• All Santa Barbara County Trails Fund

Make a donation to our general Trail Fund and direct your donation to advocacy, operations, trail maintenance or to maintain a specific trail. Your donation will support current trail projects or be allocated to the trail you designate.

• Baron Ranch Trail Fund | Alisal Fire Damage Repair and Restoration

After a decade of work and generous community support, the six-mile-long Arroyo Quemado Trail at Baron Ranch opened to all trail users seven days a week this spring. The damage from the Alisal Fire is beyond imagination. However, the loss of recreation is minor compared to the impact on the unique native habitat and the animals who lived in the canyon. Only 14 months after the fire, 2023 ushered in more rain events and more inches of rain than we have seen in over a decade.

Once again, we will call for volunteers to help with the trail restoration and help fund repairs to the trail network that helps make Baron Ranch memorable on the Gaviota Coast. We encourage you to support our work to repair the Arroyo Quemado Trail and the Loop Trail. In 2023 we have invested over $30,000 in trail maintenance and estimate that we have $10,000 more work to do.

To donate online click the green button or download our pledge form to mail a check.

• Franklin Trail Fund 

In 2023 the winter rains severely damaged the upper reaches of the Franklin Trail. The damage was so extensive across the Santa Barbara County Trail System, work to repair the trail has been delayed while other trails were being restored. There are four miles of trail to repair with all of it damages by slides and erosion. Your donation will make a difference in how long we can support trail crews working five to eight miles from the trailhead.

The historic Franklin Trail in Carpinteria, California is experiencing a renaissance. All three phases of the project on the ocean side of the Santa Ynez Mountains are completed and open to the public. Trails Council is working with the Friends of Franklin Trail and the Los Padres Forest Association to fund and repair Phase 4. This is the section of the trail that goes through the Los Padres National Forest on the north side of the Santa Ynez Mountains. The steep and rugged terrain is an extremely difficult area of work. This section of the trail was severely damaged in the Thomas Fire. To donate online click the green button or download our pledge form to mail a check.

All donors will receive a free 25"x 25" bandana as our thank you. 

• California Missions Trail Fund

In 1973 the Trails Council published and distributed a report that included a proposal to designate the California Missions Trail in partnership with over 25 organizations and agencies. The report set goals that over 48 years later we are still working diligently to achieve. The good news is two-fold.  The interest in and popularity of Mission to Mission hiking in Santa Barbara County has increased dramatically in recent years. We are adding trail segments along the coast that will be part of the California Missions Trail.

Please donate to support our work to formalize a walking route across four sections of the California Missions Trail from Mission San Buenaventura to Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa with stops at three missions in Santa Barbara County: Mission Santa Bárbara, Mission Santa Inés, and Mission La Purisima Concepción.

As a special offer, donations of $50 or more will receive the new California Missions Trail Guidebook by author Sandy Brown and published by Cicerone Press. With turn-by-turn directions for an epic 800-mile long-distance trail, the author captures a slice of California's unique landscapes, people, history, and cultural heritage.

The 320-page book serves up a fascinating journey through California's past and present - spiritual for some, inspirational for others, and a memorable experience for those who undertake the adventure or read the book to learn more about the Golden State. In addition, the book celebrates the beauty of the California landscape, increases visitor awareness of the state's history and culture, and promotes tourism-based economic development along its 800-mile route.

• Ellwood Mesa Coastal Trails Fund | Beach Access Phase

The Ellwood Mesa Coastal Trails and Habitat Restoration Project will enhance approximately 2.2 miles of existing trails by improving drainage and trail tread and restoring native habitats to reduce environmental impacts associated with the use of the existing California Coastal, California Missions, and Juan Bautista de Anza Trails on Ellwood Mesa. The project will enhance this trail system and include improvements to three drainage crossings and two beach access points. The next step is providing safer public access from the bluff-top to the beach. At one location, where a steep and narrow trail descends down the bluff to the beach we will construct approximately 100 steps and restore the surrounding habitat. At the second access point, we will remove the existing asphalt pavement and reduce the steepness of the grade at this location by creating a curvilinear trail with a short flight of steps at the bottom of the trail. We will restore the surrounding habitat.

In future phases, we will reconstruct the major trails to improve erosion control and repair entrenched trail segments that crisscross Ellwood Mesa. We will add boardwalks to span minor drainages and Devereux Creek.  The last phase is to restore 12+ acres of coastal habitat. To donate online click the green button or download our pledge form to mail a check.

To date, we have raised just over $19,000. For this phase, we need $231,000 more to reach our $250,000 goal and construct the stair and pathway to the beach.

• California Coastal Trail Fund | Paradiso del Maré Segment

On February 4th, 2014,  as part of the Paradiso del Maré project, Brooks Street Developers and Trails Council reached an agreement to dedicate easements and provide $500,000 in funding for the first phase of the Gaviota Coastal Trail, a new public parking lot and connecting access trail.  This bluff-top  Coastal Trail will extend for over 1.1 miles along the scenic Gaviota Coast, the longest segment of the Coastal Trail acquired in the County since the 2004 acquisition of Ellwood Mesa in Goleta.  This scenic new trail will be the first phase of the planned 20 miles long Gaviota Coastal Trail, which when completed will reach from Bacara Resort and Spa to Gaviota State Park.  Trail easement dedication and funding will be accompanied by the dedication of conservation easements spanning more than 100 acres.

The Trails Council is slated to manage the endowment and coordinate fundraising for the estimated $2.0 million needed to complete the pedestrian bridge over the Union Pacific Rail Road, parking area, and a network of trails. Help us raise $500,000 a year for the next three years. To donate online click the green button or download our pledge form to mail a check.

• Midland School Ranch Trails Fund

With generous donations from community members and foundations, the Trails Council had expanded the trails system in the foothill of the San Rafael Range in the Santa Ynez Valley. You only need to use the equestrian or hiking trails once to see the value in donating to support the exceptional trail network. Please donate to support our trail maintenance program. All donors will receive a free 12"x 18" map as our thank you.

• Gaviota/El Capitan/La Purisma State Park Trails Fund

Trails Council is working closely with the Gaviota/El Capitan/La Purisma State Parks staff to maintain the trails in the parks. You are encouraged to hike the trails year round but particularly after fire season and before bird breeding season when we are allowed to work on the trail. It is good that we are working in the rainy season since that allows us to work on tread issues, but it also limits the working days available. In years past, with extensive volunteer support, we have cleared the trails on the east and west sections of the park and the connector trail that goes under HWY 101. Upon request, we have maintained trails in other State Parks. The work is never done, and maintenance is ongoing.

We have more work to do and a small donation in appreciation for this exceptional wild and scenic landscape will help keep the trails in tip-top shape.

A larger donation of $200+ will offset the cost of fielding a volunteer crew of 15 to 20 people to spend a day brushing and making minor repairs to the trail tread.

• Live Oak Equestrian Trails Fund

Santa Ynez Valley Riders are partnering with Trails Council to raise funds for improvements at Live Oak Equestrian Trails.  Funds will be used for trail improvements and amenities. Please join us in supporting this project. To donate online click the green button or download our pledge form to mail a check.