Christine Sculati's blog » national parks

National Park Service rescues three Northern California state parks

christine — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:53:04 +0000

Samuel P. Taylor State Park

In May 2011, the California State Parks Department announced the closure of 70 parks between September 2011 and July 2012 due to a $22 million budget shortfall. Many of the parks on that list are in Northern California. Today that list of 70 officially dropped to 67 parks, at least for the next year.

Thanks to the National Park Service three northern California parks will remain open:

Samuel P. Taylor State Park, located within Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County
Tomales Bay State Park, located within both Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County
Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, located within Redwood National Park near Crescent City

According to this press release, these three state parks share legislative boundaries of national parks, where joint federal/state agreements have existed for years to share staff for resource protection and park operations. The National Park Service is stepping in to preserve and prevent harm to the national parks and has also come up with new ways to raise some additional funding, according to articles in the San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch and San Francisco Chronicle.

For now, this is a one-year trial and does not relieve the backlog of deferred park maintenance and the need for long-term infrastructure repairs.

National Park Service spokesperson Stephanie Burkhart said that her agency has been in talks with the State Parks Department since the park closures were announced in May. The National Park Service also continues to work with the state to sort out operating plans for a total of 16 parks that must stay open under federal law, as reported by a news outlets in May. Several of those parks are protected under the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which requires parks receiving funds to stay open to the public. Parks of concern include Castle Rock State Park in Santa Clara County, Twin Lakes State Beach in Santa Cruz, Portola Redwoods in San Mateo County, Candlestick Point near San Francisco, Limekiln in Big Sur and Salton Sea State Recreation Area in Southern California.

In other hopeful news, on Tuesday, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 42 (authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael) to allow nonprofits to help run up to 20 state parks. But, who will sign the dotted line? Stay tuned.

Blog series
This is the seventh article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

The power of the written word: John Muir’s journey from wonder, adventure and discovery to action

christine — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:52:06 +0000

Yesterday, a Yosemite National Park ranger pointed to the place where a conversation and an idea led to the preservation of Yosemite for all time. A panel here, near Parsons Memorial Lodge in Soda Springs, commemorates the event. Around a campfire in 1889, John Muir and publisher Robert Underwood Johnson talked about how to protect this area, which Muir worried would be “stripped of its forests” by lumbermen and “gnawed and trampled into a desert condition” by sheep.

To push for the establishment of the park, the two set out to influence public opinion. Johnson lobbied Congress while Muir wrote two articles for publication in Johnson’s Century Magazine: The Treasure of the Yosemite and
Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park.

A short time after, in 1890, Yosemite National Park was born, extending from the famed Valley to the high altitude peaks and meadows.

The Power of the Written Word

Beyond those two influential articles, in his lifetime, John Muir wrote over 300 magazine articles and 12 books as well as many unpublished works. The New York Tribune published his first article “Yosemite Glaciers,” in December 1871. Just two years earlier, in 1869 at the age of 31 Muir was herding sheep in the high mountains of what is now Yosemite National Park.

When Muir was not studying nature and ascending peaks in the wilderness he wrote stories for publication from his Bay Area home in Martinez. Muir wrote about how the mountains changed him, about their beauty and grandeur, his scientific discoveries and ultimately the need to protect and conserve these places he treasured.

A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir’s Journey

In that spirit, a new exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California on the life and legend of John Muir takes visitors on a journey through four realms – the same personal journey Muir took as he went from “wonder” to “adventure” to “discovery” to “action.” In my last post I describe my preview of the exhibit just before it opened.

The exhibit’s curator Dorris Welch believes that people are inspired by John Muir to this day. “If he had not been such a prolific writer, that probably would not be the case,” said Welch.

Be sure to listen to KQED Forum’s show on John Muir’s Life and Legacy with the exhibit’s creators and John Muir historians. Host Sydnie Kohara interviews Dorris Welch, who worked for four years to curate “A Walk in the Wild;” Bonnie Gisel, an environmental historian, educator, curator of the Sierra Club’s LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite National Park and author of “Nature’s Beloved Son: Rediscovering John Muir’s Botanical Legacy;” and Donald Worster, professor of American history at the University of Kansas and author of “A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir.”

The Oakland Museum of California’s special exhibit continues through January 22, 2012.

National Park Service wants your comments on the F-line extension to Fort Mason

christine — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:44:40 +0000

IF YOU have ever visited the Aquatic Park Historic District in San Francisco, chances are you have walked over a defunct rail line that dead-ends at a tunnel underneath the Fort Mason hillside. On almost any given day you will see joggers, cyclists and walkers wiggling their way from the shoreline path to Van Ness Avenue and then up the sudden lung-testing incline that leads to the Marina Green. Underneath their feet, trains once hauled materials for building the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition through a 1,500 foot tunnel, abandoned since 1979.

The National Park Service is assessing the possibility of resurrecting the rail line and tunnel as a means for connecting the historic F-Line Streetcar service from the Embarcardero to Fort Mason Center, a few steps from Crissy Field and the Golden Gate National Parks. Currently the line turns around near Fisherman’s Wharf, a popular tourist destination near the southside of Aquatic Park.

Now is the time to weigh in on the proposed project. The comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Extension of the F-Line Streetcar Service to Fort Mason Center runs through May 17, 2011. You can comment online.

The National Park Service will discuss the plans in a public open house on April 20, 2011 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. in the Golden Gate Room, Building A of Fort Mason Center.

Park Prescriptions movement grows to link park agencies and health field

christine — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:33:05 +0000

On KQED’ Forum this morning, the National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said he is hoping for a federal budget resolution by Friday to avoid a government shutdown.

After all, a shutdown would mean closing 400 national park sites across the country – from Point Reyes National Seashore to the Statue of Liberty. He said the last government shutdown closed national parks for 17 days during the winter holidays between 1995 and 1996. Visitors were turned away.

Jarvis told Michael Krasny that a national park closure at this time would be nightmarish given all the planning the park service has been doing to prepare for National Park Week (April 16-24), Earth Day events and a big push to promote “Healthy Parks Healthy People.”

Healthy Parks Healthy People is a new nationwide initiative pioneered in the San Francisco Bay Area by the Institute at the Golden Gate, a program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Park leaders aim to strengthen connections between parks, public lands and human health and promote “Park Prescriptions.” Yesterday the National Park Service wrapped up the initiative’s first conference at Fort Baker in the Golden Gate National Parks. The event gathered professionals from the public and private arenas – from parks and open space to healthcare.

Take a hike and call me in the morning.

Public-private health initiatives are not entirely new to the Bay Area.

The Institute at the Golden Gate has been working on the parks and health issue for several years and has produced two publications:

The East Bay Regional Parks District has been partnering with Kaiser Permanente for the last seven years to organize the “Trails Challenge” to promote a healthful and physically active lifestyle in the outdoors. The district boasts 65 parks, over 98,000 acres and 1,100 miles of trails in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. With more land acquisitions they hope to protect more land.

The scientific community has documented the health benefits of time spent in nature and exercising in the outdoors for several years. And with the establishment of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to reduce obesity, momentum is building to increase physical activity. Today, U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 40 percent of the U.S. population is sedentary.

Health and our parks is also the theme of the Bay Area Open Space Council’s 2011 Open Space Conference on May 12 in San Francisco’s Presidio. I’m going. Are you?

An auspicious start for 2011 – nearly 4,000 acres of new land for Golden Gate National Parks

christine — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:56:28 +0000

As 2010 comes to an end, many of us are thinking about what the future holds in 2011. Just as I revisit my predictions from last year, one piece of news from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy signals at least one auspicious start to the new year.

In early 2011, the Bay Area’s national park – the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) – will expand its southern borders by almost 4,000 acres. The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) will soon transfer Rancho Corral de Tierra, undeveloped land seven miles south of San Francisco, to the National Park Service.

Rancho Corral de Tierra was one of the major properties purchased through POST’s “Saving the Endangered Coast” campaign, which was launched in 2001 with two $50 million gifts from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

You can read more about Rancho Corral de Tierra in the Parks Conservancy’s January 2011 newsletter here.

The Parks Conservancy will lead guided walks on January 8 and January 29, 2011 and a bike ride on January 16, 2011.

For the benefit and enjoyment of the people

christine — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:57:42 +0000

At the age of three, I could hardly comprehend the vastness of the Grand Canyon. It did not look anything like my home in Michigan.

With my family I visited several national parks from the Great Smoky Mountains to Big Bend and Sequoia/Kings Canyon. Like many tourists, we snapped photos of the most iconic vistas, historic features or odd incongruous attractions – like the tunnel log in Sequoia National Park.

It wasn’t until years later, when I clumsily hoisted on an external frame overstuffed backpack and ventured off into the Yosemite National Park wilderness with a close friend, that I started to really appreciate wild places. As we hiked deeper into the woods and climbed in elevation, the low-pitched hoots of blue grouse frequently startled us. At the time, we had no idea what animal was making this mysterious call.

After that trip, I was starting to get it – the feeling of “transcendence” often referred to in Ken Burns’ new film “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Naturally, the hero in the first episodes is John Muir (voice of Lee Stetson), who reached Yosemite the first time by walking 300 miles from the Bay Area. The final three in the series will air on PBS stations across the country through Friday. If you missed the previous episodes, don’t despair. You can view them for a limited time on the PBS Web site or buy the DVDs.

Just as this epic series about the national parks airs this week, last week the newly formed National Parks Second Century Commission released an extensive report on the condition of our national parks and a vision for the next century. With that, the San Francisco Chronicle published a story about the growing concern over youth not having access to or an interest in nature.

Then, with all this attention on our national parks, on Monday the New York Times ran an editorial on Ken Burns’ new documentary, making the case that the “best idea needs to be protected and celebrated.”

I don’t know about you, but I am getting the sense that there is an urgency around engaging more Americans to experience wild places and connect to our shared national heritage.

Serving as a reminder of the democratic principles of parks, the words of President Theodore Roosevelt are carved in an archway entrance to Yellowstone National Park and read, “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”

If you are in the Bay Area, KQED’s QUEST tells the story of the national park right here in our “backyards”.

QUEST on KQED Public Media.

America’s Best Idea: Diversity and our national parks

christine — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:08:10 +0000

Wallace Stegner called our national parks “America’s Best Idea.” Based on that premise, award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns spent six years creating a documentary series that portrays our national parks as uniquely American, a symbol of democracy and the “most special places in the nation” that should be preserved for everyone. A diversity of Americans including Asian Americans, Latinos and African Americans have all played important roles in the protection and stewardship of our national parks, yet people of color have been visibly absent from scenic vistas and the backcountry trails. According to a recent visitor study by Yosemite National Park, 88% of park visitors were White; 10% were Asian; 3% were American Indian or Alaska Native and only 1% were Black or African American. By ethnicity, 16% of visitors were Hispanic/Latino.

Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite

More and more, parks and partnering nonprofits are hosting field seminars that explore the lesser-known history of people of color in the national parks. In addition to being a social equity issue, park leaders are realizing that our national parks need an informed, diverse and supportive constituency to ensure the long-term stewardship of these treasures.

In Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” scheduled to air on PBS this September, one of the leading storytellers is African American Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson, who shares these ideals: “There is nothing more democratic than a national park. You are going into a wonderland. You are going into a different world… So why should only one part of the population have that sense of wonder and that experience of discovery? Why can’t African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and everybody have that experience? Because that is part of the experience of being an American, it belongs to everyone.”

In the documentary, Burns reveals “untold stories” of our national parks and the contributions by people of color in their conservation and preservation. Recently called “a rising star” by one reporter, Johnson is profiled in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Johnson grew up in Detroit, where the national parks seemed like unreachable places. Four years ago, co-producers of the new documentary, WETA and Florentine Films, received support from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund to launch the “Untold Stories project,” in which Johnson brings to light the story of the Buffalo Soldiers and the role of African Americans early in the history of the national parks. The purpose of the project is to engage new and traditionally underserved audiences in the “educational richness of the national parks.”

The film series weaves together stories of people transformed and inspired by the parks today, like Johnson, as well as historical accounts. Chiura Obata, a Japanese artist who moved from Tokyo to San Francisco in 1903, also gained inspiration from Yosemite and the High Sierra. Obata’s studio in Berkeley was recently named a historic landmark. Through his art he also promoted cross-cultural understanding and offered new perspectives on nature, including many Yosemite landmarks. His 1930 color wood block prints titled, “Evening Glow of Yosemite Waterfall;” “Lake Basin in High Sierra” and “Evening Glow of Mono Lake and Before Thunderstorm, Tuolumne Meadows;” are among my favorite works of Yosemite landscapes.

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is a six-episode series directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. You can view film clips on the PBS Web site and also share a story of your own experiences in the national parks. The film series will air on PBS beginning September 27, 2009.

Diversity, national parks and Earth Day 2009

christine — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:10:30 +0000

Founded in 1970 and celebrated every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the day when millions all over the world call attention to the need for environmental stewardship and justice. Many celebrations were held last Saturday and others will continue through this weekend.

The National Parks movement has also inspired a legacy of community engagement and environmental stewardship. In the Bay Area, on Earth Day, advocates will officially launch the “Parks for All” campaign in conjunction with the forthcoming release of award winning filmmaker Ken Burns’ new documentary series – The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. KQED Public Radio’s Michael Krasny interviewed Burns and a panel of national park experts on April 21 to discuss the roles and significance of diverse populations in our national parks, highlighting untold and forgotten stories.

The first episode of Burns’ six-part series airs September 27, 2009 on PBS.
A sneak preview of the documentary, followed by an on-stage conversation between Michael Krasny, Burns and writer/producer Dayton Duncan will take place at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco this evening on April 22, 2009, but as of now, the event is sold out.

You can watch a preview of the film on the official companion Web site for the series, which launched today:
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

You can also follow The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (PBS) on Facebook.

On Earth Day 2009, the war-torn country of Afghanistan also has something to celebrate: the establishment of its first national park. Band-e-Amir, a park located in central Afghanistan, has been called “Afghanistan’s Grand Canyon.”

Read the story in the New Scientist blog: Afghanistan’s tribute to Earth Day 2009.

The Dawn of a New Era: View of Yosemite Valley featured at Inaugural Luncheon

christine — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:36:25 +0000

www.metmuseum.org
View of the Yosemite Valley, 1865
Artist: Thomas Hill (1829–1908)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Harold W. Lovell, 1971 (1971.245)

A famous painting from California’s Sierra Nevada, “View of the Yosemite Valley” is the featured painting at the 2009 Inaugural Luncheon for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. After today’s historical swearing-in of the first African American President of the United States, the new Chief Executive and his family were escorted to Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol for the traditional inaugural luncheon.

President Obama dined in front of a painting on loan from the New York Historical Society: the panoramic “View of the Yosemite Valley” by Thomas Hill. In a tradition that started in 1985, Congress selects a painting to reflect the theme of the inaugural ceremony and to serve as the backdrop for the head table. According to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, this painting was chosen because it “reflects the majestic landscape of the American West and the dawn of a new era. The subject of the painting, Yosemite Valley, represents an important but often overlooked event from Lincoln’s presidency—his signing of the 1864 Yosemite Grant, which set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias as a public reserve.”

For a historical description of all traditional inauguration day events, visit the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies Web site.

Inaugural Words: 1789 to the Present: The New York Times Web site features an interactive tool that allows you to slide a bar back in history to view key words of presidential inauguration addresses. Full text of the speeches and front pages from the newspaper are also free to download.

2008 is the ‘Big Year’ for GGNRA’s imperiled wildlife and plants

christine — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:41:55 +0000

With the New Year, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area has officially launched a competition to save endangered species living in urban island habitats of San Francisco, the Peninsula, and Marin. The year-long event, called the “2008 GGNRA Endangered Species Big Year,” hopes to spur the awareness and actions needed to save the 33 endangered and threatened birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, fishes, and flowering plants found in GGNRA. The GGNRA contains more endangered species than Yosemite and any other National Park in continental North America.

GGNRA, a unit of the national park system, includes the world-renowned destinations of Alcatraz Island and Muir Woods and is the world’s largest urban national park with over 75,000 acres in San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo counties. GGNRA has a unique geographical position covering a broad range of habitats for plants and wildlife including marine habitats, salt marshes, redwood forests, chaparral and coastal scrub habitats, and grasslands, just to name a few.

Today, leaders of the San Francisco Naturalist Society and others will be hosting a kick-off party for the Big Year at the San Francisco Zoo.

Numerous educational and hand-on events to help the imperiled wildlife and native plants of GGNRA will take place throughout 2008. For example, if you want to learn how to see and save the Northern Spotted Owl, you can go to that animal’s profile page and find out about upcoming events for spotting it in its natural environment while helping to restore its foraging habitat.

Go to www.ggnrabigyear.org for more information.

A legacy of land stewardship and conservation by American philanthropic families

christine — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:20:12 +0000

Ansel Adams photo titled The Tetons and the Snake River (1942) Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the National Park Service.

The June 2007 issue of Smithsonian magazine features an article by Tony Perrottet called “Jewel of the Tetons,” which describes the secretive mission of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to purchase private properties at the base of the Tetons with the intent of donating the land to the government for permanent protection.

Despite philanthropic intentions, the campaign to purchase over 35,000 acres was mired in 20 years of anti-park controversy, distrust, and debate. It was not until 1950 when Rockefeller successfully donated 33,562 acres to the National Park Service, enlarging the Grand Teton National Park and protecting important wildlife corridors and the mountain grandeur from unsightly commercial development. The family retained the final 3,300 acres, the JY Ranch, as a Rockefeller family retreat until John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s son Laurance began gifting it to the park over several years. On May 26, 2001, Laurance S. Rockefeller donated the remaining 1,106-acre land (also known as the Laurance Spelman Rockefeller Preserve). The park service expects the formal transfer to be complete by later this summer and open to the public in September 2007. With this gift, “the entire JY property becomes part of America’s conservation heritage and marks another milestone in the Rockefeller legacy of stewardship and philanthropy,” writes the park service.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Haases are another one of the nation’s most philanthropic families. Julian Guthrie published an excellent article called “The Haas Legacy – How one family’s generosity and commitment to civic life are transforming the Bay Area.”

The descendants of Levi Strauss (Elise Haas was a great niece of Levi Strauss) and branches of the Haas family operate five independent foundations. The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, established in 1953, has the largest annual giving and was key to the restoration of the former military airfield Crissy Field, along San Francisco’s north shore (completed in 2001). Recently, I visited the tidal marsh and was in awe of the native coastal dune plants flourishing there and the numerous waterfowl and other marsh birds. I remember when the silver dune lupine, sand verbena, and coastal sagewort were new plantings. It was hard to envision the reemergence of the native coastal dune community that once thrived here in the time of the Ohlone. The scene there now is a drastic transformation from the toxic wasteland it once was.

In April, the Haas Jr. Fund made another major philanthropic gift to the Presidio in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) to support the “Post to Park”conversion. This project involves the implementation of a comprehensive 24-mile pedestrian, hiking, and bicycle trail network at the Presidio and the revitalization of the Presidio’s Rob Hill Campground.