Locals keep Sonoma Valley’s state parks alive and healthy

Five years ago, the California State Parks system was in crisis. Budget numbers showed the system might have to close as many as 200 of the state’s 278 parks, due to a reported shortfall of some $54 million during the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Closure would have been draconian. “At this time, it is my understanding that closing most state parks will mean that all services and staff are removed, bathrooms are closed, utilities are turned off and gates are closed,” a spokesperson from the California State Parks Foundation was quoted as saying at the time.

Eventually only 70 were slated for closure, five of which were in Sonoma County: Annadel, Petaluma Adobe, Austin Creek, Sugarloaf Ridge and Jack London State Historic Park. Many others had services and hours cut.

The threat to local parks prompted a grass-roots movement to “rescue” the parks, leading to the alliance of several area nonprofits, community groups and volunteers that came up with formula to keep the parks open. At Jack London that meant the creation, in 2011, of Jack London Park Partners – the first organization to enter into an operating agreement with State Parks to keep a park open.

“When State Parks threatened to close JLPP, the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association determined to keep it open and developed a business plan,” said Chuck Levine, a board member of the Jack London Park Partners group that resulted. “Over time, the Board of VMNHA has acquired new members with the skills critical to successfully running a park, including environmental, legal, development and marketing.”

Mike Benziger, whose winery property borders the park, became chairman of the new group; they hired Tjiska Van Wyk as executive director, a role she still serves in today. Though Van Wyk’s expertise was in fundraising for environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife, she had no executive experience.

Van Wyk thinks that may have been why they hired her.

“First and foremost, our challenge was raising the income we needed to operate the park,” says Van Wyk.

The park was slated for closure, which meant there were no funds and precious few resources to share. When Jack London Park Partners took over operation of the park on May 1, 2012, there were issues of deferred maintenance – from unsafe back-country trails to wear and tear on the historic buildings. And with the budget cut-off, there was no staff.

“Believe it or not, when we assumed management at the park, we had 100 volunteers step up,” says Van Wyk today. “Everyone said at the time, don’t get used to it because they’re going to go away once the urgency of the issue is behind us. But now, we have about 450 volunteers – it just continues to grow.”

Visitation, too, is up – from 43,000 to over 100,000 a year. Even the budget has increased, from just under $400,000 in JLPP’s first year of operation to almost twice that now. Reminds Van Wyk: “We get no funds from the state whatsoever. That was part of our operating agreement with State Parks, that we would be responsible for raising all the earned and contributed income for operating the park.”

Being forced into a community support model may have helped make Jack London a success story, and it may have helped the state parks system as a whole.

“These local management models are actually increasing community participation,” says Van Wyk. “That goes a long way toward assuring the future of state parks.”

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park experienced much the same anxiety about closure, but supporters responded in a slightly different way – compiling a partnership of five area nonprofits that came to be called Team Sugarloaf, to protect and manage the 3,900-acre park. The Valley of the Moon Natural History Association is part of that partnership, as is Sonoma County Trails Council, United Camps Conferences & Retreats, the Robert Ferguson Observatory, and the lead partner – the Sonoma Ecology Center. Jack London Park Partners shares their volunteer program with Sugarloaf.

As at Jack London, public response was strong and positive. Richard Dale, executive director of the Sonoma Ecology Center, said at the time, “People tend to be supportive when they know it’s their own community trying to keep the park open.”

The SEC nominated John Roney to be park manager and, although he is technically an employee of the Ecology Center, running Sugarloaf is his primary obligation. Without the attraction of a celebrity like Jack London, Sugarloaf has to rely on its natural attributes to attract visitors, but it too has proven successful: June 1, 2012 is the official date that Team Sugarloaf took over operations, but like its down-Valley cousin, the park’s past five years are a success story.

Everything from mushroom hikes and birding forays to its Planet Walk and dark-of-the-moon Star Parties have given Sugarloaf a steadily increasing number of visitors. Its budget for its first year of operation, 2012-2013, was just over $300,000; two years later that rose to $465,000, all of it covered by donations, entry fees and other fundraising activities.

Again, in visitation numbers, local management of Sugarloaf Ridge has proven a boon. The last full year the state ran the park saw 5,858 day-users, and 4,093 overnight campers. Five years later, day use had risen to 15,560, with almost 7,600 camping nights. Even the wildlife has improved: critter cams on the trails, and public observation, confirms that the bears are back in the park, too.

Now, five years later, the public-partnership management of Sonoma’s state parks has become business-as-usual. The anniversary is being recognized at both parks, though not by any big signature event. Jack London Park Partners recognized the anniversary with a press release, but Team Sugarloaf had to be reminded that they were coming up on the fifth anniversary – traditionally, and appropriately, celebrated with gifts of wood.

Not to be left in the dust, Sugarloaf is preparing to announce its own Five Year Anniversary party, on Aug. 27 at the Oakmont Recreation Center East. Until then, they promise free ice cream at the end of their May 29 Anniversary Family Nature Hike, and a Sunset Celebration Hike to Bald Mountain’s summit to see the full moon on June 9.

At Jack London, they’re offering a free annual pass to the fifth vehicle to enter the park on the fifth day of the month. But for the most part the anniversary is marked by a few key fundraising events as “celebrations of the achievement/anniversary” throughout the year.

On June 9, that’s a “Taste of the Wild” food-and-wine pairing contest, where five local restaurants elevate a regular dish with a spicy, special twist to create an “untamed” dish. Kenwood Vineyards will add its wines harvested from the vineyards at the park. A band will play and guests will vote on the restaurant that makes the best pairing; $75 tickets for that event are already on sale at jacklondonpark.com/taste-of-wild.html.

But you don’t need a ticket to celebrate Sonoma Valley parks’ five-year annivesary: you just need to get out in the woods.

Email Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.