Friends of Santa Teresa Park Zoom Meeting, 6/1/23

 


    • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Steve Crockett, Greg Koopman (in Delaware, back in 10 days), Joan Murphy, Ron Horii. New was Emily Becker. She completed the Climate Steward program and has 40 hours of volunteer service hours to complete for the year, 20 of them in Santa Clara County Parks. She lives in the neighborhood and wants to help in Santa Teresa Park. She'll be coming to the work day.
    • This was an online Zoom videoconference meeting. Mike sent out a meeting link for this Zoom meeting.
    • We'll have a First Friday workday on 6/2/23. We'll meet at the Bernal Ranch by the chicken coop at 9:00 am. We will be doing weeding by the spring. We can use battery-powered equipment. Mike wants to get some sponge knee pads. Ron says he has some and can bring them to the work day. Jason in Maintenance wants us to remove blackberries and mud by the spring.
    • On Saturday 6/24/23, we'll have a field trip to Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Contra Costa County. Contact Mike if you're interested in going. We'll carpool from the Casa Grande at 8 am. Bring a sack lunch. If we have time, we can stop in Martinez to see the Martinez Adobe [the building is closed due to structural damage]. We could also see the Augustin Bernal Adobe in Pleasanton.
    • School programs are being held at the Bernal Ranch.
    • The next Park Commission meeting is on June 7 [Meeting was cancelled]. 
    • At a future Park Commission meeting, we can bring up the issue of removing the unused power poles along the Rocky Ridge Trail.
    • The Beautify San Jose Grants have been waiting for the city to approve them. The City has approved its budget, so the grants can go through. We should hear soon if we will be getting our grant.
    • Because we depend on the Beautify San Jose Grant to fund our National Night Out, planning for it is suspended. We could do an alternative event, but we would need event insurance and permission to do it, if it's a private event in the park. We could just help with La Fuente instead.
    • La Fuente is on 9/16. Rob McDonnell is organizing it. We can work with Rob on the planning. We can promote it as a neighborhood event. We could lead a hike on the new trail. 
    • We need to have a newsletter for La Fuente. The stories should be submitted a month before (mid-August).
    • We will have a booth at the 4th of July celebration at Almaden Lake. Greg will be helping with the entertainment at the event. Steve said he could help at the booth. We will sharing the booth with NACPA.
    • We can see about having a booth or table at Pioneer Day in Almaden Quicksilver on October 14.
    • Mike took pictures at Preservation Awards Night. He met Paul Bernal.
    • We could do a future speaker program and collect donations. We could ask Paul Bernal to speak.
    • Ron showed pictures:
      • 5/5/23: First Friday Work Day cleanup around the ranch house, with help from Google and Amazon volunteers, plus community members. Mike whacked weeds under the equipment by the barn after receiving training from Jason.
      • 5/13/23: Our "Where History and Nature Collide" hike on the Fortini, Mine, and Stile Ranch trails. Mike, Sam, and Ron helped lead the hike. Joan gave a talk at the trailhead and met us along the way. Mike gave talks about the area's history and portrayed important figures from the area's past. Ron pointed out wildflowers and talked about the park's ecology. Dorene signed in visitors at the trailhead. Carrie Grisenti stopped by and directed parking. We had 6 visitors.
      • 5/23-25/23: Conditions on the Norred and new trail. Tall weeds have been cut down. There's a lot of water flowing in Santa Teresa Spring. There are seeps around the spring and shrine causing lots of plants to grow. The water is still flowing, so we should wait until it dries up before removing the mud. Blackberries are growing back fast. They are filling up the drain along the retaining wall by the street. They are gowing by the ramp to the spring, in the rocks of the drain from the spring, and in the picnic area below the spring.
      • 5/27-30/23: PGE trailwork on the Bernal Hill trails. Muddy spots have been smoothed, covered with rocks and gravel. Some places have large rocks, making it bumpy for bikes.
      • 5/32/12: Some signs on the nature trail have been knocked down. There's grafitti on the rocks by the waterfall. The archery range looks good. Volunteers have been knocking down weeds.
      • There's a burn notice posted: There will be controlled open burns in Santa Teresa Park on 6/28-30.
      • There's a poster for a kingsnake program at the Bernal Ranch on Friday 6/23 at 5:00-5:45 pm.
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       Created 6/20/23 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park
    Funding provided by a Beautify San Jose Grant