This week, the San Mateo County Parks Foundation made another gift to the San Mateo County Parks Department. Thanks to our wonderful donors, this gift of $151,826 allows several programs and projects to move forward. They include:
- Continuing to offer low-income, public transportation-dependent communities the opportunity to access our stunning parks through the County Park Shuttle. The Park Shuttle is a free weekend service with two routes that connects the communities of East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks and Downtown Redwood City to two parks: Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve in Redwood City and Wunderlich Park in Woodside.
- Rerouting a section of the Alambique Trail in Wunderlich Park which was washed away by a mudslide during our winter storms. The affected area lies at the Bear Gulch Trail’s intersection with Alambique Trail and prohibits hikers and equestrians from accessing Skyline Blvd through Wunderlich Park. Park rangers are currently working on a reroute and we hope the trail will be open for use in the next few months.
- Installing new trail signs in all coastal county parks from San Pedro Valley to Mirada Surf and Quarry Park. These new trail signs will clearly tell park visitors where they are going, how long it will take them to get there, the trail’s level of difficulty and what amenities are nearby. Perhaps the coolest feature is that each trail sign has a number that corresponds to a number on the park map, so one can easily see where they are in a park, relative to other trails.
- Continuing efforts to re-establish the federally-listed Bay checkerspot butterfly to Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve. This effort includes transferring larvae and adult butterflies from a population on Coyote Ridge in Santa Clara County to Edgewood Park. This is paired with habitat restoration efforts like mowing annual grasses which allows the butterfly host plants to thrive. The Bay checkerspot butterfly is found only in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
- Covering the transportation costs for low-income schools and after school programs that want to take their kids on field trips, but lack the funding to do so. We believe every kid in San Mateo County should have the opportunity to hug a redwood tree and explore a tidepool firsthand.
In addition, we continue to fund the Volunteer Program, Bicycle Sunday and the Summer Conservation Crews.
We also co-sponsored the first ever Coyote Point Kite Festival which attracted nearly 500 people to the park on a beautiful summer day. The Berkeley Kite Wranglers worked their air and wind magic with giant animal kites. Lots of people brought their own kites or designed one of the donated kites and the afternoon was kicked off by taiko drummers from the San Mateo Buddhist Temple. The event was a lot of fun and will be back next summer!
All of this has been made possible through the generous support of our donors. Thank you for helping us steward our parks and open spaces!