CAMP RAMAH IN CALIFORNIA

Camp Ramah Ojai of California enjoyed more than a decade of ideal operating conditions – a lovely site, picturesque views, pleasant weather, and three great structures to use for their myriad of programs which include summer camps, retreats, conferences, school groups, and many more.

Although not always tranquil programming (as any camp staff would agree), the events of 2017 into 2021 impacted the program more than anyone would have ever predicted.  Keep reading below.

December 2017 – The Thomas Fire. The largest wildfire in modern California history. Nearly 300,000 acres, consuming vast portions of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The flames came within a football field of engulfing the Alpine Tower, Odyssey Course, and Team Development Course at camp, not to mention the entire campus!

Fortunately the campus was spared and despite the tremendous ruin of the surrounding area, things returned to normal.

March 2020 – The Covid Pandemic. As with so many camps and programs across the country, the campus was shuddered, with all programs canceled for an indefinite period. The adventure area became a ghost town, set on the edge of campus, only to be used for perching birds. Unfortunately, one of those birds would have a big impact.

Meet the Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus, a medium sized bird with a huge appetite for acorns and a cleverly evolved strategy of storing food. Known as cooperative breeders, they live in large family groups, and fiercely defend their territory which provides the acorns. They gather the acorns, and store them in small holes they peck into trees, which become known as granaries. They pack them in by the thousands!

However, there weren’t many trees left that were adequate granary trees due to the enormous fire destroying acres upon acres. Instead, the poles of the Alpine Tower and Odyssey Course became ideal substitutes. Over two years, they loaded the poles with tens of thousands of acorns! Literally, tens of thousands of acorns inserted into golf ball size holes on all of the poles and lumber!

The combination of the fire, which destroyed most of the historic granary territory of the woodpeckers, and then the prolonged absence of programs, gave the birds time to find, establish, and enjoy sanctuary in the adventure course structures.

Late Winter 2022 – The Landlord arrives. Camp is on schedule for summer, and the program is busy dusting off campus for the upcoming, and much needed, summer camp season. It was at this point that we discovered the magnitude of the damage while on a structural inspection by our west coast trainer/inspector Stephen Streufert. The damage was incredulous!
Assessing the damage actually took several trips by several Alpine Towers staff. We had actually never witnessed such enormity of damage that the woodpeckers had inadvertently created to the structure. While no single hole was in itself damaging (compared, for example, to a Pileated Woodpecker), the aggregate damage from tens of thousands of holes was alarming.

Spring 2022 – Action. We spent two months researching the woodpecker and talking to experts about potential mitigation plans. We didn’t want to make the error of fixing the damage only to have it happen again. Once confident with a plan, we sent in a team and materials to repair the structures.

The Odyssey III Course – The poles were in sound, but rough condition, beaten up not only by the thousands of acorns and acorn holes, but by the harsh Ojai, California sun and lack of wood treatment over the dormant period. We started with painstaking removal of the acorns, using dental tools and small tools; days of acorn removal, one at a time. Next, we used a super-high pressure air compressor to literally blow clean out all the holes and crevices and checks (vertical openings in the poles). Then we applied a utility pole putty, filling all the woodpecker holes, crevices and checks with a high strength polymer filler. Then we rebound and sanded the poles. Then a huge stain job, super-soaking all the poles and lumber. Then, we wrapped all the poles with a black-poly coated, galvanized mesh wire, with ¼-inch openings which prevent the woodpeckers from drilling holes and stashing acorns. Lastly, we topped all horizontal poles and lumber with anti-perching devices, just to get the message across that the Odyssey course was “no longer in the acorn storage business!”

The Alpine Tower – the overall damage to several of the interior poles was so severe that we deemed pole replacement was the best route forward. So we tipped the Tower over and replaced several of the key structural poles, and then lifted the Tower with a crane back to its original position. That was half of the task; the next being how to keep the woodpeckers off the Tower in the future. To accomplish this, we cloaked the Alpine Tower in bird protective netting. This low visibility, black woven mesh was draped tightly around all sides of the tower and over the Top of the tower, effectively eliminating access to any of the poles and lumber by the woodpeckers. But just in case an errant bird was able to make it inside the netting, two bird “escape hatches” were installed at the top, so that intruders could get out.

The Team Development Course – fortunately, this structure had no damage from the woodpeckers. But we did enjoy seeing a western black bear working through an initiative on the course while we were there!

June 2022 and Beyond – the structures are fixed and in excellent shape. Programming for hundreds and thousands of people began and continues. The Western Acorn Woodpecker, while perhaps a persona non grata, has moved on to using existing oak trees on campus as their new granaries. But they continue to flirt by grudgingly accepting that they have been permanently evicted from the adventure course!