FIRST DAY WALKS: California State Parks announces guided interpretive hikes at 4 state parks along the Mendocino Coast on January 1, 2012. These hikes are part of a nationwide effort of special hikes on New Years Day in state parks in all 50 states. This will promote state parks and participation in healthy activities. All of these hikes will take place on California’s North Coast in wintertime. Be prepared for cool temperatures.

WALK #1: Westport-Union Landing State Beach. Meet the docent at 1:00 p.m. at the park headquarters building at park main entrance, just west of Hwy 1. The park is located about 19 miles north of Fort Bragg, California on Hwy 1. This will be a 1 mile long moderate hike. This hike is suggested for children 8 years and older, and adults. Learn fun facts about the once bustling town of Westport from local resident Steve Brigham.

WALK #2: MacKerricher State Park. Meet the docent at 10:00 a.m. at the Laguna Point parking lot, from Mill Creek Road, three miles north of Fort Bragg, California, west of Hwy 1. This will be an easy three-quarter-mile walk along a boardwalk. This short walk will be filled with fun facts about MacKerricher State Park as you walk to an overlook above the ocean. Park Naturalist Teresa Hurray will lead this walk. The walk is suggested for children 12 years and older, and adults.

WALK #3: Russian Gulch State Park. Meet the docent in front of the recreation hall at the park at 12:00 noon. The park entrance road is located on the west side of Hwy 1, three miles north of Mendocino, California. This will be a moderate 5.5 mile out and back hike (2.75 miles each way) to the beautiful waterfall at Russian Gulch State Park. You will learn about the park’s natural history from Dave Jensen, renowned birder and naturalist. This hike is suggested for children 10 years and older, and adults. Bring water and snacks with you.

WALK #4: Mendocino Headlands State Park. Meet the docent at the Ford House Visitor Center at 1:00 p.m. The visitor center is at 725 E. Main St. in Mendocino, California. This will be a moderate 2 mile out and back hike (1 mile each way) to the bluffs overlooking the ocean. Park naturalist Fred Andrews will talk about the annual migration of gray whales between Alaska and Baja. Binoculars will be provided to look for gray whales swimming southward. This hike is suggested for children 10 years and older, and adults.

WHALE TALKS: California State Parks announces weekend whale talks at MacKerricher State Park! Talks will take place from January 7 through March 18, 2012. Knowledgeable docents will talk about the annual gray whale migration and about other marine mammals seen along the Mendocino coast. Programs are scheduled to begin every Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 a.m., from January 7, through March 18.

Talks will begin near the visitor center at the main entrance to MacKerricher State Park. Docents will provide binoculars and a spotting scope to help visitors study whales and other fascinating wildlife found near MacKerricher’s shores. After meeting at the MacKerricher visitor center, groups will then drive to Laguna Point, where you will walk out to look for whales. Programs are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday from January 7 through March 18, 2011

The Mendocino Land Trust invites the public to celebrate the Grand Opening of the Caspar Uplands Trail, on Sunday, March 13, 2011 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., at Caspar Beach in Caspar, California.  A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 1:00 p.m., followed by trail tours.  This event will be held rain or shine.

The one-mile Caspar Uplands Trail is the newest segment of Mendocino Coast’s California Coastal Trail.  The trail starts at Caspar Beach and ends at Point Cabrillo Drive near the northeast corner of the Point Cabrillo Light Station State Reserve.  This pedestrian trail winds through the southernmost stand of Sitka Spruce in North America, providing users with beautiful forest and meadow views, as well as an occasional glimpse of the ocean.  This trail was built as part of the Land Trust’s Coastal Trail Program.

Funds for trail construction and the Land Trust’s Coastal Trail Program are provided by a grant from the State Coastal Conservancy.  Additional State Prop 40 funding through Mendocino County helped complete the trail construction.  The Land Trust thanks the State Coastal Conservancy, Mendocino County, California Conservancy Corps, Surfriders, West Coast Landscaping, Caspar R.V. Park and Campground, Kendall Smith, Art and Jean Morley, Tamira Jones, and numerous trail volunteers for their support and collaboration in building the Caspar Uplands Trail.

Notably, the Caspar Uplands Trail is on a 55-acre property that Mendocino Land Trust plans to donate to California State Parks.  This conveyance is scheduled to occur in 2011.

In keeping with Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan for keeping parks open, California State Parks is today announcing the implementation of service reductions at parks across the State. The goal is to achieve the required cost savings while minimizing the disruption to park visitors as much as possible.

All of the service reductions are consistent with the Governor’s September 25 announcement of the kinds of service reductions the public could anticipate in order to achieve the budget savings necessary to meet severe budget restrictions.

The reductions are designed to minimize disruptions for park visitors, while keeping parks open and  achieving the $14.2 million in budget savings to help close the State’s budget deficit.

To achieve savings as quickly as possible, State Parks will begin implementing these cost saving measures all across the State in the next few days.

The service reductions came about through a process wherein each of the State Parks’ District Superintendents designed a plan for specific reductions tailored for each park within their respective districts.  A summary of some of the most common service reductions across the State include:

• Reduce days of operation by two or three weekdays at selected parks.  Other parks will close a portion of a campground or outlying day-use areas.
• Close and consolidate some park offices and/or reduce hours of operation.
• Reduce off-season lifeguard levels at some beaches.
• Remove some trash cans and fire rings from the beach and close roughly half of the restrooms at some beaches.
• Close many park visitor centers two or more days every week.
• Reduce the numbers of school tours and interpretive programs at many parks.

These service reductions are intended to ensure that California State Parks achieves its required cost savings while maintaining revenues at the highest level possible for the remainder of this fiscal year and while minimizing disruptions to visitors.

Some visitors may be inconvenienced by these service reductions; however, it is hoped that park visitors will understand and appreciate that their parks are remaining open, despite the severe budget reductions. The public can assist in several ways, including by hauling out their trash and helping to keep facilities as clean as possible for the next park visitor.

For the Mendocino District, all park units will have a reduction in public safety patrols, trash services, maintenance of facilities including restrooms, exotic weed removal and wildlife monitoring. Specific service reductions for the parks within the District are as follows:

Greenwood State Beach:

• Closure of vault toilet near the beach.

Hendy Woods State Park:

• Seasonal closure of campground – December 2^nd through March 25^th.

Jug Handle State Natural Reserve:

• Closure of Jug Handle office. Relocate office to open facilities.

MacKerricher State Park:

• Reduction in Visitor Center hours. Closed Monday – Thursday.

Mendocino Headlands State Park:

• Closure of the restroom facility on Main Street. Replace with portable toilet from Big River Beach.
• Reduction in Ford House Visitor Center hours. Closed Tuesday – Thursday.

Navarro River Redwoods State Park:

• Removal of two portable toilets from the Navarro Beach campground and one at the Mill House.

Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park:

• Closure of the Visitor Center including restrooms. Relocate offices to open facilities.
• Installation of portable restroom at the Visitor Center.
• Closure of one restroom at the Light Station.

Russian Gulch State Park

• Reduction in camping season – Closed until May 14^th

Schooner Gulch State Park:

• Closure of one vault toilet.

Van Damme State Park:

• Reduction in campsites. Reduce to 20 sites from Nov 1^st – March 25^th. Only 1 restroom remains open.
• Seasonal closure of Visitor Center from November 1^st – March 25^th.

The reductions above include combining offices, reducing the number of phone lines, reducing internet connections, lowering thermostat settings, reducing seasonal staff and not filling 9 vacant full time positions. Further reductions may be necessary if unexpected facility failures occur.

Why? By monitoring seabird populations you can measure the health of the ocean and determine whether there is sufficient food to sustain birds and marine life, says LeValley. He and others in the volunteer-staffed science project are counting and photographing cormorant nests and chicks weekly off Mendocino Headlands State Park (Brandt’s Cormorants), Point Cabrillo Light Station (Pelagic Cormorants) and Noyo Harbor off the jetty (Brand’s Cormorants).

In the past — for decades actually — scientists have measured the bird populations at the Farallon and Alcatraz Islands and then extrapoled about the ocean’s food supplies and health, according to LeValley

“If we took those traditional measures as our guide, we would arrive at the wrong conclusion because reproduction around San Francisco Bay is the worst in a long time,” says LeValley. “By contrast, our local colonies are thriving, indicating a healthy ocean.”  A healthy population of sardines is reflected in the bumper crop of baby cormorants this year.

LeValley predicts that the Mendocino Coast will become an important place for gathering information about seabird success and state’s ocean health in the future. In fact, he plans to make a presentation of the local group’s study at the 2010 international meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group in Long Beach, California.

Summer Programs at MacKerricher State Park
California State Parks announces free, guided interpretive programs at MacKerricher State Park.  These programs will be presented every week through September 6, 2009. All programs are led by park staff or volunteers.

Big River Interpretive Walks are free of charge and open to the public.  The 2009 Interpretive Walks will occur on the following Saturdays at 10:00 a.m., weather permitting: May 2, May 16, June 6, June 20, July 4, July 18, August 1, August 15, September 5, September 19 and October 3.

Each Interpretive Walk begins at 10:00 a.m. at the Big River Kiosk located at the eastern end of the Big River Beach parking lot south of Mendocino.  Walks cover a total of two to four miles, are moderately paced and last for one to two hours.  Anyone under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult.  Comfortable walking shoes, water and binoculars are recommended for anyone attending.

This year, ten Big River Docents are returning to share their knowledge with the public.  Big River Docents attended five training sessions in 2008 to learn from recognized experts about the special qualities of Big River.  Before the start of the 2009 season, the docents had the opportunity to attend two additional training sessions featuring Lance Johansen on Big River local folklore and Skip Wollenberg on the underlying geology of Big River.

I’ve also been seeing a lot of brown pelicans lately. The picture is of a juvenile, according to a bird expert friend, since the bill is still orange, and his colors aren’t developed yet. I love watching them fly in a column just above the water!