OAKLAND — Those who enjoy the outdoors are fortunate to have several wildland parks in Oakland — parks that aren’t part of the East Bay Regional Park District.
These parks, with their towering redwoods, wooded canyons and flowing creeks, are a favorite destination of residents and visitors.
But how many understand who is behind keeping Joaquin Miller, Dimond, Dimond Canyon and Leona Heights parks safe — such as the work involved in maintaining trails, clearing tree fall, creating drainage and repairing trail signs.
These jobs fall to the nonprofit organization Oakland Trails, who, in collaboration with Friends of Sausal Creek, Friends of Joaquin Miller Park, Bicycle Trails Council and the City of Oakland, log thousands of volunteer hours a year promoting, maintaining and enhancing these parks.
Promotion is the first part of the equation, letting people know these parks exist. Stan Dodson, executive director and founder of Oakland Trails, advocates with Oakland’s Public Works, and Parks and Recreation Department. He’s producing a second documentary, “Old Survivor”, and leads free hiking trips through the parks, with the next one scheduled May 28.
“I advocate for the parks through elected officials, I meet with them regularly, not just for funds, but to make sure they know I’m available to take folks on a private tour to show off our wildland parks,” he said. “I also take school groups, the kids or leaders into the parks.”
Maintenance has increased greatly over the past two years, mainly the result of Oakland Trails volunteer Park Patrol Program, launched in June 2016. The program has 60 volunteers who have gone through training that teaches them to be super-stewards — welcoming and assisting park users, with trail maps and advice.
One of park patrol’s biggest responsibilities is to report trail maintenance issues and monitor SeeClickFix. Once reported, Dodson rallies volunteers to resolve the problem. Last year, 230 trees were cleared that had fallen on trails. This year, 30 have been cleared to date.
“The first year, we logged about 250 hours of trail maintenance. Last year, we logged about 800 hours,” Dodson said. “Now that we’ve grown, the park patrol is logging about 300 hours a month in general. The trail system would essentially be closed if it weren’t for trail volunteers.”
Where enhancement or long-term projects are concerned, Oakland Trails recognizes that there are a lot of stakeholders in the parks with different passions. Whenever a maintenance report comes in, Dodson works with the city and his friends in the other organizations.
“The more stakeholders the better and that includes the city because it’s their land and it’s really important that we maintain a good relationship with the city and staff so we can continue to work together,” he said.
Dodson prioritizes work, starting with multi-use trails, and often partnering with Bicycle Trails Council. This group leads monthly trail work days, often in Joaquin Miller Park, and can have 20 to 30 members show up to help with clearing fallen trees or rerouting a trail.
Any time a project is near the creek or concerns native plants, Oakland Trails partners with Friends of Sausal Creek, who do a survey, flag and monitor sensitive plants. Their work was invaluable when a new crib wall was built on lower Palos Colorado Trail in Joaquin Miller Park and the trail was rerouted.
“Oakland Trails took over getting resources we needed and the volunteer labor to get a new crib wall built. The second half was cutting in the new trail,” Dodson said. “We collaborated with the Friends of Sausal Creek trail crew. They showed up with about 20 volunteers and cut 80 feet of new trail out.”
Oakland Trails works with the city of Oakland through Adopt A Spot, an official agreement with rules that define what can and can’t be done, so that things are done right.
“An important part of Adopt a Spot is we log our hours and Public Works has access to that and can see what we’re doing,” he said.
A few times a year, Oakland Trails will partner with the city and have Public Works come in with power equipment for a project.
Even with an all-volunteer force, work requires funds. Having taken on big projects, Oakland Trails’ budget is about $10,000 a year, going to purchasing tools and materials.
Support comes from online donations from residents to larger amounts from local businesses, corporations and other nonprofits, such as Friends of Joaquin Miller Park and East Bay Hills.
The members of Oakland Trails and the other organizations are proud that their work has kept trails open that the city might have closed because of unsafe conditions.
“Although we’re taking the leadership because we have so many park patrol volunteers, this collaboration is so important,” Dodson said. “I really appreciate all the mutual respect between the organizations.”
FYI
Oakland Trails: https://oaklandtrails.org. Tax-deductible donations to benefit projects in Oakland’s wildland parks. Free Memorial Day, May 28 hike: https://oaklandtrails.org/hiking-tours/.
SeeClickFix: download the app at https://en.seeclickfix.com/oakland. Take a photo of a problem, give location, description and submit.