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- Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii,
Kitty
Monahan, Ed Jackson, Jenel Vincze, Sam Drake, Mario
Blaum, Shirin
Darbani. Visiting parks staff: Robin Schaut, Jan Shriner. New: Ben
& Myan
- The Boy Scout who came last month looking for an Eagle
Scout project completed it at the Coyote Grange.
- Treasurer's report (Mario Blaum): We have $360 in our
account. We owe $301. $200 is for the UNSCC, which is due July 1. We
can pay this with the 2009-2010 CAP Grant.
- Shirin Darbani (representative for San Jose District 2
Councilmember Ash Kalra): the city is still working on the budget.
Public safety is a top priority, including park rangers. There is a
Community Resource Fair this Sunday 6/7 at History Park at 11 am to 4
pm. Next Saturday 6/13 is the District 2 Health Fair at Kaiser Hospital
from 10 am to 2 pm. Saturday 6/20 is Festival in the Park. Ash Kalra
will be there. On Saturday 6/27 at 2 pm, there will be a grand opening
ceremony for the Hitachi site parks at RAMAC Park at Great Oaks Blvd.
and Charlotte Drive. There will be food and activities. The latest
District 2 newsletter is out. We are featured in it. The deadline for
submitting event announcements for the next newsletter is June 20th.
- Neighbors around the Metcalf Park area have been
experiencing wild pigs digging through their garbage. (See our page on Santa
Teresa Pig Problems.) Some of the city parks have been experiencing
pig damage to their lawns (Metcalf Park, Basking Ridge). The parks
department has been using a non-toxic chemical on the lawns to kill
grubs. The chemical must be applied by a licensed contractor. It does
not kill the lawn or harm endangered species. They have repaired the
damage to the parks. Neighbors are advised not to put out their garbage
overnight. The best defense to protect a lawn is a fence around it.
They have started trapping in the neighborhoods.
- Ron showed pictures of the fish and turtles in Santa Teresa
Spring, the new signs by the entrances about no dogs allowed in the
historic areas, the cutting of the grass by the spring, the Norred
Trail near the MRU, the sign at the MRU announcing there will be an
"open barn" on 6/27-28, and the progress of the Albertson Parkway. He
also showed pictures from the Volunteer Recognition Dinner, his photo
class, Sam's geocaching class, Mike's Healthy Trails hike, and Cait
Hutnik's Healthy Trails hike.
- Robin Schaut, interpretive manager for the County Parks:
Former volunteer coordinator Heidi McFarland is becoming in
interpreter, starting Monday. Since the Casa Grande at Almaden
Quicksilver is closed, the interpretive staff is using the Caretaker's
House at Santa Teresa's Bernal Ranch. Heidi is joining them and will
move to the Casa Grande when it is reopened. Most of the time, the
staff is at Santa Teresa from 8-4:30. Chris Bullock works at Chitactac
Adams on Sundays. John Slenter does out-reach programs at schools and
leads van tours at Almaden Quicksilver. The interpretive staff does not
have enforcement authority. If they see problems, they radio or phone
the rangers or deputies.
- The Parks dept. is paying the salaries for 13 sheriff's
deputies, who are assigned to the parks dept. for the summer. Matt
Anderson assigns their hours. They work primarily when the parks are
open and a little after. Night-time duties are handled by regular
deputies.
- Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) bought Rancho San
Vicente, which is between Calero and Almaden Quicksilver. Before the
purchase, POST asked park interpreter Mary Berger to help gather
information about the plants, animals, and history of the site,
including the Berryessa Family. She could not talk about it until the
sale was made public. Now she can share her research. The long-range
plan is for the County Parks to buy the property, but they cannot do
any planning for Rancho San Vicente until they own it.
- Ash Kalra is interested in taking a tour of Santa Teresa
Park. A van tour through the park needs a senior ranger or Gloria Gill
to approve it to make sure there are no conflicts with other scheduled
park events. The city can schedule this directly with park staff. John
Slenter can drive a park vehicle if he's available.
- Park Interpreter Jan Shriner talked about Family Fandango.
It will be held on August 1 from 5 to 8 pm at the Bernal Ranch. It will
cover the same time period as last year: 1770-1870, which includes the
Ohlone, Spanish-Mexican, and early American settlement periods.
Exhibitors need to be setup by 4:30 and start cleaning up at 8:00. They
need to stay for the whole time of the event. Jan is working on getting
a new food vendor. The one we had before can't do it. Volunteers are
needed to help help distribute flyers, setup on July
31st, greeting people at the welcome table and in the ranch house,
assisting with crafts and bingo, supervising activities such as roping
and branding, helping to unload vehicles, directing parking traffic,
and cleaning up. Ron will take pictures again.
- We will have a FOSTP activity at Fandango: making adobe
bricks. Kids will be making miniature bricks. We'll bring 2 wading
pools with adobe clay in them. Kids will wear boots and jump on the
clay to mix it up. We will need 4 volunteers to man the tables. The
activity will be back in the corral area behind the barn. We can get
GATE kids to help out. Mike will contact them. We can put our banner on
the fence. We can pass out an instructional flyer about the
brick-making and our newsletter at the activity table. If we want, we
can pass out FOSTP information at the information table, which will be
in front of the barn. Our CAP Grant will help pay for the materials and
literature. We'll acknowledge that on our flyer.
- Fandango is the most expensive park interpretive event. The
professionals get paid, and the exhibitors get a stipend. (Mike said we
would pass on getting a stipend.) Jan said that in the future, it would
be good to get sponsors to help fund more activities and entertainment.
It would take a volunteer group to fund-raise. The department can't do
fund-raising.
- The Mounted Ranger Unit is closing. They will have an "open
barn" on Saturday and Sunday June 26-27 from 11 am to 3:00 pm. People
can drop in during those times.
- Mike said he got the approval to have a community gathering
to honor the Mounted Ranger Unit. It will start at 6:00 pm and end at
8:00 pm on Monday June 29 at the Mounted Ranger Unit on Brockenhurst
Drive. This will be a community event that we sponsor. Mike applied for
event insurance to cover it. Mike needs help around 4:00 to set up for
it. Ranger Julie Cooper will help setup the tables and chairs. Ed said
he can provide tables and chairs if we need them. About 20 staff will
come. We need help with advertising. We want this to be a community
event. To be eligible for CAP reimbursement, it needs to involve the
community. We can invite the neighbors along Manila Drive, Curie, and
Heaton Moor. Matt Anderson will supply meat and a BBQ. We can bring
finger foods. Gifts for the rangers are being planned by Julie Cooper.
We can give certificates and gifts for the horses.
- Ron wants to have a new edition of the newsletter to pass
out at the Mounted Ranger event, and possibly at Festival in the Park
if possible. Mike will write some articles. We can have articles and
pictures on the trails, trail maintenance, park events,
- Ed Jackson said he spent 2 hours re-painting graffiti on
the canal. There was graffiti on the fence by the old barn. and
sidewalks by the ranch house. The rails by the springs have been
re-ground to remove graffiti.
- Sam Drake said he will be leading a geocaching class at Mt.
Madonna on July 11.
- Kitty said they are working on the Adopt-a-Trail program.
They will work on it Tuesday and come up with a process and guidelines.
- The Open Space Authority invited us to a tour of Palassou
Ridge, which is on Gilroy Hot Springs Road near Henry Coe State Park's
Hunting Hollow area. We'll meet at the OSA's office this Saturday (6980
Santa Teresa Blvd. Suite 100) at 8:30 and will car poll to the site. It
will last until 12:00. We'll have lunch at the deck of the house there.
- 4H report Jenel Vincze: 4H is having a fund-raiser, called
the Black Light Ball at the Santa Clara County's auditorium on Berger
Drive off Oakland Road. Coyote Crest is having a BBQ dinner and awards
on June 11 at the Coyote Grange. Rabbits are coming back to the Bernal
Ranch Barn.
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