Greetings,

Our visits with legislators on Park Advocacy Day were well received and we were pleased to find out that we have campaign endorsements from Senator Patricia Wiggins and Assemblymember Wes Chesbro as well as many other legislators throughout the state. We communicated support for a few upcoming bills, recommended a change in another and strongly opposed linking funding for our State Parks to new offshore oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara. Special thanks to our Sonoma County team: (top left and clockwise) Adrienne Tripp, Michele Luna (team leader), Robin Shanda, Amy Southwick, Clara Bolster, Greg Fearon (Coastwalk President), Fred Luna (team leader), Amy Racina, Annie Cresswell (team leader) and Jan De Wald.

Partnerships to Save our State Parks
Stewards is proud to be fully engaged in a long-standing partnership with the California State Parks Foundation and other nonprofit organizations throughout the state to Save our State Parks. At the Park Advocacy Day reception those partnerships were honored with the first Grassroots Hero Awards. I am proud to say that Stewards, one of five of the 190 honorees, was asked to speak and accept a certificate of acknowledgement. As I said in my remarks, it's the incredible outpouring of support that we have received in the past few years from our community, which has made our efforts stand out. It's the 500 plus people who showed up at our town hall meeting in 2008, the busload of 60 participants that came to Park Advocacy Day in 2008, the focus group of key Sonoma County leaders who helped to determine the economic impacts of closing Armstrong Redwoods, those who collected signatures for the petitions in 2009, those who attended our State Parks Appreciation Day in 2009, those who filled out hearts to show support, and now those who are collecting official signatures to get the State Parks Initiative on the ballot, who make Stewards' advocacy efforts a huge success. I accepted the award on behalf of all of you! I also thanked the California State Parks Foundation, whose leadership has provided us with the tools to keep our community involved.

Special thanks to Ann Chambers, Janet Calhoun, John Chavez and Phyllis Turrill for conducting a very well attended Sudden Oak Death seminar today. Ann reported that the group was able to see good examples at Armstrong Redwoods, which helped them understand and identify this dreadful disease.

As I write this, the sun is out after another couple days of rain, and it's a clear, beautiful day in Sonoma County. There are so many things to do in our State Parks: Whale Watching at Bodega Head on the weekends (the gray whale mom's and calves are starting to come north); the harbor seals are starting to pup at Goat Rock State Beach (Seal Watchers will help you view the rookery at a safe distance on the weekends); tidepool season is here and our Roving Naturalists will be at Marshall Gulch on low-tide weekends; and the wildflowers are bursting everywhere (the trillium are blooming at Armstrong Redwoods now). Get out and then let us know about your State Park experiences. I have just re-launched our BLOG, which is open to anyone to comment on. Let me know what you think (mluna@mcn.org). There are a number of different topics to comment on.

In stewardship,

Michele Luna, Executive Director

New Volunteer Orientation &
Plant ID Hike at Armstrong

State Parks Volunteer and Docent General Orientation – FREE
Saturday, March 20, 2010 at Armstrong Redwoods
9:00-11:30 am
Facilitated by Staff and Docents
Learn about the State Parks "Volunteers in Parks" program and the many volunteer opportunties offered in our State Parks. General orientations are required for new volunteers.

(Lunch Break)

Plant ID Hike at Armstrong Redwoods
12:30-2:30pm
Instructors: Joyce Bacci (Docent), Keith Nelson (Docent) and Norman Hill (Docent)
Discover the plants and wildflowers of Armstrong Redwoods, like the turkey tail mushrooms to the right. This is an easy hike through the park.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED ON OUR WEBSITE OR
EMAIL Ruby at rherrick@mcn.org
$15 donation for Community Members and $5 donation for members/volunteers
No one will be turned away for inability to donate.

Take the Park Excellence Survey
The California State Parks Foundation and Save the Redwoods League have initiated a new endeavor, the Park Excellence Project, to engage the public in a statewide discussion about what excellence should look like in our state parks. The survey is designed very specifically for park users like you and asks for input on what the primary purpose of California's state park system should be, what the most important features of an excellent state park system are, what programs, services or amenities should be offered, barriers to participation and more. Please help make this survey relevant. Take the Park Excellence survey today!

Volunteers Needed for Special Events

It's time to sign up to volunteer for our wonderful special events. Email stewards@mcn.org if you can help with the following:

Fisherman's Festival - Saturday and Sunday, April 17 & 18
Morning shift - 9:00 to 1:45
Afternoon shift - 1:30 to 5:30
Site clean-up on Monday - 9:00am

May Day in the Redwoods - Saturday, May 1st, 10-3
Times TBD
Set-up - begins at 8:30
Kids Games
Food and Beverages
Silent Auction
Horse and Carriage rides

Gourmet Hike at Armstrong Redwoods - July 17
Set-up
Food pickup
Food and Wine service - exact times TBD

Bodega Seafood, Art and Wine Festival - August 28 & 29
Wine/Beer Booth - morning or afternoon shifts
Stewards Booth - morning or afternoon shifts
Duck Race - morning or afternoon shifts

Old Grove Festival - September 24 & 25
Thursday setup
Friday evening - Ledward Kaapana
Saturday - Daytime: various bluegrass bands, Evening: Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum.
There are many jobs and various time slots: Volunteer check-in, trail guides, parking attendants, food concessions, clean-up, etc.

Michele Luna, Executive Director
Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods