Page 12 - Sonoma County Gazette - October 2017

TRAILS cont’d from page 1
the work of non-profits such as SCTC will be a vital part of the equation. Wells, who cut his bureaucratic chops as manager of Sonoma County’s
integrated waste from 1992 to 2008, began his tenure with SCTC when he moved to Sonoma County, serving on the board, intermittently as president.
Originally a mountain biker, he was involved in advocacy for five years with ROMP (Responsible Organized Mountain Bike Peddlers)—now Silicon Valley MBA—in Santa Clara County. Later, he was involved in the formation of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition in the early
part of the 21st century.
“My career path took me from Seattle to Los
Angeles and then Sonoma County and thought, ‘where’s the mountain bike group?’” he said. “There wasn’t a mountain bike group, but there was the Trails Council. I heard about it thought, ‘this is a great way for human beings to live on the planet.’”
In 2010 the Council was searching for leadership when Wells stepped up take the reins.
“In 2010, I retired from the county, so I had more time on my hands,” he continued. “I was sitting at a board meeting and the question came up as to who paid the PG&E and no one was sure, so I offered to take over the administrative tasks at a stipend of six hours per week.”
Land for parks
The acquisition and preservation of large tracts of undeveloped land kicked into overdrive in 1990 when the Open Space District was created through the passage of measures A and C. The District is funded by a quarter-cent sales tax that generates about $21 million a year. That tax was extended through 2031, via the passage of Measure F in 2006.
At the time, there was enough in the budget for Wells to carry out the duties for six months, but
it turned into a longer-term commitment than
he expected, eventually leading to a full-time position.
Ken Wells moving mountains
Parks crisis threatens public access to open spaces
Open Space General Manager Bill Keene believes there would have been mass park closures had it not been for non-profits stepping into the void.
His tenure began just in the nick of time too, as 2012 brought a series of crises to state and county parks systems that threatened to shutter several state parks and seriously curtailed the ability to maintain open spaces.
“We wouldn’t have had love for parks and open space if it weren’t for them,” Keene said. “Their non-engineer work is invaluable: Trail maintenance and some of the stuff to improve Annadel could not happen without them.
A strong Trails Council is our eyes and ears on the ground... They’re ambassadors.”
The result of that crisis was a proliferation of public-private partnerships with several local non-profits stepping into the void to help with park maintenance
Keene sees Sonoma County’s approach to parks as a blueprint for how it
and management.
From the Sonoma Coast, where
Alongside Sonoma County Parks, Trails Council celebrates 50 years
can be done on a larger scale statewide. But it would not be possible without the dedication and teamwork that permeates the system.
Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods
assumed management of several coastal properties including Austin Creek State Recreation Area, to the inland parks such
as Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, where a partnership of five non-profit organizations—SCTC included—dubbed Team Sugarloaf have worked to maintain the parks, local non-profits have stepped into the void left by financial crisis.
“We’re good a acquiring and can provide seed money,” he said of the District, “We’ve more than doubled parkland since the formation of the district in 1990. When there is a need, the non-profits step up: It’s not about egos, it’s about who’s the best partner, who can take on this challenge.”
“All of a sudden, everything was in turmoil,” Wells said. “But crisis was the opportunity.”
Parks and open spaces serve the residents
of Sonoma County in ways that go beyond enjoyment for the people who live here. The rural quality of the North Bay Area has a huge economic impact, as tourists come from all over the world to enjoy its bounty.
Opportunity expanded
In the wake of that period, SCTC has expanded its work in the park system to include trail creation in two of Sonoma County’s most recent acquisitions, Fitch Mountain Park and Open Space Preserve in Healdsburg to Taylor Mountain Regional Park.
“Open space raises property values and creates jobs in a tourist-based economy,” Keene said. “When they come here to drink wine, what do they do? They ride bikes and visit the coast. The Sonoma coast is the highest use park in the state.”
The Council’s first trail construction project was Sonoma Mountain’s east slope connecting the park to Jack London.
Another partner in the creation of public spaces is Landpaths, which owns or manages several properties throughout
“Our most challenging project was an ADA trail at Jack London State Park,” Wells said. “It’s five feet wide and perfectly smooth, hard packed. We were measuring things to the 10th of a foot at a 3 percent grade.”
the county, including Willow Creek’s People Powered Park; Riddell Preserve, a 400-acre park near Healdsburg; Rancho Mark West, five miles east of Santa Rosa; Grove of Old Trees, west of Occidental; Bayer Farm Neighborhood Park and Gardens, an urban park in Roseland; Bohemia Ecological Preserve, near Camp Meeker, and Fitch Mountain in Healdsburg.
But the icing on the cake, is a $1.7 million grant approved in January 2017 to build eight additional miles of trails at Taylor Mountain, which was purchased by the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District beginning in 1995. The land purchase cost about $21 million over the course of a decade.
Each of the properties has some type of public access, either directly or through LandPaths’ guided tours. TRAILS cont’d to page 13
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