Trailblazer

Hi friends,

We've added exciting new projects to our portfolio including helping to install nearly three dozen wayside exhibit panels at numerous locations in Death Valley, recreating the carpenter’s workshop on the Balclutha sailing ship at SF Maritime, purchasing a display case for a rotating exhibit of artifacts from the Death Valley museum archive, and adding viewing scopes, benches, and information panels along Hossmer Grove trail at Haleakala National Park, Maui.

Happy Trails!      Bob Hansen 
  Opening Up New Park Experiences  
From the visitor center at the west entrance to Pinnacles National Park, you will soon be able to hike the new two mile Jawbone trail which leads to the Chapparal trailhead into the pinnacles. Trail construction is underway. New wayside exhibits along this trail are in design. Seven signs and five benches will be installed along the first half mile of the trail, which is universal access. These amenities, provided by the Fund, will enhance enjoyment of the spectacular terrain, with grassland and oak woodland stretching to the base of the rock spires.  Project completion is anticipated for late fall of 2017.   
"The communications and collaborations between us have consistently been positive, productive and stimulating" 

Superintendent Kevin Hendricks on working with The Fund for People in Parks
Featured Park: Death Valley National Park
The scope and scale of Death Valley National Park is hard to comprehend. It's over four times the size of Yosemite National Park and has over 1,000 miles of paved, graded dirt, and 4X4 roads. The elevation of its desert and mountain landscape ranges from Telescope Peak at 11,000 feet to Badwater at 282 feet below sea level  - the lowest point in North America. 

Visitors from round the world are fascinated by the intense heat regularly experienced in the park.  A record 134 °F (56.7 °C) was recorded on July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek -  the hottest atmospheric temperature ever recorded anywhere on earth.  Desert features include salt flats, numerous springs, basin and range topography, and sand dunes which can be seen in five different areas of the park. The Eureka dunes are the highest in California at 680 feet high. Dante’s View Point, a mile high, dazzles with its 360 degree vista.

Rain falls rarely here but the results range from fragile wildflowers blooming on stony ground to destructive flash floods. The Scotty’s Castle area was severely damaged in 2015 flooding and is currently closed until at least 2018.

Visitation has been over a million for the past three years and reached a record of almost 1.3 million in 2016. The "superbloom" of that year drew visitors to sights such as the fields of Desert Gold, pictured below.
OMG Fact: visitation to national parks reached a record high in 2016 - well over  330 million!
Featured Park Partner:  Point Reyes National Seashore Association

The Association is almost as old as the park (1962).  Its two main activities are: running environmental education programs for nearly 5,500 youth and adults annually and helping the Park Service with projects that preserve and maintain wildlife habitat, trails, and historic sites.  

The Association has also been able to complete sizable restoration project. It partnered on the Giacomini wetland restoration which returned  613 acres of farmland at the south end of Tomales Bay to species rich wetland. Another significant initiative they’ve been tackling is repair of the Seashore's 150 miles of trails.

Samaria Jaffe, Executive Director since 2013, works closely with Cicely Muldoon, Superintendent - pictured together below. 
Cicely Muldoon says “ in recent years Point Reyes National Seashore Association has really ramped up our ability to serve under-served youth by bringing kids from all over the Bay Area to the park. They are a fantastic park partner.”
Fun Facts for People in Parks

On Monday August 21st John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon will be in the center of the path of totality of a rare total eclipse of the sun. They are expecting an influx of visitors!

San Juan Islands National Monument is the site of an American and a British fortifications that were built up in 1859 in response to a border dispute triggered by the killing of a pig. The park tells the tale of how international negotiation avoided yet another full on war between the Americans and the British.

In addition to historic ships, SF Maritime is home to almost 30 antique vehicles parked on the vehicle deck of the steam powered Eureka Ferry boat at Hyde Street Peir.  Among them is a Ghirardelli chocolate wagon.  
Thank you for your support for The Fund for People in Parks! 
Bob Hansen (415) 730 0946

Our mission is to provide private funding and professional services to complete inspirational projects that enhance the visitor experience in western National Parks

The Fund for People in Parks is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.