Along the trails of Upper Bidwell Park, holes are appearing in the bedrock.
They’re about an inch deep, in groups of three and are in the shape of arrows.
The holes are the work of artist Eve Werner. She bores them to help measure erosion.
On a recent cold foggy day on the hiking trails in Upper Bidwell Park, Werner navigated a slick path upward with ease.
She’s been hiking these trails her entire life and now works as a volunteer artist in residence for the parks commission.
As she climbed, Werner pointed out nearly invisible holes carved into the flat rock where the dirt had been washed away.
“It points towards the direction that the erosion is going to continue, and if the erosion continues, then there will be a gap between the point and the new edge of soil,” Werner said.
Upper Bidwell Park is prone to erosion because the topsoil is fragile and thin.
Big rains can wash it away, resulting in habitat loss for native plants and animals.
Shane Romain works for Chico’s parks department.
He said hiking off the trail exacerbates the erosion process.
“When we start trampling vegetation, that's the first layer of soil resilience,” Romain said.
Werner hopes her project, called Erosion Line, will raise people’s awareness about trail conditions and deterioration and help them realize how important it is to stay on trails.
Her inspiration for the project came from her decades of hiking here.
“I noticed that as I went to the park trails that were say 10 years ago, 3-feet wide now are 10-feet wide,” Werner said.
Werner is teaching people how to bore their own holes so they can come back to check on them to measure erosion. Werner invites the community to join her on guided hikes where they’ll learn about trail erosion and leave their own personal landmark.
