
Phase 3: Helping a Special Funder
On 11/23/2024, we had our fourth cleanup, in which we worked to perfect the area of Lucy Van der Hoff near the house of Mr. Barkley, our first funder. We raked and bagged all of the leaves on the ground, cleared other debris, and clipped trees to remove whitefly eggs. After the cleanup, Mr. Richard donated a generous amount of money, and we used it to have a great lunch across the street.
The very next Saturday, on 11/30/2024, we performed another cleanup on Mr. Barkley’s section of the trail. Similarly to the previous cleanup, we worked to remove whitefly eggs from his trees and to clear all leaf litter from the surrounding area. We received another generous donation from Mr. Barkley as well as several meaningful lectures, and went as a group to eat lunch once we completed our work.
Phase 4: Finishing the Trail
On December 21st, after a nearly month-long gap since our fifth trail cleanup, our group came back to Lucy Van der Hoff to polish up the trail once more. We found large branches and loads of brush covering the path, which we bagged or brought up to the front of the trail for the city to dispose of. Despite there being a smaller group of volunteers during this event, we were able to accomplish a lot and the trail only had a small area that still needed to be perfected.
In an effort to finish this trail off, we came back a week after the sixth cleanup and cleared all remaining branches or leaf piles. A large part of this event was focused on bagging large piles of dead, tangled ivy vines, which required lots of teamwork and time. Eventually, we finished our job on the trail by around 1 P.M. and headed out to lunch.
Although we accomplished most of our goals on Lucy Van der Hoff, we are still not finished with it. We will continue performing monthly cleanups on the trail until October of 2025, as per our Adopt-a-Trail agreement with the city of Fullerton. Also, we will work towards flattening the trail with landscaping groups to improve it as much as possible. Regardless, Lucy Van der Hoff is now a great path for walkers, runners, bikers, and equestrians, and we hope that all people that visit the trail enjoy their time traveling on it.