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- Attendees:
Mike Boulland, Kitty Monahan, Greg Koopman, Joan Murphy, Marilyn
August, Steve Crockett,
Woody Collins, Ron
Horii. First-time visitor: Ed Von Runnen. Greg Koopman is in Hawaii.
He'll be back in 1 1/2 weeks. Ed lives across from Santa Teresa Park on
Heaton Moor. He picks up litter and volunteers for Mid-Pen and OSA. He
works with San Jose's anti-litter program.
- This
was an online Zoom videoconference meeting. Mike sent out a meeting link for this Zoom meeting. Here's the agenda for today's meeting.
- Most
of the trail crew and park staff are back from Disaster Service Worker
(DSW) duty (helping out at vaccination clinics and other
pandemic-related tasks).
- We will have a work day at Santa
Teresa Spring on Friday, 6/4/21, starting at 9:00 am, going to about
11:30. We'll meet at the chicken coop at the Bernal Ranch. We'll be
trimming vines and brush and removing dirt from around the spring and
shrine. We'll have sign-in sheets for those who have not yet signed the
waivers in Samaritan. Bring tools, like clippers, loppers, and shovels.
Bring your own gloves. Mike will bring buckets and a wheelbarrow.
- Livescanning
(fingerprinting), filling out conflict-of-interest
disclosures, taking a sexual harrassment class, and signing
waivers are
required for long-term volunteers, depending on the type of volunteer
work. They are not required for short-term or single-event volunteers,
who can just sign waiver sheets at the event or on Samaritan.
- Marilyn
just got livescanned at the sheriff's office in San Martin. There's no
waiting there, unlike downtown San Jose. It takes 2 weeks to get
results, so it won't be in the system for Friday's work day event.
That's OK. She can sign in on paper.
- There's a Native American
grinding rock near Bernal Road by the golf course. It also has
inscriptions by the Bernal Family. Mike was going to show it to us
after our work day, but it's surrounded by tall weeds and thistles this
time of year. It might be better to go see this in the winter.
- Ron
Horii showed a slideshow: late spring wildflowers, worn out QR codes on
the Nature Trail signs, graffiti on the rocks by the waterfall,
unearthing of the time capsule by the Bear Tree Lot monument, dirt and
vines around Santa Teresa Spring, conditions on the Norred Trail, and
parking lot usage at the Pueblo Area.
- Treasurer's
report from Greg: we have $1902.70 in our account. There's no change
from last month. Most of our funding comes from the Beautify San Jose
Grant. Mike is working on a change request for moving funds around
between different category items, since the grant has to cover 2 years,
instead of 1.
- The Open Space Authority has a Measure Q urban grant program
to fund projects in environmental stewardship and restoration, parks,
trails, public access, environmental education, and urban agriculture.
501c3 non-profits are eligible for the grant. (We are not a 501c3
non-profit yet, but we are working on it.) We can connect with the OSA
for future programs that need funding.
- There
was some interest in seeing Little Uvas Creek Preserve. Saved By Nature
did a recent program there. It's closed to the public, but we may be
able to have a docent-led tour of it. Ron is has led tours there as an
OSA docent. He'll look into it for some time in July. We need to pick a
date. [We talked about July 10, but OSA has their volunteer
appreciation event that day. Saved By Nature may have a bat viewing
event at Little Uvas in July.]
- Mike
reported that Carolyn Schimandle, supervisor of interpretive
programs at the Bernal Ranch, said that there will be a soft opening of
the ranch house and barn next Saturday. Rob McDonnell, park interpreter
assigned to the Bernal Ranch, is still deployed as a DSW. When he is
released, he'll be able to staff the ranch house on Fridays and
Saturdays. Jan Shriner will help. There's a new hire (as extra help)
coming in a couple of weeks who can work on Sundays. Masks will be
required at the ranch house and barn. Only members of 1 household at a
time will be allowed in the buildings. The doors will be left open.
Volunteers can't be working until the County says it's OK.
- The construction of the new Curie Drive Trail started on June 1. The construction manager is Tom
McLauchlan. Jeremy Farr is the park planner in charge of the plan. We
can ask Jeremy to talk about the project at a future meeting.
- Jason
Gormon is responsible for maintenance of the historic area past Santa
Teresa Spring. Jeremy Celaya is responsible for maintenance of the
Bernal Ranch and Santa Teresa Spring. Bryan Lue is acting Senior Ranger
for Hellyer, Martial Cottle, and Santa Teresa.
- Greg asked
who to contact for park concerns. They can be brought to the attention
of the Park Commission. They normally meet monthly in the County
Building downtown, but since the pandemic, they meet bi-monthly on
Zoom. Mike is automatically on the agenda to talk about Santa Teresa
Park. That would be the best time to talk about Santa Teresa Park
issues.
- Greg is concerned about the power poles and wires
that were left over from the now-gone microwave relay station by the
start of the Rocky Ridge Trail. PG&E probably installed the power
poles for the relay station. The customer can request to have them
removed, but may have to pay for their removal. Who is the customer?
- Greg
is concerned about the trash cans on Coyote Peak that have no lids. The
wind can pull trash out of trash cans and blow it around.
- Roxanne
was concerned about the effect of charging parking fees at the Pueblo
Area. She was afraid that families would stop coming to the park. Ron
visited the Pueblo Area several times. Parking lot usage has dropped
dramatically usage since they were resumed on April 5, and many parked
cars do not have parking receipts. However, with the loosening of COVID
restrictions, parking lot use has also gone down at other parks and
preserves that do not charge for parking, so it's not clear whether the
fees are the only cause of lower park use. Restoring parking fees
coincided with relaxation of COVID19 restrictions, so people started to
go back to normal activities.
- 17 County Parks charge for
parking. Charging parking fees was ordered by the County Executive. The
parking fees collected amount to $50K/year. The money goes to the
County's general fund and not directly to the parks.
- Mike wants
to have a trail opening event for the new Curie Drive Trail. We can
have a picnic, a ribbon-cutting, show the time capsule, and walk the
trail. We can start at the ranch house and talk about the history of
the ranch.Mike wants to setup a trail event committee. We need to find out when the project will be completed and whether the Parks
Department plans to have some kind of ceremony. We can do something in
conjunction with the department. We can't afford the insurance to put
on our own public event, but we can have a private celebration.
- Mike
made a slideshow for kids about baby turtles at Santa Teresa Spring. It
was about how baby turtles saved other turtles during the drought. It
can be used for a future program at the spring.
- Possible future
field trip: Black Diamond Mines near Pittsburgh. There's a new tunnel
there. It's underground and cool, so it can be done in the summer.
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