• The meeting was held at 7:00 at the Flames Restaurant as the upper clubhouse was unavailable. Mike Boulland was presiding. Ron Horii was the recording secretary. Minutes from last meeting were reviewed.
• Attending: Mike Boulland, Kitty Monahan, Jim O'Connor, Steve Crockett.
• There was a question about whether donations can be made to the Silicon Valley Parks Foundation and earmark them for specific purposes. The foundation charges a 10% fee for projects that require managment. Jim will check if the organization is ready to accept donations now.
• The cross-country meet at Santa Teresa Park will be in May. Participants will park by the Flames Restaurant, and buses will take them to the park. Mike pointed out that setting up a permanent cross-country trail in Santa Teresa Park has advantages: They will have a consistent course and will be able to keep track time records. Racers won't go to other park and mark up their trails. (See November's minutes about what happened at Mt. Madonna.) 
• Jim reported on the park status:
• A low fence has been put in around the hill by the Wright Center to keep out 4WD vehicles.
• There has been no significant vandalism in the park.
• There have been problems with littering at the Countryview Drive back entrance, which is vehicle-accessible.
• The plans for the Norred Ranch have been completed.
• We discussed some ideas and observations of mine [discussion is in brackets];
• There are no signs indicating the start of the westbound Ohlone Trail where it branches off of the Coyote Peak Trail above the golf course. There's also nothing indicating that there are no bikes allowed on it. [Signs will be posted.]
•  I've seen bikes come down the Coyote Peak Trail, then I wonder where they are going to go. They can't ride through the golf course. They can't take the Ohlone Trail. They can take the service road, but it dead ends. The only thing they can do is go back up, either on the Coyote Peak Trail, Boundary Line Trail, or Ridge Trail. I think there needs to be a legal lower-level escape for bikes: either allow them to ride through the golf course or create a new trail along the canal. [The trail usage will be changed so that bikes can't come down that far.]
• If the city goes ahead with its plan to open the Coyote Alamitos Canal as a  trail, what going to happen with the canal route through the Santa Teresa Golf Course and the archery center? 
• The PG&E service roads that branch off from the Joice Trail could easily be turned into legal trails. They could form a loop that runs to the edge of  park property above Cottle Road, then rejoins the Joice trail below the Vista Loop Trail on Bernal Hill. [Talk to Jane Marks about new trail routes, applies to other trail ideas below.]
• The real Rocky Ridge has several illegal, unofficial, and unmarked trails. Since Rocky Ridge is right above the picnic areas, people are always climbing up these trails. There should be safe, legal trails over Rocky Ridge. There's a wide firebreak (I think that's what it is) that runs alongside of Rocky Ridge from the horse corral to the creek below the Hidden Springs Trail. With a little work, that could be turned into a nice trail. Some switchback trails should be built to replace the straight-up and down illegal trails that run over the top of Rocky Ridge to Big Oak Valley.
• That little triangle of private property on Rocky Ridge (Lagatutta's?): if the owners won't sell the whole piece, would they be willing to sell or grant a trail easement, like IBM did with the Stile Ranch Trail? The trail is already there. People have been using it illegally for years. It would just make it legal. [They don't want to sell.]
• Other potential easements that the county could try to secure: 
• The Coyote Peak Trail all the way to Schillingsburg.
• A trail along the border of IBM's Santa Teresa Lab property to Bailey Avenue.
• A trail along the hills east of the archery center to Tulare Hill. 
• The ultimate dream: a trail along the ridgetop all the way to Lake Almaden.
• They've started painting the buildings at the Joice-Bernal Rancho, and installed a restroom. It looks like they've finished the retaining wall above the barn. There's a rusting old upside down truck frame on the hill above the wall. I wonder if they're going to remove it or put an historical sign on it.
• If the county really wants to charge for parking, they should put parking meters that charge by the hour. That way, you could pay 25 cents per hour, instead of $4, since most people probably don't stay at the park for much longer than an hour. $4 for an hour is more expensive than downtown San Francisco. Nobody is crazy enough to pay that. The ony other way they can justify that fee is to put a lake in the middle of the park. Hellyer, Vasona, Lexington, and Anderson can justify the fees because they have water that people can sit and fish at or boat in for hours. [Mike asked Jim if he could find out how much in receipts the ticket machines have collected.]
• A crazy idea: instead of spending all that effort to tear out the corral by the restrooms at the Pueblo area, why not turn it into a group campsite for organized groups, like the Boy Scouts or Eath Core? That would have several advantages: local kids could have a place to go camping close to home, there would be people effecively guarding the upper park area at night, and the county could make some money off the camping fees, maybe enough so they can get rid of the parking meters. [Equestrians use the corral. The cross country teams use it as a finish line. Is it in good shape? Is it cheaper to tear it down than repair it? Kitty will see if the horsemen might want to repair it or improve it.]
• Mike talked to Robin Schaut about the Joice Bernal Ranch Interpretive Project. She wants to know when we should have the dedication of the Rancho. It could be the same time as Pioneer Day. The interpretive exhibits may not be done until fall or spring of next year. We need people or volunteers. The scouts want to help out. We can wait until the entire project is done to have a dedication event or have an open house earlier to solicit help gathering historical info and artifacts. Mike will talk to Robin.
• There are two cement pillars installed by Santa Teresa Springs, but the lights were not there yet.
• We started talking about future activities, but didn't make any decisions. Chris Orr came up with a list of potential work items that he gave to Mike (shown below). We need to decide which ones to do and get volunteers to organize these events:

Jan 01 Remove scotch broom, coyote brush, around Santa Teresa Springs and along walkways and retaining wall. Sweep and clean stairs and deck.

Feb 01 Remove weeds between fence and walkway across from Bernal Middle School. Contact City to remove weeds in 
sidewalk. Remove cardboard and litter from hillside.

Mar 01 Plant and maintain native ornamentals around Archery Range sign. Contact Ed Tanaka regarding plant selection. 
Contact Black Mountain Bowmen for assistance. Possible archery range clean up day.

Apr 01 Improve around Santa Teresa Park sign at Bernal & Heaton Moore. Remove star thistle. Plant and maintain native 
ornamentals around sign. 

May 01 Trail maintenance on Ohlone trail. Pruning and tread work.

Jun 01 Trail maintenance on trail to waterfall. Pruning and tread work. Clean up around waterfall.

Jul 01 Fence off volunteer trails at Coyote Peak and Coyote Peak/ Rocky Ridge junction. Install signs.

Aug 01 Install/repair new benches at Coyote Peak.

Sep 01 Clean drainage ditch at Buck Norred.

Oct 01 Paint buildings at Buck Norred

Nov 01 remove arena at Santa Teresa Park.

Dec 01 Clean up along Bayliss road fence line.

TBA/Continuous

Assist with new trail sign installation at Santa Teresa Park. Spread wood chips in various areas. Paint the new wood fence at Joice/Bernal *** Mark Fredrick suggestion.

Ronald Horii,
Secretary, Friends of Santa Teresa Park
1/29/01

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