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- Attendees:
Mike Boulland, Kitty Monahan, Kim Gardner,
Steve Crockett, Greg & Roxanne Koopman, Woody Collins, Gus Letona, Marilyn August, Guillermo Martinez, Sam Drake, Ron
Horii
- There was no meeting in
January because of the holidays. There was a potluck and awards dinner at Mike's house on Feb.
6, 2020 at 6 pm.
- The
California Native Plant Society is having a wildflower hike on the
Stile Ranch Trail on Sunday 3/8 at 9 am. Woody is co-leading the hike.
- Ron
showed pictures of Debi Porras, who passed away in November. Debi and
her husband Jorge had been with us for many years. They were involved with the Boy Scouts. They were at our
20th anniversary celebration at the Santa Teresa Library, with a Boy
Scouts display. They organized Scout projects all around the park. Debi
organized craft projects at Fandango.
- Ron showed pictures of
our potluck dinner and awards party at Mike's house in February. He
also showed park pictures: Lunar New Year event, snow on the mountains,
a bald eagle seen from Coyote Peak, the Muriel Wright Center, the Bean
sprayer, flowers and conditions on the Stile Ranch Trail, new memorial
bench on the Mine Trail, labeling of leather items in the Bernal Barn,
Oakridge Mall Senior Fair, Roxanne's birthday hike to Bernal Hill,
conditions on the Norred Trail. Norred Ranch, Bonetti Ranch, Pyzak
Ranch, Santa Teresa Spring. Issues discussed:
- The Family
Lunar New Year Night Hike event on 1/11/20 was well-attended. It was led by Park
Interpreter Kelsi Ju, with help from her mother, Ranger Carley Bolitho,
and park staff member Steve Leong. It began with a Chinese
lantern-making activity. Later, there was a hike to Santa Teresa
Spring, where Kelsi told tales about the animals of the Chinese zodiac.
- Park
Interpreter Kelsi Ju, who was handling programs at the Bernal Ranch,
abruptly resigned on 2/14/20. She sent a thank you email to volunteers.
Shaye Collinge, who is extra help, is temporarily staffing the Bernal
Ranch to keep it open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays, but it is
closed on Sundays. Kelsi's "Wonder Women" event scheduled for 3/7/20 has
been cancelled. She organized La Fuente. We don't know what's going to
happen this year. Before Kelsi left, there were already 2 vacant
positions in the park interpreter department. They were being filled
temporarily by staff working out of class, like Steve Leong. Carolyn
Schimandle is the Program Coordinator for the Bernal Ranch and is also
the contact for maintenance there. We need to find out how we can help.
- Martial Cottle
Maintenance handles the Bernal Ranch. Hellyer/Santa Teresa Maintenance,
led by Jason Gormon, handles the rest of the park.
- Interpreters will no longer lead Scout projects. They will be led by park rangers and the Volunteer Program.
- Hellyer/Santa Teresa Park ranger Carley Bolitho is leaving. She will be moving out of state.
- The
Muriel Wright Recovery Center mental health programs are in operation.
The Substance Use Treatment Services (SUTS) program, which has 30 beds,
opened on 12/16/19. It treats adult males leaving the criminal justice
system who are in need of substance use treatment. The Crisis
Residential Treatment (CRT) Program opened on 2/18/20. It serves up to 15
criminal justice-involved adults, mostly male, but includes females,
who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis that would otherwise require
hospitalization.
- To get to the Volunteers Office at Muriel
Wright, you have to park in back by the Sheriff's office and come in
from the back. The Sheriffs posted "No Trespassing" signs to discourage
visitors who have no business at the center.
- The
Volunteers Office may move to one of the new buildings recently
purchased by the County on Silver Creek Valley Road and Fontanoso Way.
County Parks administrative offices may also move there.
- The Volunteer Coordinating Council might disband.
- The
Bean sprayer at the Bernal Ranch was cleaned up by Boy Scouts, but it
is historically significant and needs restoration and protection. This
would make a good Eagle Scout project. That company that made it, the
John Bean Manufacturing Company, became the Food Machinery Corporation,
or FMC.
- FOSTP
was invited to participate in the Oakridge
Mall Senior Fair on 2/21/20. We had a table, shared with the Friends of
the New Almaden Ting. The tables were staffed by Steve Crockett, Mike
Boulland, and Jennie Yeung. They answered questions, passed out
newsletters and park maps, and had Ron Horii's pictures on
display.
- The Norred and Joice Trails are in good shape. The usual muddy spots are dry. Wildflowers are starting to bloom.
- There
is some graffiti on the canal by the Joice Trail. It's Water District
property, so technically, we would need permission from the Water
District to clean it up.
- At
the pavilion on the Norred Trail, which is used for material storage by
the Parks' Special Projects Crew, kids have pulled out plywood boards
and lined them up for use as a skateboard track.
- The
fence on
Curie Drive by the Pyzak House has one of the boards down. A piece of
the temporary roofing on the house is torn. There doesn't appear to be
any new grafitti on the house or outbuildings. We talked about widening
Curie Drive and whether it could be done without having to tear down
the Pyzak House.
- Santa Teresa
Spring is still flowing, but the water in the pond is below the
spillway. The vines around the spring need trimming.
- Treasurer's
report (Greg): No checks have been written. We spent $126 on food for
our recognition party. We have $2936.84 in our bank account. We got the
Beautify SJ Grant check in December.
- Our patches were not
covered by the grant. We can try to sell them, but we may need a
business license. The same for selling T-shirts. The grant will pay for
T-shirts, but only $15 each.
- Mike had a list of
suggested, but not committed, projects that he is going to submit to
the Parks Department. We approved them. Mike will be setting up a meeting with the Parks Dept. to discuss them, just for FOSTP.
- Remove
the dirt and blackberries from around the Santa Teresa Spring Grotto.
It's getting overgrown. We proposed a cleanup for May 30, but we'll
need to get approval from the Parks Dept.
- La Fuente is in doubt because of personnel shortages in the Interp. Dept.
- We're
still planning to have our National Night Out event on August 4 at the
Bernal Ranch. It will be a partnership with the Park’s Dept.
- Ron’s photo class is tentatively scheduled for May 16.
- Remove graffiti, as needed.
- Fundraiser – TBD.
- Pre
Mother’s Day Hike tentatively scheduled for May 9.
- Trailwork – as needed, TBA
- Farm
equipment, Bean sprayer, & griststone signage – advise Boy
Scouts to do the projects. The griststone signage could be done first and
used as a model for signing the rest of the nearby farm equipment.
- Promote educational/historical activities at BGJ events - as needed, TBA
- FOSTP
hike and BBQ: we could do it in the Pueblo Area. We could hike to Coyote
Peak and have a BBQ picnic afterwards. Target September, but not on
9/12 (New Almaden Day).
- Whopper Tour: Mike will lead and schedule.
- Volunteer help at the Bernal Ranch, TBD, pending Kelsi's replacement.
- We
got Don Rocha's approval for our 501c3 application. We've also sent
notes to Mike Wasserman, Ash Kalra, and Sergio Jimenez asking for
support. Sam says it's not necessary to get letters of support to apply
for 501c3 status. They can be useful later when asking for support or
applying for grants.
- Sam said he and other geocachers removed old geocaches from the old Los Cerritos Trail in Calero after it was re-routed.
- Sam
said that Mid-Pen will repair the Mt. Umunhum radar tower. They will
get engineering documents and a list of repairs. They had several
options for the repairs. They will be choosing the longer-lasting
options.
- The Volunteers Picnic is on 4/25 at Hellyer's Buena Vista Group Picnic Area at noon.
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