HITTING THE TRAILS VOLUNTEER COUPLE HONORED FOR PARK SERVICE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

STEVENSON RANCH - Steve Ioerger is one of those guys with a lot of talent and a little time on his hands.

When he's on a trail, he doesn't hike - he fixes. Weeds in his path get yanked away. Weather gets measured, and flowers bloom because of his efforts. He and his wife, Linda, even opened their home to support staff during the recent fires that decimated Towsley Canyon and threatened historic Mentryville.

And he found time to clean the Nature Center after the October wildfire swept through.

Maybe that's why he was named Volunteer of the Year by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy/Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority on Jan. 24, during ceremonies that also recognized Linda as the North County Volunteer of the Year, an honor that caught her by surprise.

``I knew about Steve's award for a few weeks before because they wanted to make sure we were going to be there,'' she said. ``But we were both at Towsley that afternoon, and Wendy (Langhans, the volunteer coordinator) asked us how our impromptu speaking skills were.''

The Ioergers have been working at Santa Clarita Woodlands Park, which encompasses Towsley, for almost a year. Some of Steve's accomplishments noted by park staff include performing regular trail maintenance; painting picnic tables in Towsley Canyon; helping with moonlight hikes; recruiting volunteers; cleaning the nature center after the fire; and continuing his education, to be able to offer more information and skills.

``There are certain people you go to when you want something done,'' Langhans said. ``Steve and Linda are those kind of people. They anticipate what needs to be done, and somehow things are in place before you know you need them.''

Langhans remembers when Steve rode shotgun with her the day the fire charged toward the Woodlands' historic Mentryville, on what was a harrowing route.

``We were making one last run up the canyon, and there was smoke on both sides of the hills,'' Langhans said. ``One of the things I learned in my training was that, when you're driving into a wind, you have to worry about fires starting behind you and getting trapped.

``My steering was a little erratic at that point, but Steve just looked over and calmly said, 'Wendy, you take care of the driving, and I'll take care of looking for fires.' That really impressed me.''

Steve and Linda have been active at Towsley Canyon for the last year, having moved to Stevenson Ranch from Sylmar after retiring. ``We knew we couldn't just sit around and eat bonbons,'' said Linda.

She said that they share their home with two kittens, Patches and Peaches, and enjoy a back yard that overlooks the city and the park where they volunteer.

Asked why they give their time in the great outdoors, the two looked at each other and shrugged. ``We saw an announcement in the paper that they were having naturalist training at Towsley, so we went,'' Steve explained.

``What they were looking for were people to develop an interpretive program and lead hikes,'' Linda added. ``We didn't want to do that, but Wendy asked us to stay and they'd find something for us to do.''

Steve soon became trails coordinator, recruiting volunteers to help maintain trails and repair them after heavy use by walkers, equestrians and mountain bicyclists. Linda, who insists she doesn't do trails, leads an occasional hike and works in the nature center.

``Without the volunteers, it would be impossible to keep the center open,'' she said.

Steve's commitment has grown to working every Wednesday and the second and fourth Saturday on trail maintenance, as well as volunteering at the Castaic Lake Water Agency, using his engineering and sonar experience to fix the weather station, which will soon provide information on the agency's Web site.

Today, both he and Linda will travel to Descanso Gardens to work in the plant propagation department and rose garden. In addition, Linda volunteers as a literacy tutor at the library on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

During the October fires, they offered their kitchen as a sandwich- making headquarters for the staff and workers at Mentryville, east of Towsley Canyon. As the fires got closer to their hillside, they continued to provide food and shelter until a church kitchen became available.

The scorched landscape of the park doesn't deter either of them from going back.

``We did a lot of weed-whacking to maintain the trails before,'' Steve said.

``You won't be doing that this year,'' Linda injected.

``You'd be surprised,'' he continued. ``Things are coming up all over. Trails are as much art as they are a science. They don't always go where you think they should, but then you realize Mother Nature hasn't read the book. We just have to make sure they make the water flow and people flow continues.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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Linda and Steve Ioerger have been honored by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy/Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer