Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting Summary for 12/2/04


  • Note: this was not a regular meeting. This was a dinner at Mike Boulland's house. We did not have formal meeting, but we did talk about park issues. These are some notes of what we discussed.
  • Attendees: Mike and Dorene Boulland, Ronald Horii, Holly Davis, Sam Drake, Kitty Monahan
  • Ron showed slideshows of the workday at the Bernal Ranch on 11/13, the preview party for Fantasy of Lights at Vasona, and Pioneer Day at Almaden Quicksilver.
  • We talked about opening the Ohlone Trail to bikes. Paul Vincze has been lobbying for it. The Ohlone Trail is one of the flattest trails in the park and most easily accessible from the neighborhoods below. The trail varies in width. The section from the archery range to the service road is fairly wide and well-maintained and could accommodate bikes. Part of the trail route runs along a service road that starts behind the golf course driving range. The section between the service road and Bernal Road is narrow and needs work. The section from Bernal Road to the Hidden Springs Trail is very narrow and tends to get over-grown. 
  • We had a work day at the Bernal Ranch on 11/13. Mike, Ron, and Sam Drake and his wife were there, along with some school kids and parents. The volunteers planted ceanothus bushes along the retaining wall on Manila Drive, dug out behind the water bars on the Joice Trail, varnished benches in the barn, pulled weeds by the ranch house, and swept the walk in front of the house. Afterwards, John Dorrance gave an interpretive presentation to the kids.
  • On the same day, park maintenance fixed the outlet of the pond at Santa Teresa Spring. They drained the pond and put a wooden dam in front of the outlet to work on it. Then, they filled it with rocks. The water level has been gradually rising.
  • Ron said he was at the Bernal Ranch and saw a sheriff's car and ranger's car there. Some people had been riding mini-motorcycles up on the Bernal Hill Trails. They were cited after returning to retrieve a cell phone.
  • We talked about geocaching. Ron has been working on a Web page on geocaching in the park. We talked about geocaching in general. Sam Drake is a geocaching enthusiast. Mike wants to have an organized geocaching treasure hunt next year.
  • Sam took some pictures of the Stile Ranch Trail. There are some places on the west side hill that are heavily eroded. He talked to Greg Bringelson about it. Greg is having a trail day in January to work on the Stile trail. We talked about how rocky the trail is. Kitty said it took a jack-hammer to build it. The last time we had a trail day, the tools we had that were made for dirt, like rakes and hoes, were not effective. The picks were the most useful. Ron mentioned that the trail on the east-facing slopes tend to get muddy and eroded in the winter.
  • Stile Ranch Trail Day: 1/8 and 1/9 9 am - 1 pm, meet at the Stile Ranch trailhead on San Vicente Road.
  • Next year, the big event for us will be the dedication of the new trail around the Buck Norred Ranch. Hopefully, it will be done by spring. Then we need to get involved with the planning for the Pyzak Ranch. 
  • Volunteer Hours (these hours were E-mailed in).
    • Ronald Horii: 36 hours
    • Mike Boulland: 10
    • Mario Blaum: 8
    • Holly Davis: 10
    • Hazen Anderson: 47
    • Kitty Monahan: 10
    • Sam Drake: 6
  • Next meeting will be on 1/6/04 at the usual time and place.
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Created 12/22/04, updated 2/1/05 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park