New Project: Executive Director Salon
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The Fund’s first-ever Executive Director Salon was attended by Executive Directors from the Great Basin National Park Foundation, Point Reyes National Seashore Association, Pinnacles National Park Foundation, Rosie the Riveter Trust, San Francisco Maritime National Park Association, and Sequoia Parks Conservancy. Five board members also joined the session, for a total of eleven participants.
The all-day workshop was facilitated by Will Murray, a private management consultant providing his services pro bono. The goal was to identify and discuss skills and knowledge of value to National Park support organizations.
The group strengthened relationships that will help them in their future work. They expressed appreciation for “interaction with Park non-profits on their experiences with the topics presented” and “sharing ideas, issues, fundraising strategies, and more with other park Friend Group leaders.”
Below: the salon group at dinner in the boat room of the 140 year-old Dolphin Club
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OMG!
In Death Valley in summertime, people who need to be air lifted out of the park may have to be driven to 3,000 feet because helicopters can’t operate in the heat at lower elevations.
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In the wind-swept heart of the Owens Valley, Manzanar is one of ten camps where American citizens and US residents of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated during World War II. The names of over 10,000 internees are included in a graphic in the visitor center. The park aims to tell their stories.
A replica watchtower represents the eight watchtowers positioned around the border of the camp, equipped with searchlights and machine guns. Two reconstructed barracks and the mess hall of Block 14 show the stark conditions of daily life. Further afield are Japanese gardens and ponds, built during incarceration, that have been excavated. Over 560 oral histories have been collected and recorded. Many have been used to identify remnants of life in the camp. Creative activities at the camp, such as gardens and artwork, speak of the hope and resistance of the prisoners
.
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Japanese American community activists, along with allies in the Valley, worked to have the camp designated as a National Historic Site, succeeding in 1992.
The Manzanar Committee
raises public awareness about the incarceration and, organizes
a growing annual pilgrimage to the site. In 2017 a group of 2,000 former internees, their families and friends gathered to honor the past and carry the lessons of this experience into the future.
The park also helps preserve the history of the first inhabitants of the Owens Valley, the Pauite/Shoshone. A recently opened exhibit features the Button Family, who took on the surname of their employers during the farming era when orchards planted. Some trees survive and are being tended by the NPS.
Superintendent Bernadette Johnson works closely with Gary Saito, President of the
Friends of Manzanar
which is dedicated to ongoing enhancement of the site.
Below: Block 18 by F.M. Kumano, 1944
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Fun Facts for People in Parks
SF Maritime National Park
Association presents a
sea music concert series
aboard the 1890 ferry Eureka, where you can listen to work songs, drinking songs, ballads and instrumentals.
Manzanar National Historic Site
has a
virtual museum
online where you can hear oral histories and browse images such as the bird pin above, made by by internees from wooden egg crates, bits of wire clipped from windows and twigs found on the ground.
Below: b
ird pin made by Yoneguma and Kiyoka Takahashi, 1942-45.
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The S
F Maritime National Park A
ssociation supports SF Maritime National Historical Park with publications, including the Sea Letter, a magazine of West Coast maritime history, and programs that include restoration and operation of the Pampanito, a World War II Balao class Fleet submarine, open for visitors daily at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.
The Association's Age of Sail program alone serves more than 10,000 students annually. Aboard the historic Balclutha at Hyde Park Pier, the students immerse themselves in an eighteen hour experience of history. Comments from a class at Paul Revere Elementary give a glimpse of their journey:
"We were pretending that it was 1906 and it was right after the big earthquake and fire! We were recruited by Mr. Ramos as green hands. Our goal was to learn the jobs on a ship and work as a crew to get the ship ready for sailing to Oregon to bring back lumber to rebuild San Francisco." (Carlos, 4th grade)
The Fund is partnering with John Tregenza, CEO of the Association and Superintendent Kevin Hendricks to re-create the Balclutha’s carpenter shop and has made a grant to replace the sails on the Grace Quan shrimp boat.
Below: a school group aboard the Balclutha, taking orders as "greenhorns"
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Hi friends,
Join us for a holiday celebration in collaboration with SF Maritime National Park Association as a thank you to our donors and supporters.
Tuesday December 5 , 5:30- 7:-00 pm
Maritime Research Center
Fort Mason, San Francisco
Happy Trails!
Bob Hansen
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Trailblazer editor: Bernadette Powell
The Fund receives its non-profit status by operating as a project of Community Initiatives, a 501(c)3 group based in San Francisco that provides fiscal sponsorship services to nearly 100 selected public benefit organizations. Community Initiatives was established by the San Francisco Foundation in 1996 to be “
In Service to Great Ideas
.”
Our mission is to provide private funding and professional services to complete inspirational projects that enhance the visitor experience in western National Parks.
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