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Park plan accepted

After handing in its proposal to take over management of Jack London State Historic Park on Tuesday, the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association assumed it would be months before they got an answer from the California State Parks. Members were pleasantly surprised when, just two days later, they were notified the proposal had been accepted for negotiations, clearing the first hurdle on the road to keep the park open for public access.

In the wake of the state budget crisis, $22 million in funding to the California State Parks (CSP) was cut. Soon after, the California Department of Parks and Recreation announced it would close 70 state parks, including Jack London, Annadel State Park and Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. In response, Assemblymember Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, authored AB 42, a bill that allows qualified nonprofit organizations to take over management of a park slated for closure. The parks department would still have limited oversight as the managing body would be required to make annual reports on the progress at the park.

Before the bill even became law in October, the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association (VMNHA) was developing a management proposal. It hinges on making the park profitable by changing visitor fees, using the venue for private events, philanthropy such as the $100,000 Sonoma Impact100 grant and hosting regular fundraisers. According to the proposal’s financials, the park has the potential to make as much as $323,005 annually under VMNHA management after the first year, money that will be used to complete millions of dollars in deferred maintenance at the park.

“Our organization is taking the lead, but we are working with many partners,” said Elisa Stancil, vice president of VMNHA. She explained that the Sonoma Ecology Center would take on natural resource preservation, the Sonoma County Trail Council would help maintain trails and United Camps, Conferences and Retreats would offer assistance with day-use management.

In the proposal, the park would be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday, and closed on Tuesday and Wednesday except for special events. It states the California State Parks would save $500,000 by transferring management, which covers the current operating loss of $162,689 at the park along with the cost of properly storing the 10,000 artifacts in the Jack London Collection.

Stancil said while the board of directors would oversee the park, a hired staff would manage the day-to-day business, supported by the large network of volunteers the VMNHA already manages.

“From 1986 to the present, over 750 VMNHA-trained docents have delivered 5,000 guided tours, contributing more than 75,000 hours of volunteer time to CSP,” the proposal points out.

Stancil added that, in preparing its proposal, VMNHA surveyed 250 local park users about how they would be willing to help serve Jack London State Historic Park, with answers ranging from writing a check to volunteering in the park.

“Eighteen percent of the people said they would love to clean the bathrooms,” Stancil said.

The staff would include an executive director, park ranger, finance manager, marketing and events coordinator, grant writer, docent coordinator, maintenance worker, park aides and a few temporary employees. “Most of them would be part time,” Stancil said.

The proposal was presented in Sacramento on Tuesday during a hearing on the park closures hosted by Huffman, who chairs the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, with Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento. Stancil said that, during the meeting, attendees learned that 12 “senior” parks officials spent three weeks developing the list of parks to close, but kept no records on how they came to their decision, a revelation that upset the lawmakers.

“They were basically grilling this guy from the state parks. It was just brutal,” Stancil said, adding at one point Huffman said the department’s methodology was “not defensible.”

While the proposal was accepted for review, there are still untold months of negotiating ahead for the VMNHA. Stancil explained that the proposal had numerous requirements, such as allowing the group to set fees, plan events and lift restrictions on photo and video shoots within the park. There were also requests to continue to use CSP arborists to monitor trees and to use the current curator to help oversee millions of dollars worth of artifacts stored in the museum in the House of Happy Walls.

“They (CSP) have to be flexible, otherwise it’s not workable,” Stancil said.

There are also several unknowns the two entities will have to work out before an agreement can be signed. One major concern is security. Stancil said there is a small house on the property that previously housed a park ranger.

“We hope there will be some badged personnel who could move in there and handle security issues that pop up,” Stancil said.

Stancil said she is hopeful the state will approve the proposal by Jan. 1 to allow VMNHA to begin booking private events such as weddings, corporate retreats and photo shoots. CSP is slated to manage the park until July 1, but the association plans to phase in its own staff months earlier to ensure a smooth transition. Stancil said the association has been fundraising for the project for months, but it is difficult to secure donor dollars until there is a signed agreement with the state.

“As soon as we have this agreement we can begin raising funds in earnest,” she said.

To find out more, or to donate, visit www.jacklondonpark.org.

A similar, yet less organized, effort is being mounted to keep Annadel State Park open to the public. Caryl Hart, director of Sonoma County’s Regional Parks, is searching for a way that the county could work in concert with CSP to oversee the park, without footing the bill.

“I’m proposing this hybrid solution,” Hart said, adding that it would include a “massive fundraising campaign.”

She said it would need to come down to a strong volunteer effort to actually collect fees at the park, which most users don’t pay. That paired with support from “high level” donors could cover the cost of operating the popular park that is filled with extensive trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding.

“I’m doing everything I can to try and make sure Annadel doesn’t close,” she said, adding there was still a lot of work to cover the financial need. “Any role for the Regional Parks has to go before the Board of Supervisors, but I’m not going to bring them anything that involves any money. The whole thing has to be budgeted outside the county.”