dawn.p
Feb 10, 2018, 4:22:11 PMto PC-RCPR Neighborhood Watch Info
Hi Neighbors,
The Board of Directors (BOD) of the Friends of San Jacinto Mountain County Parks (“the Friends”) met with County Park Rangers. Anthony Miller and Margie Valdez on Friday morning. The County changed the agreement between the Campground and the Friends last year and, effective January 2018, Friends membership does NOT provide free daily access to the park.
However, everyone agrees that this should be changed. And we are working together to establish the business case that will support transit access (walking) through the Idyllwild County Park for Friends members.
Please understand that Anthony Miller (currently the Ranger in charge of the campground) was not in his current position when the rules were changed. And I was not on the BOD of the Friends at that time. And, I want to make sure that the information that I share with you is completely accurate. Therefore, I’m going to work with Anthony and the current and past Presidents of the Friends to provide a short history of how this occurred and to share the ideas we’re floating to resolve this issue.
For now I suggest that we all recognize that Anthony and his staff are employees and do not have independent authority to change the rules. They do recognize the value that we bring by walking through the park.
I’m confident that this will get worked out. But, given that it is the County, it may take a few months. Please be patient.
Below my signature, I’m listing a few of things that “Friends” membership still supports. We are hoping that transit access through Idyllwild County Park will once again become a benefit.
Thank you,
Dawn
Membership in the Friends of San Jacinto Mountain County Parks supports:– Educational activities for school children visiting the Nature Center- Inventory for the store in the Nature Center- Improvements to the Nature Center museum- Events such as WildFlower Days- Financial donations to all parks in our area (Hurkey Creek, McCall Park, Nature Center, Idyllwild Park Campground, Pine Cove)- Lemon Lilly bulb propagation and restoration- Volunteer coordination
sunny1roxy
Feb 10, 2018, 4:31:02 PMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.comThank you so much Dawn for this information. The efforts you go to, to keep us all connected and informed is very much appreciated.
kathystyles01
Feb 10, 2018, 4:44:53 PMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.com
Great information, Dawn–thank you so much for sharing this and for representing our concerns at your meeting! Will be interested to see how this discussion progresses but regardless, I will continue my Friends membership in support of the Nature Center and other programs. I’m sure as long as the county is willing to consider the position of Idyllwild residents, they will come up with a reasonable solution. Please let us residents know if we need to provide any written support of this issue to anyone at the county level.
Thanks again,
Kathy
dawn.p
Mar 18, 2018, 2:43:06 PMto PC-RCPR Neighborhood Watch Info
GOOD NEWS about access to Idyllwild County Park Campground
Membership in the Friends of San Jacinto Mountain County Parks (the “Friends”) once again includes access to the Idyllwild County Park Campground including parking and use of the picnic area. We are in a trial period that will be evaluated to determine if this is a win-win situation.
In exchange, the “Friends” will provide financial donations and volunteer time. For example, the Friends may begin suppling dog waste station bags and be recognized with signage attached to the dispensers. We may also support the creation of signs posted along the meadow explaining the native American history, the ecological significance and the reason for the protected status. And we will ocassionally call for volunteer support to clean up after a snow play day or to clear space around the outside of the fire rings during fire season.
I have attached a scanned copy of the Friends membership application. Currently, there is not a level of membership for lodges and rental properties. If our trial period succeeds and continues, we will come up with a level of membership that allows membership cards to be used by visiting renters.
As a reminder, membership includes free access to the Nature Center, a number of day-use passes that are good at all Riverside County Parks and, most importantly, it supports the educational events that occur at the Nature Center.
I want to thank Anthony Miller, the head Ranger, for championing this trial period. Anthony has also volunteered to attend our monthly Friends Board of Directors meetings so that he can better understand and respond to the needs of the Nature Center facility as well as the mission of the Friends organization. I am personally very grateful for his quick attention to this matter.
Lastly, if you simply don’t want to purchase membership with the Friends and you don’t want to buy the annual pass to Idyllwild County Park, there is a third option. You can become an official volunteer of Riverside County. As a volunteer candidate, you’ll undergo a background check and once approved you’ll receive a badge that provides free day-use of all Riverside County Parks. Go to http://www.rivcoparks.org/home-page/ for more information (note the website is under revision through March).
Thanks and feel free to reply with any questions or concerns! Anthony is also on this email thread.
Dawn PapailaFSJMCP_Membership_App.pdf
kathystyles01
,Mar 19, 2018, 7:21:18 AMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.com
Great work–I too am surprised that this issue was addressed and a solution in the works so quickly. Thanks to you all!
Kathy
maramark
Mar 19, 2018, 11:35:59 AMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.com
Good work Friends/Dawn/Anthony!!!
Mara
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John Jacobs
,Mar 22, 2018, 9:59:37 AMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.com
Dawn-
Impressive that this moved as quickly as it did- and much appreciated, too, as this has been a longstanding source of friction amongst local residents and Idyllwild County Park.
A few questions about Friends of San Jacinto Mountains County Parks:
Where are the membership funds directed (i.e. projects, organizational costs)? Does FSJMCP have sole discretion over these funds, or does Riverside County Parks have any kind of control over them?
Is there an expectation that a local resident who becomes a member of FSJMCP will help participate in activities related to sites other than Idyllwild County Park?
How many people are current ‘Friends’ in FSJMCP?
What is the source of the historic resistance that RivCo Parks has had to residents doing simple dog walking in a Park that is immediately adjacent to their homes? Is it solely a funds generation issue for the Park, or has there been a problem with management of dogs (i.e. leashing, dog waste, etc.)?
_________________________________
John Jacobs
Pine Crest – Riverside County Playground Rd. Neighborhood Watch
888.522.9001
Idyllwild, California 92549
dawn.p
Mar 23, 2018, 10:53:47 PMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.com
Hi John,
I will research your questions and get back to you. I’m the secretary and rejoined the Board after a two year hiatus last December. A lot of changes occurred while I was gone so I want to make sure I’m giving you good information.
One thing I can answer for sure right now is that we have about 330 members and there is no obligation to volunteer once you become a member. We put out announcements requesting volunteers as needed but we don’t expect all members to be able to participate.
Most of the events and associated support are for the Nature Center. Some trail maintenance is performed each year and yet it’s hard to define the boundary between the campground and the Nature Center. We learned recently that this relationship between the campground and the Nature Center is unique. Frankly I don’t think we fully realized they were completely separate entities until this year. So technically FSJMCP had not been providing monetary or volunteer support to the campground. This is what we will change.
We have provided some supplies to Hurkey Creek and our volunteers who work at the Nature Center encourage visitors to check out all 5 County parks on our mountain.
I’ll share the mission and the information you requested about our operating expenses in the next week or so. We are pretty simple. No one is paid.
Dawn
Chiosso, Joe
Mar 24, 2018, 8:05:40 AMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.com
Thanks Dawn for all you do.
dawn.p
Apr 4, 2018, 9:19:25 PMto pc-rcpr-neighborhood-watch-info@googlegroups.com
Our Treasurer, Brett Wehn, provided these answers to John’s questions about the “Friends” use of membership fees:
Our administrative expenses were roughly 28% of total expenses in 2017 (this was high due to additional accounting fees to correct some errors by our previous bookkeeper). Most of our expenses go to provide crafts, speakers, advertising, and entertainment for school groups and the seasonal events (Wildflower Show, Butterfly Daze, Labor Day, and Trail of the Acorn). We also make donations of supplies, equipment, merchandise, and improvements for the Nature Center. We provide food and drinks for volunteers at the events. These funds are allocated at the discretion of the FSJMCP Board. While our financial contributions are intended to benefit the Nature Center, the County does not have any control over FSJMCP funds.
Dawn Papaila