Category Archives: California

State Parks

Take Action with the California State Parks Foundation Park Excellence Project

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The California State Parks Foundation continues to push for better policies and legislation that will protect California’s park system.  If you haven’t read through their Park Excellence Project, you really should.

From the CSPF website:

California’s state park system is at a crossroads. As a system, California’s state parks have persisted even in the face of challenging and shifting political, social, and environmental priorities. Yet, after more than a century of leading the way in preserving and protecting precious resources, today’s pressures – including proposals for wholesale shutdowns, current and indefinite closures, a $1.2 billion deferred maintenance backlog, and more – are the most challenging the system has ever seen.

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State Parks

California State Parks Foundation new round of grants awarded

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

CSPF’s Discretionary Grants Committee met September 11 and awarded 10 grants totaling $49,743 to benefit a number of California’s state parks. The organizations that received grants include:

  • Anza-Borrego Foundation, $6,000 to support an expanded outreach campaign to increase visitation to the park, participation in park programs and activities, and park stewardship.
  • Benicia State Parks Association, $800 to support a Volunteer Appreciation Event.
  • California State Railroad Museum Foundation, $5,000 to support upgrades and enhancements to its website to increase park visitorship and engagement in park programs, activities, and stewardship.
  • Coastside State Parks Association, $5,000 to expand and repair the boardwalk at Año Nuevo State Park to make the park and viewing of the elephant seals more accessible to all visitors. Continue reading →
Conservation, National Forests

Yamaha Volunteers Complete OHV Project in San Bernardino National Forest

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Three-Year Project Restores Popular Staging and Riding Areas near Big Bear, Calif. 

CYPRESS, Calif. – October 1, 2013 – Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., volunteers completed a three-year project at one of the nation’s most popular multi-use off-highway vehicle (OHV) staging areas located in the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF).

As part of the Yamaha OHV Access Initiative and with support of the Southern California Mountains Foundation’s (SCMF) OHV program, volunteers gathered recently for a final round of planting, cleaning and maintaining the popular Cactus Flats staging area and surrounding trails.

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State Parks

National parks closed? Volunteer to help out at a California state park!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The California State Parks Foundation says that October is a great time to volunteer!

From their newsletter:

Make a difference and help improve your favorite state parks by volunteering with Park Champions this October. Join one of our volunteer teams to improve trails at Mount San Jacinto, repair the boardwalk at MacKerricher, plant a new garden at Henry Cowell Redwoods, improve the lifeguard headquarters at San Buenaventura, build a split rail fence at Palomar Mountain, or restore habitat at Jack London, Candlestick Point, Baldwin Hills, or Silver Strand.

Visit our website to see a map of upcoming projects at parks near you and our Flickr page for examples of Park Champions in action! Mount San Jacinto and MacKerricher are offering their last camping weekends until spring. Sign up today!

You can visit the California State Parks Foundation website HERE.

You can find out more about the Park Champions program and sign up for an upcoming volunteer event HERE.

National Parks, Patriotism

Two very different ways of celebrating Yosemite’s 123rd Birthday

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Today – October 1st, 2013 – Google is celebrating Yosemite National Park’s 123rd birthday with a Doodle.

Also today Yosemite (and other national parks) are closed due to the government shutdown.

The federal government partially shut down at midnight on Tuesday because of the continuing zany antics of the most hate-filled and divisive President and the Senate democrats (the Senate has the lowest approval rating of all time right now … go figure), who can’t pass a budget and who think that raising a debt ceiling is how you balance the books.  If you raise the debt ceiling you don’t run out of money, right?

As Jay Leno put it a few weeks ago: “The government will run out of money in just 3 weeks. I’m no financial whiz, but we’re 16 Trillion Dollars in debt. Doesn’t that mean we already ran out of money? Like 16 Trillion Dollars ago?”

Because of 536 inept elected officials, over 800,000 government employees can’t work and our national parks, monuments, and museums are closed.

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