Newsletter Spring 2000

President's Message

It’s been great to see so many of you at our workdays, and exciting to see our membership roster continuing to grow. There are lots of good things happening in the Park. The General Plan is getting untracked, through the help of Chief Ranger Bob Culbertson and the welcome addition of Resource Specialist Greg Sherr, who will be guiding the plan process. We recently introduced Greg to the Park, and his immediate enthusiasm and willingness to help with the plan was great to see. This plan will provide the blueprint for the future of the Park, and the Advocates will participate to help craft a document that protects the Park resource and takes into account the needs of all user groups.

There will be a full-time seasonal (9 months) maintenance worker coming on board soon, dedicated only to Nisene Marks! We look forward to working with this individual in both maintenance and improvement projects. We have more on our wish list than we can accomplish, so this is great news.

This is the first time in recent memory when the South Sector has had a full staff of rangers. We appreciate the effort of Supervising Ranger C.L. Price to increase the time rangers spend in the Park. We also hope that, with the new State Park friendly administration in Sacramento, increased budgets will translate into increased permanent staffing for this Sector. We’re glad that we now have one to two hours of ranger time a day, but we all know that managing 10,000 acres is a difficult, time-consuming proposition.

We’ve been busy with trail work, thanks in large measure to the time and energy of our trail project coordinator, Chris Elkington. I want take this opportunity to recognize him for his many hours of planning, sketching, organizing and project leadership. Thank you Chris!

Thanks to Jim Belcher and Greg Weaver, who have made several circuits of the major trails to clear trees. Also to Chris Foster and Carol Cuminale, who with hard work and good humor help make our workdays a lot of fun. Jeff Thomson, as always, is with us every step of the way, as is Maintenance Supervisor Larry Tierney. The Ericson’s, Sandy and Richard, keep our bridges clean and our trails clear. And Margaret Hicks, with talent and good cheer, continues to do what ever it takes to help care for the Park she loves. Thanks also to Sharon, Rocco, Tom, Christopher, Mike, Geoff, Paul, Dave, Dania, Mark and .........!

The pictures say it all! We’ve already accomplished a good deal this year. The Incline interpretive panel is in place on the shelter at the Aptos Creek trailhead, and the Epicenter panel is in final production right now. You can look for it to be installed by the end of July on the side opposite the Incline panel.

No longer will hikers or runners risk having their shoes sucked off by the foot-deep mud that oozes on the Loma Prieta Grade trail for 6 months of the year. We have placed an extensive boardwalk on this stretch of trail just past the Porter House site that will make the journey to Bridge Creek or Hoffman’s Historic sites much more pleasant.

Now those of you who enjoy the Old Growth Loop can go without getting your feet wet. We were delayed a month by having to reapply for a Fish and Game permit, but we got it in the first of June. Good timing, because the tiger lilies are in full bloom right now. I hope you get to see them before the deer do!

There is more work on tap this summer. Re-routing Westridge at the slide near Thompson’s Bench, clearing a major tree-fall on Terrace trail, putting water bars in at a badly eroding part of the Old Growth Loop, and possibly beginning work on another seasonal bridge on Terrace Trail below George’s and rebuilding a footbridge below Hoffman. We hope to see you at our workdays! Be sure we have your email address.

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