PORTOLA, Calif. — The rutted dirt road twisted ever skyward through miles of lonely pine trees and then abruptly ended at the base of a mountain peak. The workers parked their truck, hoisted a jackhammer, a full gas can and shovels on their backs, and began to march up through the brush.
They didn't take a trail, because there was no trail. That's why they had to haul the jackhammer.
The workers — and a tribal monitor, Jess Lowry, who sometimes accompanies them — are part of an audacious infrastructure project that has been quietly underway in California's northern Sierra for the last several years.
