The Sun’s Anna Pier sat down with the Jack London Park Partners executive director in her office in the basement of the House of Happy Walls.
You’ve been with Jack London State Park for six years now. What are some of your greatest satisfactions? There are so many. The creative programs that we’ve put in place here, for instance, health and fitness hikes for the community, and the environmental literacy program for 7th graders. Our partnerships with the school district, Transcendence Theater and Art Escape. And the 100,000 annual visitors – up from 40,000 when I started. And the successful capital campaign to renovate the House of Happy Walls. And our volunteers. When I began, there were about 100, and now we have 400 volunteers. They do everything from being docents to restoring the historic orchard to just plain weeding.
What is your background? Most of my life I’ve worked in environmental management. I was in L.A. working as an Open Space advocate, then I moved to S.F. for a position fundraising with the Sierra Club. I worked for their Legal Defense Fund, which became Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund. I was with EJLDF when it birthed Rachel’s Network, which empowers women as environmental philanthropists.
Why were you interested in this small park venture? I’m a place-based fundraiser, like in my work for the S.F. Zoo. You can change social phenomena by communicating through place. For instance, the 7th grade students bring environmental ideas from the park back to their sites. I believe it is important to utilize a place to allow people to make connections to the natural world. That can be a life-changer for kids. It doesn’t get much better than that!
How did this opportunity come about? In May 2012, as part of a budget-balancing effort, Gov. Brown planned to close a number of CA state parks, including this one. Jack London Park Partners became the first non-profit to enter into an operating agreement with the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to prevent the Park from being closed. I was living in Marin, doing nonprofit consulting, and learned of the opening for executive director of the organization.
How are these nonprofit-state park partnerships working? Working well. The DPR wants to maintain them. Each park has become much more essential to the community around it. We have great visitor feedback. Between 89-91% of visitors rank their experience as “excellent.” You know Sugarloaf Ridge State Park was also slated to be closed, and has been kept open through a nonprofit headed up by the Sonoma Ecology Center.
Tell me about your early years at the Park. I was hired by a tiny board. We developed a matrix of the skills needed on the board, and recruited to get them. I have a most wonderful board – the sum is much greater than its parts. It took about two years to get income-producing programs in place, so you could sleep. When I started, the sky seemed to be the limit to what you could do. We had lots of small, incremental successes, building momentum. Most of it was great fun work. It was a heady time.
What have been some of the most challenging aspects of the job? In the beginning, figuring out the roles and responsibilities between us and the Department of Parks and Rec. For me, following CEQA – California Environmental Quality Act – was a steep learning curve. Also, it was a start-up and we had no furniture, no computers, and we needed to raise money not only to keep the doors open, but there was a lot of deferred maintenance, especially on the trails. And it was scary competing for money with lots of other established organizations.
How are the Park’s finances? And we’ve doubled our budget. And I am very pleased that it is split 50/50 earned and contributions. The earned income comes from a combination of Transcendence Theatre Company, rent venues, and concession horseback riding.
What are some of the things you dream of for the Park?
Of course there’s a list: a new roof on the cottage; repairing the crumbling Wolf House stone walls; ongoing stabilizing of the winery ruins; and, very importantly, creating defensible space.
Where did you grow up and where do you live now? I was raised on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley. “Place” has always been important to me. I live in Glen Ellen now, on about four acres. Sonoma felt like “home” the minute I moved here – I love the landscape and the value placed on open space – the abundance of wild life and the sense of community among the people who live here.
Jack London Park is a National Treasure. One February, I started walking down the path to Wolf House. I was alone. Then I saw a sign: Rattlesnakes. It was winter and I figured they would not be out sunning. But then: Mountain Lions present. I waited until I heard voices before proceeding. It was a couple from Ohio. I didn’t see any Mountain Lions. Didn’t want to either as I am too old to run!