Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting, 11/2/06




  • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii, Kitty Monahan, Paul & Jenel Vincze,  Ed Jackson, Holly Davis, Sam Drake
  • There was no meeting in October.
  • We talked about the new trail. Ron said he went to the Bernal Ranch at noon today and saw the Sweco bulldozer cutting the trail. The trail started from the Joice Trail and went along the hillside. By noon, they had reached the corner above the Bonetti Ranch. Paul said he saw it later in the day, and it had gone past the barbed wire fence.
  • Paul said he heard that the Ohlone Trail is officially open to bikes. Also, the Boundary and Stiles Ranch, and Rocky Ridge Trails will be closed when it starts to rain. Paul also heard that the Rocky Ridge Trail will be re-configured near the lower bridge crossing to make it less steep. There is a new bridge on the Stile Ranch Trail on the east side. Part of the trail near this bridge will be re-routed so it goes around the hill instead of over the top. There was talk about putting in an extreme mountain biking trail.
  • The gate at the Bernal Ranch will be opened during hours when the house is open.
  • Ed reported that some people were arrested for trespassing at a neighbor's house when the neighbor was away. He said the canal to the left of the spring has been tagged. The response by rangers to his complaints about late-night disturbances at the spring have sometimes been quick, sometimes not. It varies.
  • Mike said power outlets were added to the outside of the Bernal barn, which should help with outdoor activities.
  • Mike talked to Antoinette in the parks department about the master plan. 8 firms have applied to do the planning and are being interviewed. Hopefully planning will start in Spring of 2007.
  • There was a fire in the hills near the archery range.
  • There's a new parks recreation program being planned in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente. Participants will get a brochure describing trails. They sign up to walk the trails. When they do that, they are awarded with a badge. Our help is needed in describing trails for this program.
  • Mike said the 5013c application is coming along. He filled in a 26-page questionnaire, but needs to modify it to reflect the the fact that we're a long-existing group. We also need to document our budget for the past 5 years.
  • We pay a $20 incorporation fee to the state of California for being a non-profit group. We get the money back. If we don't send it in, there's a $50 fine.
  • Our budget balance is $213.44.
  • Founders Fandango will be held at the Bernal Ranch on Saturday November 18 from 11 am to 3 pm. Jan Shriner is organizing it. Call her at (408) 846-5632 to volunteer to help. They need volunteer helpers to act as greeters and setup the barn displays. We are going to have a FOSTP information  table. We need people to man the table. Paul Bernal and Dorothy Wuss will share tables with us and have displays on their family histories. Mike will bring the tables and shade on Saturday morning.  John Dorrance will give a tour of the springs. Mike will help. Ron will take pictures. We should be there by 10 am.
  • Holly said 4H will provide heirloom seeds and will talk to kids about life in the ranching days. There was some dispute about the seeds not being old enough and whether they had enough background information about them. This was resolved.
  • There will be Spanish dancers at Fandango coming in period dress. The public can come in period dress if they want, but park staff and volunteers have been asked not to to avoid offending the dancers. Heidi asked for Trail Watch volunteers to come to Fandango, but dressed in green shirts, not period dress.
  • Kitty is in charge of Adopt-a-Trail. She identified people who were in charge of trails at Santa Teresa and has been trying to get in contact with them.
  • FOSTP should adopt a trail. We should adopt the new trail.
  • The new trail is listed in the 1992 master plan as the "Los Alamitos Canal Trail."  We thought people might get it confused with San Jose's Los Alamitos Creek Trail in the Almaden Valley. We discussed alternative names. We agreed on the "Santa Teresa Springs Trail" and will recommend that the parks dept. change the name to that.
  • Sam talked about geocaching. He helped draft the parks policy. Now geocaching is allowed, but there are guidelines and restrictions. Volunteers will monitor the geocache listings to look for problems. Ron is monitoring Santa Teresa.
  • Ed said that one of his friends saw some mountain lions walking down the canal road to the springs around 4:30 am. Coyotes in the neighborhood have been taking cats. Owls have been attacking possums and small dogs.
  • Jenel said 4H got the heritage garden planted. It took about 3 hours. The flowers were planted in front of the Bernal Ranch house. These are heirloom and native California plants. They were planted about a month ago, and they haven't been eaten up by the deer, though they did nibble off the monkey flowers.
  • At the Parks Commission meeting, Mike, accompanied by Kitty and Ron, presented awards of appreciation to Ken Silveira and Eric Goodrich in appreciation of their support to friends groups. Ron showed the presentation that Mike made. (You can download an edited version here, note that it is 18 MB).
  • Ron showed pictures of the new trail being built today. Paul also showed pictures of the trail from later in the day.
  • Ron showed pictures from the Santa Teresa Community Fest in September and the Volunteer BBQ last weekend.
  • The December 7 meeting will be held as usual. The January 4 meeting will be a potluck at Mike's house.
  • Volunteer Hours for September/October:
    • Ronald Horii: 31, 26
    • Mike Boulland: 10, 10
    • Kitty Monahan: 10, 10
    • Holly Davis: 6, 6
    • Paul Vincze: 2
    • Jenel Vincze: 12, 13
    • Mario Blaum: 5, 5
    • Ed Jackson: 3, 3
    • Sam Drake: 3, 3
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Created 11/2/06 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park