County parks and open space update
Posted by pam arnsberger
November 19, 2015
Announcements and Reminders
Next week is dark (for Thanksgiving!)
Ian Wing spoke briefly about his Rotary experience in Japan as an exchange student, thanking the club for this opportunity. He is an artist and brought his paintings for us to see!
Rotarian of the week is Michelle Bassey for working on the fundraiser. She reported that there was a meeting last night. The idea this year is to do a roast and we will roast Sam Farr. Possible dates for the fundraiser will be circulated but it will be between next March and May (2016).
The youth exchange interview will be on December 6th. We’re looking for any possible host families.
December 2nd is the cabinet meeting.
Doug announced that Aptos Interact will do a bake sale to benefit Second Harvest the first weekend of December in different areas around Aptos. The Soquel Interact club will collect clothing for Homeless Services Center. Donations of warm clothing and socks are welcome.
Kelly introduced our speaker today, Jeff Gafney, from Santa Cruz County Parks Open Space and Recreation and Cultural Services. He graduated from San Jose state in 1993 and he assumed his current position in 2006.
November 19, 2015
Kelly introduced our speaker today, Jeff Gafney, from Santa Cruz County Parks Open Space and Recreation and Cultural Services. He graduated from San Jose state in 1993 and he assumed his current position in 2006.
He gave us a brief overview of recent history of the department. The department had difficulty surviving in the great recession, but Measure F passed and allowed the department to survive. We have 4 districts: Boulder Creek, Alba, La Selva and Opal Cliffs.
Mr. Gafney explained that there have been 3 efforts in this county with no agreement on doing an open space district in Santa Cruz County. The guiding precept now is how can we steward the open spaces we have e.g. add bathrooms. There are now 7 stakeholders involved in the negotiations including city and county entities. Also what about rail trail? Questions have arisen as to who is to manage that land. Another example is the Bureau of Land Management. North coast people are upset that they are not managing their land. Mr. Gaffney said it is an open question. Should the county do this? Or maybe an open space district?
Questions followed regarding jurisdictional issues, the role of the Nature Conservancy, the land purchased from Union Pacific, taking land off the tax rolls, the role of wildfires in the past and the related need to harvest some of the redwood trees.
Things we can do to help? One thing things is Seascape. Work needs to be done there, structural work and native pant restoration.