Forest is Calaveras County man’s castle

At 71, Forest Meadows resident Bruce Castle possesses the wisdom that comes with a career at NASA and a child-like enthusiasm and passion that sparks his liveliness.

An avid cyclist and outdoorsman, Castle has advocated tirelessly on behalf of both interests since moving to Calaveras County in 1994, hoping to make it a better place for two-wheel travel and formidable forests alike.
 

 “I have a distinctive love for the forest,” Castle said. “That’s why we live up here.”

Castle and his wife of almost 50 years, Gay, share an enjoyment of cycling, pedaling a tandem bicycle together for the past five years, racking up about 150 miles each month from February through November and attending the Northwest Tandem Rally most years in Oregon and British Columbia.

The tandem cycling is a breeze when compared with some of Castle’s mountain pass climbs. For five years in the late 1980s and 1990s, he participated in the Markleeville Death Ride, a 129-mile climb of five passes with 15,000 feet of elevation gain.

“After I accomplished the goal of doing all five passes, I never even considered doing it again,” he said.

Fast forward to 2009. Castle’s cycling contacts have slowly evolved into a Calaveras Cycling Club, with about 100 members, who get together on a weekly basis for rides mapped out by the former physiology researcher.

A dozen club members’ interest in distance rides recently developed into training for Death Ride, and after a long hiatus from the event, Castle has agreed to accompany the riders he is training for the task when this year’s ride comes around in July.

Castle’s 31-year career with the Ames Research Center began in studying the physiological stresses of weightlessness and radiation, and their impact on a person’s ability to do work in space, for the manned space flight program. His studies qualify him to provide support for what people need to do before backpacking, casual cycling and the like, he said.

In simplest terms, the mind-body connection is key, Castle says.

“The mind is a very important piece of what you’re able to accomplish physically,” he said.

To train for something like the Death Ride, “you’ve got to be highly motivated and you’ve got to believe you can do it,” he said.

Castle has not limited his outdoor activity to cycling.

More of a runner from 1969 until his retirement 15 years ago, he took up the bicycle because it had less impact on his back. From 1970 to 2005, he led backpack trips through the Sierra Nevada more than 100 times for family and friends.

Much of his time spent outdoors these days is tied to mapping work. Castle became involved with Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch in 2000, after witnessing clear cuts done on some of his favorite mountain biking routes near White Pines Lake.

Because of his EPFW involvement, he took a Columbia College course in geographic information systems. This allowed him to create detailed maps of timber harvest plans in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties for the group.

He is now putting those skills to work for the Arnold Rim Trail as well, helping map out the best route for the trail on the south side of Highway 4 near the Calaveras Ranger Station in Hathaway Pines and near the Calaveras Big Trees State Park entrance and upper Moran Road.

“Out in the forest, I always know exactly where I am,” Castle said. “I never carry a compass but I do use topographical maps.”    

When he ventures out into the forest, he also knows exactly what he wants to see. A stretch of U.S. Forest Service land in Hathaway Pines exemplifies what EPFW is pushing for from local landowner Sierra Pacific Industries in logging its lands.

Traipsing through the acreage where selective harvesting was done to prevent fire danger, he says he and EPFW support the timber industry and “realize wood products of all kinds are necessary.”

However, he adds, “I tend to think of (tree) plantations as deforestation.”

The SPI clearcuts and even-aged management are opposed by Castle and EPFW. He leads tours of Collins Almanor Forest in Plumas County and arranges flights with pilots tied to the Wyoming-based LightHawk Environmental Program, over both SPI and Collins Pine lands for comparison.

He learned about EPFW by chance. Working with the Sierra Macintosh Users Group, he helped Murphys’ Addie Jacobson with a computer problem and got to talking about the forest with the woman who soon learned was highly active in the group.

Jacobson said his contributions since that time have been immeasurable.

“I think of him as sort of living out the Boy Scout code,” she said. “He brings intelligence, fairness and a rationality mixed with passion. He’s the dependable hard-working kind you’d want in any organization you’re involved with.”