Friends of Santa Teresa Park Zoom Meeting, 7/7/22

 


    • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Steve Crockett, Joan Murphy, Greg Koopman, Sam Drake, Ron Horii.
    • This was an online Zoom videoconference meeting. Mike sent out a meeting link for this Zoom meeting. 
    • On Thursday 8/4/22, during our regular meeting time slot at 7 pm, geologist Mike Cox will give a Zoom presentation about the mercury mines in Santa Teresa and Almaden Quicksilver County Parks. 
    • We had 2 work days since our last meeting on 6/3/22 and last week on 7/1/22. On 6/3, we had Lori Krein, Youngmee Kim, Mike Boulland and Ron Horii. We cleaned up the dead vegetation and pulled weeds in the landscaping around the ranch house and continued trimming blackberry vines from the ceanothus bushes along the path by the barns. For the 7/1 work day, the Volunteer Office recruited volunteers. There was a group of high school students, an adult, and a family with kids. Joan Murphy, Greg Koopman, and Ron Horii showed up for FOSTP. Mike Boulland stopped by briefly to talk to the volunteers. The group weeded the garden boxes, trimmed dead leaves from around the ranch house, and removed most of the blackberry vines from the ceanothus bushes.
    • On Friday 8/5/22, we'll have our next First Friday workday at 9 am at the Bernal Ranch. We could finish removing the remaining blackberries from the ceanothus bushes. There are young blackberry vines that have popped up around Santa Teresa Spring. The dirt could be removed from around the spring.
    • On 6/13/22, Ron saw that a big branch of a bay laurel tree had broken off and smashed the empty horse watering trough at the Laurel Springs Rest Area. It barely missed the picnic tables. Ron reported it to the rangers and park maintenance.
    • There was a chicken in the chicken coop temporarily. Park staff found it wandering around Martial Cottle Park. They could not find her owner, so they put her in the chicken coop at the Bernal Ranch. Park interpreters named her Juanita and took care of her, but she was all alone. They found a home for her with a family on the coast. They are finishing cleaning up the coop and plan to have a flock in it.
    • On 6/25/22, Greg, Mike, and Ron had a picnic at the Bernal Ranch to celebrate FOSTP's 30th anniversary and went for a walk on the Curie Drive Trail and the Norred Trail.
    • The concrete spillway of Santa Teresa Spring has been getting undercut by water flowing under and around it, lowering the level of the pond. This was repaired, but it took awhile before the pond level rose high enough to spill again. In the meantime, the drain below the pond dried up. Some of the plants in the drain dried up. The pond is now spilling again, and water is flowing down the drain.
    • On 7/4/22, FOSTP had an information booth at Almaden Lake for the the 4th of July celebration. Mike, Dorene, and Ron setup the booth. Mike and Ron staffed the booth, handing out maps and flyers. District 10 Councilmember Matt Mahan and former Councilmember Johnny Khamis visited the booth. Greg was working at the entertainment stage.
    • On Saturday 7/23/22 from 5-6 pm, Park Interpreter Rob McDonnell will be leading an event at the Bernal Ranch called "Field Notes in Nature." It will be a walk to Santa Teresa Spring, where participants will learn about nature journaling.
    • Treasurer's report (Greg). We have $1648.82 in the bank now. There's $90.43 in outstanding checks.
    • Greg will be leaving for 3 1/2 weeks.
    • 2022 is the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Bernal, the 30th anniversary of FOSTP, and the 60th anniversary of Santa Teresa County Park. 
    • Mike has the new time capsule. He was told where to bury it. We can get kids from the nearby schools (Bernal, Challenger, and Baldwin) to provide memorabilia for it.
    • La Fuente is on 7/30/22 at the Bernal Ranch from 5-8 pm. Rob McDonnell is organizing it. He has invited FOSTP, We will have a booth there. We need to go early to setup. We will pass out our newsletters. Mike, Steve, Joan, and Ron can be there. Ron will be taking pictures. Mike will talk about FOSTP and the park's history. We will have the old and new time capsules on display. 
    • We need to have our newsletter ready to go about a week before La Fuente to give us time to print up copies. Mike and Joan are working on an article about the Battle of Santa Teresa. Greg can write about the new trail (see below). Ron can add pictures of past events, like our work days, the opening of the new trail, and Kitty's awards. 
    • Mike said that Scot Hayes can make a small tabletop griststone for demonstration purposes. He has the griststones.
    • Greg said the city is investigating the entrance to the new trail across from Bernal School. 
    • Play Like a Miner is on 7/9 from 11 am to 3 pm at the Casa Grande. 
    • Pioneer Day is 10/8 at 11 am at the Casa Grande.
    • The J.D. Grant house reopened on 6/18/22 after reconstruction. There was an opening ceremony and visitors were allowed inside. It's not open for regular tours yet. Lisa Pappanastos is the only one who can lead the tours for now. She's the senior ranger at Grant, so she's busy. There will be a couple of tours later this year.
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       Created 7/21/22 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park
    Funding provided by a Beautify San Jose Grant