Happy Earth Day

We are feeling a little extra love for our state parks today … today being officially Earth Day.

We say officially because last Saturday, April 13, we had CSPF’s Annual Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup. We hold this event every year in which we coordinate projects in state parks across the state and bring out awesome sponsors and volunteers to work in their local park for the afternoon.

This year we had Earth Day events at 24 state parks. 2,580 volunteers came out to work in those parks, and they did an incredible job! The volunteers planted 116 native trees and 1,740 native plants. They also removed a lot of non-native plants: 402 bags, 902 cubic yards, 3,000 square feet, 975 gallons, 8 truckloads and 10 tarps full. Not to mention 408 bags of trash and 49 bags of recycling.

See them in action:

Angel Island

Auburn

Benicia State Recreation Area

Candlestick State Recreation Area

Candlestick State Recreation Area

Folsom Lake

Forest of Nicene Marks

Half Moon Bay State Beach

Jack London State Historic Park

Malibu Creek State Park

Montana de Oro

San Clemente State Beach

San Onofre State Beach

Sonoma Coast State Beach

We are so grateful for our volunteers and sponsors. A big thank you to PG&E, Chevron, Oracle, SoCal Gas, Edison, Virgin America, Chipotle Mexican Grill, KIND Healthy Snacks, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Starbucks Coffee and The Fruit Guys.

Happy Earth Day all!

CSPF’s Earth Day is this Saturday

Just helping the earth over here

This Saturday, April 13, hundreds of Californians will get out of bed early, throw on an old pair of jeans, and head to their local state park to volunteer at our 16th annual Earth Day Restoration & Clean Up presented by PG&E. It’s one of our most fun events of the year, and we are looking forward to it!

We think there’s no better way to celebrate Earth Day than by getting out to a park you love and get your hands a little dirty planting seeds, pulling weeds, building fences, painting railings and fixing up campsites. Plus, it’s cool to know that there will be folks all across the state at 24 different parks working towards the same good cause.

Most of our 24 sites filled to capacity (because our volunteers are awesome!) but a few sites still have open space. Consider walking up to volunteer at one of these parks Saturday morning:

• Auburn State Recreation Area
• Benicia State Recreation Area
• Doheny State Beach
• Jack London State Historic Park
• Mt. Tamalpais State Park
• Picacho State Recreation Area
• San Clemente State Beach
• San Onofre State Beach

These could be your helping hands

We are, of course, extremely grateful to our Earth Day sponsors whose generous contributions of grants, volunteers and in-kind donations make this event possible. PG&E, our presenting statewide sponsor, provided $210,000 to fund project sites across the state. Our other awesome sponsors include Chevron, Oracle, Southern California Gas Company, Edison International and Virgin America. Our in-kind sponsors providing fuel to our hungry volunteers are Chipotle Mexican Grill, KIND Healthy Snacks, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Starbucks Coffee, Noah’s Bagels and The Fruit Guys. Yummy stuff!

So we’ll see you bright and early Saturday morning, earth lovers!

In 2013 I Will Volunteer in a California State Park

It’s a new year, which for many means a time to write a list of resolutions to improve ones self and become a better person. One of the noblest resolutions is to spend more time volunteering in the coming year.

Volunteering is usually a feel-good activity no matter where you spend your time. But we at the California State Parks Foundation think the most feel-good place to volunteer is in the great outdoors. You can’t beat the feeling of sun on your skin and ocean breeze in your hair while you help make the park you love more beautiful for other visitors like you.

So as part of your New Year’s resolution, consider adding “Volunteer in state parks” to the list. One great way to help is through our Park Champions Program. There will be plenty of work days throughout 2013 so be sure to check the calendar!

Happy New Year!

Volunteers Head to Malibu Creek

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”
–Muhammad Ali

Malibu Creek State Park is a popular Santa Monica park that has been the set for many TV shows and movies, including M*A*S*H, Planet of the Apes, Love Me Tender, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Pleasantville.  Although it looks great on the big screen, these days it needs a little extra TLC to maintain it in all its glory.

Malibu Creek State Park
Photo © Brent Durand

Thankfully, we have a throng of awesome volunteers heading to Malibu Creek this Saturday to fix it up. It’s all part of our Annual Earth Day Restoration & Cleanup event.  Normally our Earth Day takes place in April, but this year we had to reschedule due to heavy spring rains.  We are glad the big day has finally arrived!

Volunteers, Edison International employees, park rangers, CSPF staff and Malibu Creek Docents will all work together to restore the lawn by planting several hundred native grasses and plants, remove other non-native plants and conduct general cleanup of the Visitor Center area. This is a great opportunity to do this clean-up because in a few weeks there will be water in the creek. They will also be putting up a temporary fence to protect the plants from the deer while they are getting established.

We are very grateful to Edison International, whose grant has made this day possible. (Volunteer registration is full.)

CSPF Annual Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup 

Statewide, thousands of volunteers each year plant native trees and community gardens, restore trails and wildlife habitats, remove trash and debris from beaches and parklands and make overdue repairs to fences and boardwalks. Since its inception in 1998, CSPF’s Earth Day Restoration & Cleanup program has resulted in — 76,000 participants contributing more than 305,000 volunteer hours worth over $6 million in park maintenance and improvements.  Additionally, the program has awarded more than $1.35 million to state parks throughout California.

Our next Earth Day is scheduled for April 13.  Stayed tuned for opportunities to register as a volunteer at a state park near you!
http://calparks.org/programs/earth-day/

Vandals?! Volunteers to the rescue!

The aftermath. Hard to look at. Photo credit: Christina Vargas

We were very sad when, only days after 160 volunteers spent their Earth Day working in Candlestick Point State Recreation Area with us, we heard that vandals had broken into the park’s community garden and destroyed it.  They ruined gardening tools and thousands of native plants, including some that had been growing for years and were supposed to be planted in the nearby Yosemite Slough in order to help restore the sensitive wetlands.The damage also reversed most of the work done by our Earth Day volunteers.

After the shock wore off (Why?! It’s so horrible!) we realized these vandals shouldn’t win, and we started mobilizing to do something.

Our partners at PG&E, Literacy for Environmental Justice, Virgin America and Oracle all stepped up and agreed to schedule a new volunteer workday to undo the damage that had been done. The workday is taking place tomorrow (Saturday, June 2) and it’s going to be awesome! Volunteers from these organizations will replant native plants, fix community garden boxes and work to remove the old fence around the garden.

Why remove the fence? Because PG&E has generously donated $15,000 of additional funding to build a new, more secure perimeter fence around the garden to help keep something like this from happening again. Read more about that here.

If you’d like to join these awesome volunteers tomorrow morning, we’d love to have you. Please register on our website.

If you’d like to help but can’t come to Candlestick, you can do something right now by donating to the cause. Donations to help fix the garden can be made on our website.  Also be sure to “like” PG&E’s Facebook page, because for every like, they will donate $1 to this project.

Take that, vandals!

Earth Day Volunteer Photo Gallery

Thank you to all the volunteers who came out to work in 19 state parks across the state on Saturday, April 14 for our Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup. Here are some highlights of the day!

Getting signed in

Painting duty

Adorable AND hard working

Painting the guardrail

Group shot!

State park staff worked hard to get the projects ready for volunteers

CSPF staffers get volunteers signed in

Off to work

DPR Director Ruth Coleman speaks to the crowd

Presenting Earth Day Sponsor PG&E made this great volunteer day possible

Working in the community garden

Volunteers work to restore the community garden

No shortage of work for these volunteers

Strike a shovel pose

Removing garbage like a champ

Hard working kids

Welcome volunteers!

Surprise guest: llamas!

Pulllll!

That looks heavy

Edison International employee not afraid to get dirty

Make your own tostada station!

DPR Director Ruth Coleman announces the Mission will stay open thanks to a partnership with Friends of Santa Cruz!

Whitewashing the Mission

Volunteers needed! Can you help?

We need more volunteers for our 15th annual Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup on Saturday, April 14. It’s a fun day spent outdoors in your local state park doing large-scale improvements and renovations like trail maintenance, repairs, campground restoration and more. What better way to spend Earth Day than outside helping your state parks?

Registration is still open for the following locations:

• Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park (Napa County)
• Dockweiler State Beach (Los Angeles County)
• Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline (Alameda County)
• Millerton Lake State Recreation Area (Fresno County)
• Montaña de Oro State Park (San Luis Obispo County)
• Patrick’s Point State Park (Humboldt County)
• Rio de Los Angeles State Park (Los Angeles County)
• San Onofre State Beach (Orange County)
• Sonoma Coast State Beach (Sonoma County)

To register as a volunteer, please visit our website. Pre-registration allows us to plan for tools, materials and refreshments. Groups of 10 may sign up under one name. Will we see you there?

   

Volunteer for Earth Day with David Chokachi

Chokachi for Earth Day

CSPF and our friend David Chokachi invite you to help state parks this Earth Day by volunteering with us in a park near you.

This year is our 15th Annual Earth Day Restoration & Cleanup on Saturday April 14, 2012. We have volunteer projects planned at state parks all across the state. In a time of budget cuts and staff shortfalls, Earth Day provides an opportunity to get involved in your local community, while helping state parks with long overdue maintenance and improvement projects.

You can register online at calparks.org/earthday or by phone at 1-888-98-PARKS. Come join in the tradition and help preserve California’s state parks.

But don’t take our word for it. David will tell you!

Freshly Squeezed Philanthropy

We recently received a letter from a very special member named Kai. This 8-year-old park lover told us about the awesome fundraising project he and his family did this summer. Here’s what his letter said:

“To the California State Parks Foundation-

This summer I had a couple of lemonade stands to raise money for the California State Parks that Jerry Brown is going to close. I donated $100.90 on your website, so the parks can stay open. I go camping with my family and friends a lot, and I love all of the state parks. I hope they stay open forever.

Sincerely,
Kai”

There's always money in the lemonade stand*

How cool is that? Not only is that a very generous donation, but Kai obviously cares a lot about helping state parks. As Kai’s dad told us later:

“Our family had a wonderful time raising money with the lemonade stand, and people were so willing to help when we put a human face and story on what the loss of some of our state parks might mean for future generations of Californians (and the US). We’re big believers that our state parks are treasures and in the idea that going back to Nature now and again helps us to restore balance in our modern lives. To lose access to something that makes California unique would be such a loss for everyone.”

What a great way for a family to do something great together. A big thank you to Kai and his family. Have your friends or family raised money for state parks in a creative way? We’d love to hear about it!

*Enjoy a taste of that Arrested Development reference here.