Two-Heel Drive

The park in the Oakland Hills is announcing this trail closure:

Redwood Regional Park Trail Segment Temporarily Closed for a Hazardous Tree and Fuel Mitigation Project

Beginning Tuesday, July 15, the East Bay Regional Park District will begin a hazardous tree and fuel mitigation project at Redwood Regional Park. This project will last until mid-September.

Approximately one mile of the East Ridge Trail from Skyline Gate to Prince Trail will be closed, as will the Phillips’ Loop and Eucalyptus Trail. To minimize the impact on park users, these closures will occur only during project work hours which are 8am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. The trails will be open during the weekends and before 8am and after 5pm during the week.

The purpose of the project is to thin aging Monterey pine and eucalyptus trees that grow along the trail to create a safer and healthier forest environment. In addition, the thinning of weak and older trees will provide a safer path for park users, enhance fire protection, and improve growing conditions for native plants. Because of the age of the trees and density of the forest, incidents of falling trees, branches, and dead material have been increasing. Falling debris is hazardous to park users and results in a greater fuel load which would be dangerous in a wildfire. This section of trail is popular for hikers, runners, dog walkers, cyclists, equestrians and children on bikes and in strollers. Once finished, the trail will still offer plenty of shade and less debris.

During the project hours, equestrians and hikers may use the Stream and Prince Trails to bypass the project zone. Unfortunately, cyclists will not be able to bypass the project zone and will need to turn around at the junction of East Ridge and Prince trails. The Park District apologizes for the inconvenience and will work as quickly as possible to complete the project.

Hat tip to Isa at the EBRPD.

This map shows where millions of dollars would be spent if a parks measure passes. Among the highlights:

• $5 million for Sunol Wilderness.
• $8.1 million for Coyote Hills Regional Park
• $8.3 million for Las Trampas Wilderness
• $4.5 million for Black Diamond Mines

Also: a bunch of regional trail work including an intriguing Calaveras Ridge Trail from Sunol to Las Trampas.

More on the parks measure:

On July 1 the East Bay Regional Park District Board of Directors took the first official step to place a proposition on the November 4 ballot to extend a bond measure passed in 1988 without raising the present property tax rates above the present rate of $10 per year, per $100,000. A final vote will occur at the board meeting on July 15.

If approved by the voters, this $500 million extension will be used to continue to restore urban creeks; to protect wildlife; purchase and save open space, wetlands, and bay shoreline; and to acquire, develop and improve local and regional parks, trails, and recreational facilities.

Of the $500 million, $375 million of the revenue (75%) will fund regional park acquisitions and capital projects, with $26.2 million (7%) of that amount held in reserve for unanticipated future needs and opportunities.

I wonder: with $500 mil. on hand, perhaps they’ll be able to afford getting rid of the cows.

Thanks to Ann L. for the link.

The East Bay Regional Parks District is again showing its Web strategy leaves all the other districts in the dirt: It has PDF guides to the wildflowers sprouting in each of the district’s parks, plus an overall guide of all the East Bay blooms. (Whether the taxpayers want their money spent on such a thing is another issue, mind you, but for it’s cool for us hiker types).

Speaking of flowers, the Sunol Regional Wilderness Annual Wildflower Festival is this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. More on the goings-on here.

East Bay Regional Parks District got a corporate sponsor (Kaiser Pemanente put their “thrive” money where their mouth was) to pay the freight for free T-shirts and other goodies for those who sign up for the annual Trails Challenge. The pitch:

Thousands of people like you have participated over the 14 years-over two thousand last year alone! Register to receive the 2008 Guidebook filled with 20 of the best hikes in the Regional Parks. Trails Challenge invites you to hike 5 of the 20 trails or 26.2 miles of trails listed in the booklet by December 1. Participants will receive the Trails Challenge guidebook, T-shirt, and a special gift. A commemorative pin will be sent after participants have completed the ‘Challenge.’ Kaiser Permanente is a major sponsor of this program, enabling us to offer the materials free for this special 15th Anniversary. (one packet per person while supplies last) Reg. Required: 1-888-EBPARKS (1-888-327-2757).

Note you have to call to sign up. Packets are supposed to go out by the end of April.

A product sample from the company Pacific Yurts. More on yurts here.

I hear tell the parks department in Santa Clara County wants to put up 24 yurts in five of the county’s parks. Here’s a link to the proposal. Estimated cost: $832,000 (a handy illustration of housing costs around here: A Mongolian-style tent on a raised platform will set you back 34 grand — the county could buy barely used second-hand camping trailers for much, much less, but hey, yurts are the in thing these days).

Current plan is to put them in parks that already have campgrounds — Sanborn Skyline, Uvas Canyon, Grant Ranch, Coyote Lake, Mount Madonna — but that issue isn’t settled. Heck, Grant Ranch is big enough that you could have yurt-to-yurt hikes, just like in Mongolia, but minus the horsemen.

A colleague at the paper is working on a story about the yurt plan and is interested in the opinions of hard-core campers who’ve used the county parks, and specifically whether they think much of the idea. Use the comments to weigh in, and perhaps you’ll see your name in the paper in the next few days.

With any luck I’ll remember to link to the story when it actually runs.

(Here’s a PDF of the Yurt Feasibility Study … tons o’ interesting facts in there)

Midpeninsula Open Space District sponsors a nature walk from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve.

This hike is all about ethnobotany: how the Indians and settlers used native plants medicinally and in a wide variety of other ways. During lunch at the hog barn picnic tables, you’ll hear about the history of this area, from 10,000 years ago up to the present. Docents Keith Johnsgard and Jenny Whitman will lead you through the four diverse ecosystems found around Alpine Pond and Skyline Ridge Preserve (a 2-mile loop with a 275-foot elevation gain). The hike will include lots of stops and lots of talk, and is not appropriate for young children.

Make your reservations by Friday.

Alpine Lake is a lovely locale, no doubt about it. And it would be fun to know what the indigenous folks were eating while avoiding being eaten by the grizzly bears.

The Greenbelt Alliance has an interesting hike coming up on Saturday, Oct. 20:

Rocky Ridge Ramble

East Bay - Greenbelt Outing

See what Contra Costa County would look like without its suburban sprawl. This rigorous hike takes us through some of the East Bay’s most pristine watershed, including long abandoned ranches and orchards.
10 am-6:15 pm

More details here. It’s a 12-miler with 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Because that’s how far/high you have to walk to get beyond the suburban sprawl of Contra Costa County. Click on this map to see where the hike starts out from — looks like challenging terrain indeed. The alliance’s event’s calendar is here.