Jeff Helmer

A quarter century at the Byrne-Milliron Forest

This article originally appeared in our newsletter, Landmarks, Summer 2012

Jeff Helmer has lived on, cared for, and loved the 400-acre Byrne-Milliron Forest since 1987. Deputy Director Stephen Slade talked to him about his life in the forest.

After a quarter century, you are the forest for many people. How did you end up here?

I arrived on Thanksgiving Day, 1987. I was 42 years old. I just wanted to live here. The Land Trust advertised for a caretaker. The only pay in the beginning was free rent. They had over 100 applicants and they picked me! I called Anna Jean Cummings [the Land Trust Executive Director at the time] about the job practically every day. I really wanted to live here. I grew up in forests, in Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond. I do well in God’s world, not so good in people’s world.

What shape was the forest in when you arrived?

I’ll give you an example. There had been two caretakers before me and they found out there was more to it than they thought. The orange trees appeared to be all dead. I planted roses and watered them and the oranges came back to life. We probably had only half the roads that we have now and no foot trails. Every time they’d do a timber harvest, they’d leave a skid row, so I’d create a trail based on the skid row. It usually took me about three months to build a trail.

And you’ve taken care of Antonelli Pond, too.

I would go out two or three times a week, basically to pick up garbage. Four garbage cans each time. In the past there were lots of homeless people living around the pond. They would drive their cars right up by the pond and park them in the brush and just live in them. Lynn [Overtree, our Stewardship Manager] has made tremendous improvements out there. The place is used by so many more people now. It’s really come to life.

What’s the biggest change in the forest in the past 25 years?

People! There are many more visitors and people who know about it. Most people come through in groups. The Land Trust leads walks, the Sierra Club, groups from Cabrillo College. I started bringing kids up there around 1990, kids from my kid’s grammar school, Bradley School. The parents would come with the kids and then I’d see them back. People hear about it, mostly word of mouth. After 25 years it’s become quite popular, but low-key. Lots of locals from around Corralitos. Runners love it because it’s so steep. On the weekends when the weather’s good, we’ll have 30-50 people. About the same come out during the week. I just love meeting people on the trails, sharing the forest with them. It feeds me.

What’s your proudest accomplishment as caretaker?

The trails: Three Bears, the Ridgetop, Milliron Cutback, parts of the Byrne Trail. We have about 5 miles of trails I’ve built. Milliron was the last one, to the Great White tree. I don’t think I have another trail in me after that one. I hauled in everything, five footbridges. Then we had 13 inches of rain in 28 hours and everything washed away. I couldn’t even get up there because the roads were collapsing. I don’t know where those bridges are. Down in the gullies somewhere. I have never found them, so I had to rebuild them.

What was it like living through six timber harvests?

It was difficult at first. I didn’t understand anything about harvesting. My daughter was getting married, one of three weddings we’ve had in the forest. We went for a run that morning and we saw all these huge trees down. It was upsetting. But over the years I’ve learned from Bud [McCrary of Big Creek Lumber] and the loggers how they did the harvests, the care they took. I learned about selective harvesting. I learned to understand it and accept it. I just took some professors from Canada through and they couldn’t believe what a great job we do.

Tell us about Jeff’s little touches: the water and oranges for visitors, the notebooks they write in, the little hidden things.

It all comes from me being bonkers! I grew up in antique shops. I go to flea markets and I find these things and they have to go in specific spots in the forest. There are things all over the place and most people will never see them. Some they see. I went out and bought all the carvings – the Three Bears, the Eagle – when I started bringing my kid’s classes up there. I wanted them to be excited to be in the forest, to find things on the trails. I carved the wolf at A.J.’s Point of View.

You know, some of us think of you as quite a character, like in a movie. Who would you have play you in a movie?

Van Johnson. Remember him? He could be the good guy or the bad guy, like me! I could have said Steve McQueen or Paul Newman, but that’s the dream.

I’ve always thought Willie Nelson or Robert Duvall.
Anything you’d like to add?

I’m just so excited by everything the Land Trust is doing these days. Antonelli Pond coming to life, buying Star Creek Ranch, the CEMEX forest. It’s really exciting to be a small part of it and to see where it’s going in the next 25 years!

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