• Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii, Kitty Monahan, Steve Crockett, Holly Davis, Rick Leonard, Dorothy Wuss, Mario Blaum, John Dorrance, John Patterson, Michael Crowell
• The Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch dedication was held on 6/29/02. A total of 511 volunteer hours were put into it. 55 people from the community helped out. Over 300 people came to see it.
• Michael Crowell came to the meeting for the first time. He was concerned about the trail entrance at the golf course driving range. When park maintenance installed the gate to prevent vehicle access to the trail, they also blocked pedestrian and bicycle access. They assumed they were to close the trail to all access. Michael Crowell talked to Joe Schultz, who helped open up the trail to bicycles and hikers. A pass-through was put next to the gate. See picture:

  (click on thumbnail to get a bigger picture)
The remaining problem is that the sign is still there higher up on the trail indicating that it is a service road not a trail.

• Mike mentioned that the master plan for Santa Teresa Park calls for a ticket gate at the Bernal Road entrance. John Patterson said that if it were there, they would only charge for parking. 
• Holly commented that the parking lot at the ranch is always locked. It was intended for park and maintenance vehicles only. Holly said that volunteers working on the chicken coop have to haul the supplies up from the street. She asked if the parking lot could be opened up for volunteers and visitors. John Dorrance, who came later, said he could probably grant access to volunteers working on the ranch, but not to the general public. 
• John Patterson - park maintenance
• The Ohlone Trail bridge by the archery range is closed. The side rails were ripped out. The bridge can't be repaired. It needs to be re-engineered and re-built.


• The camp host will be in at the Buck Norred Ranch mid-month. 


• Maintenance for Santa Teresa comes out of Calero. They also handle Calero and Almaden Quicksilver. They will be down by 2 people. The county has a hiring freeze. The maintenance people are Henry, Mike, Sal, and Scott. Scott is new. Mike handles the grounds around the BGJ ranch. Lydia, the ranch caretaker, works at Hellyer and handles the area around the caretaker's house.
• There is a plan for renovating the the corral at the Pueblo Area. They will level it out of backfill it. 
• Greg Bringelson is trying to bring existing trails up to standards. He went to the state trail conference school. He will be putting together volunteer crew leads. They will lead volunteer crews who will build and maintain trails. (Note: the Adopt-a-Trail program is separate from this.)
• Maintenance pruned the trees and chopped down the vines around Santa Teresa Springs. This should provide more visibility of the springs by neighbors, which should help improve security. The spillway by the springs needs stabilizing.
• Holly mentioned that the mine trail by the Buck Norred Ranch is slippery and dangerous for horses when it is wet. Mario mentioned it is not good for hikers either.


• Mike Crowell mentioned that there are pieces of the old tower lying around below the current tower at Coyote Peak.
• The drinking fountain at the top of Coyote Peak doesn't work. Kitty explained that the water tank and fountain were put in by a developer for a failed housing project. 
• Ron mentioned that the Fortini Trail is the only park trail that requires wading through a creek. The creek is wet year-round. While horses don't mind it, and mountain bikes just plow through, it's not safe for hikers.


• Ron also mentioned that the Fortini Trail is lined with barbed wire next to a rocky and narrow section of the trail. If someone stubles on the trail, they can fall into the barbed wire and be injured. Below it is park land, so there is no need for barbed wire.


• We asked about sudden oak death. John said there is none in the park, but the county is quarantined. They can't move wood or take in wood chips from off-site. It has been found in Santa Cruz. It occurs mostly on the wetter west side of the coastal range, less in the dryer inland areas. Tanoaks, live oaks, and madrones are affected. Valley oaks are not. Bay laurels are carriers. The disease can lay dormant in the soil for years, then pop up. Trees die from the bottom up. The disease girdles the trees, causing the leaves and branches to suddenly go brown.  The county is working with a UC Davis biologist who can identify sudden oak disease. (See here for more info.)
• Calendar:
• 9/5/02: FOSTP meeting
• 9/21/02: Santa Teresa Community Fest
• 9/21/02: Coastal Clean-up
• 10/12/02: Pioneer Day 
• Volunteer hours for June-July:
• Holly Davis: 10
• Ron Horii: 20
• Kitty Monahan: 
• Mike Boulland: 
• Dorothy Wuss: 
• Rick Leonard: 
• Mario Blaum: 10
• Account: 
• Started with $1157.33
• Paid for state corporation: $10.
• United neighborhoods membership: $75
• Spent $177.68 on the BGJ Ranch Dedication: shirts, popcorn, hot dogs, dedication supplies, fruit stand.
• Got a $25 donation from Dr. Roger Foulk, dentist.
• Other donations: Boulland Family - supplies, Kitty Monahan - lemonade, Ron Horii - CD, film, Dorothy Wuss - display, Chuck Ferrier - coins.
• Bought a plaque for Jim McGrath: $25.98
• Balance: $919.65.
• John Dorrance on Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch:
• Concerning opening the gate at the ranch for parking: John gets to the ranch at 10:00 and leaves around 4:00. Cars can get locked in. The parking lot will be opened for handicapped or groups. It's not big enough for a public parking lot. Mostly locals are using the ranch now. There is not a big demand for parking. 
• There are still picnic tables outside the barn. So far they haven't been attracting crowds of people to hang out, like some people feared.


• There hasn't been much vandalism, just some graffiti in the restrooms that the rangers cleaned up.
• John wants to get boxes in the signnboard at the ranch for public posting, like for FOSTP to post events.


• John wrote a grant for a blacksmith to give demonstrations every other month. He wants to get Chuck Ferrier, who did it at the ranch dedication.


• John wants to have an interpretive event once a month, such as Victorian toymaking.
• He needs help with research. He would like people to pick out antique items in the ranch and look up the story behind them. He wants to collect these stories in a binder.


• We suggested we have a celebration at the BGJ Ranch every anniversary of its dedication on June 29.
• 9/21 will be Santa Teresa Community Fest at George Page Park. FOSTP can set up a table again. Mike made up a brochure for FOSTP. There's an historical brochure on the ranch. 


• Paul Bernal is interested in rebuilding the original Rancho Santa Teresa adobe building at the Bear Tree Lot. School kids may be able to help make bricks for it. Paul sent a letter to Mark Fredericks. He suggested that Andy Glavan, who built adobe bricks for school kids at Mission San Jose, might be willing to help. Andy recommends getting help from Gil Sanchez, who has done all the adobe reconstructions in Northern California. History San Jose has school kids build bricks at the Peralta Adobe. They have wooden forms. 
• Mike made up some business cards for FOSTP. He has a letterhead and membership flyers.
• Ron Horii showed a slide show of the Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch dedication. He also made a Web page that shows some of the pictures.
• Mike suggested we show a slide show of the dedication at the next parks commission meeting.
• We should let Forrest Williams know about the FOSTP website.
• Community sponsors: Great Oaks Water Co., Sweet Tomatoes, Dr. Foulk, Carl's Jr., Santa Teresa Golf Course.

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