Deploying its cadre of dedicated volunteers and generous donors, Jack London Park Partners has managed Jack London State Historic Park since 2012, preserving the park’s natural character and recreational opportunities for more than 100,000 visitors each year. For its success in maintaining the former home of one of California’s most beloved writers, Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, is naming Jack London Park Partners his Sonoma County Nonprofit of the Year.
“Collaboration is vitally important to ensuring the future of cherished lands, and Jack London Park Partners (JLPP) is the model for how to do it right,” Sen. Dodd said. “With their excellent stewardship, we’ve been able to enrich the park’s welcoming and hospitable culture and pursue restoration projects for visitors to enjoy for generations to come. I’m honored to recognize Park Partners for their outstanding public service.”
“Sen. Dodd’s recognition is especially meaningful because of his steadfast advocacy for Jack London Park Partners and the innovative public/nonprofit partnership we have formed with the State of California,” said Matt Leffert, Jack London Park Partners executive director. “This honor fills the hearts of our dedicated staff and volunteers who keep Jack London State Historic Park thriving for our community and beyond. And, most importantly, the senator’s support helps us to continue to positively transform lives of thousands of young people who experience the power of nature through our environmental education programs.”
The 48-acre Jack London State Historic Park opened in 1960. JLPP assumed management during the state budget crisis of 2012, at which time California State Parks had announced plans to close the Glen Ellen facility, despite an international following. JLPP has run the facility ever since, helping to increase annual park visits and increase park revenues. It was the first nonprofit organization to take up management of a state park on behalf of California. Park Partners is the outgrowth of Valley of the Moon Natural History Association, a citizens’ group established nearly a half-century ago to support the interpretive needs of three parks in Sonoma County.
At Jack London State Historic Park, which features a home and other structures built before and after London’s 1916 death, as well as his gravesite, JLPP supports all functions, organizing hundreds of volunteers to advance cultural and recreational programs, create educational exhibits, displays and signs.
Among the organization’s noteworthy accomplishments over the past dozen years are the award-winning restoration of the cottage London and his wife Charmian lived in on their aptly named Beauty Ranch, plus the completely re-imagined House of Happy Walls Museum, which interactively brings the story of Jack and Charmian London to life. Another Park attraction that drew thousands of more visitors and enhanced park revenues by hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Transcendence Theatre Company, remains excluded from performing there until a long awaited environmental impact review is completed. California State Parks has not yet revealed when that Negative Declaration review will be approved.
Be First to Comment