Casa di Terra (house of earth)loves creating outdoor spaces of beauty & function

Originally hailing from upstate Vermont, Zach has had a colorful background as puppeteer, river rafting guide, community trail advocate and builder, business owner and founder of a large mountain bike club.  In the late 80s he started the first mountain bike store in the region, Samurai Mountain Bikes. After about 10 years of running this successful business, he sold the store and leveraged his experience working with local contractors to apply for his own license. In 2001, he became a licensed general contractor. He has built several homes from infrastructure through finish (his portfolio of construction work is here, and in recent years has honed his focus, specializing in creative landscapes, rockwork, natural water features, decorative concrete, green building, and unique ferro-cement design. 
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Over the years Zach has studied with ferrocement artists and rammed earth experts, and attended numerous training and certification workshops on various subjects, including faux bois with Donald Tucker, decorative concrete, sustainable trail design and trail equipment safety, and visual arts.  He has supervised the largest rammed earth project in North America, built one of California's very first LEED Platinum homes, and has become known for creating unique, organically styled garden hardscapes and homes. He is also gained a thorough understanding of sustainable trailbuilding, and in 2009 he was accepted into the Professional Trail Builders Association.  As the economy hit the construction industry, he began to focus more and more on trails and special outdoor features. 

Zachi is passionate about trails and mountain biking, which led to his love for design and building flowy singletrack. Over the last 20 years, he and a team of friends have personally built over 52 miles of exceptional mountain bike trails, the majority being in and around the old gold town of Forest City, soon to be connected by a new trail to the popular Downieville mountain biking area. As his skills evolved he became known for creating flow-y single-track trails and graceful arched rock bridges.  In 2009, the group of friends co-founded Forest Trails Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering outdoor adventure and trailbuilding.  He lives in Nevada County with his wife and two furry kids.  Zach has a brand new blog located at https://nevadacountytrailguy.wordpress.com/



You may reach zach by writing to this email:  zachi (at) casaditerra (dot) net