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APRIL 1998 NEWSLETTER We have already had two Board meetings this season and encourage interested volunteers to attend. New ideas and diversity of talents are what keeps the SGVA continuing to develop and prosper. To mention two talents, among many, we have Jim Fuller and his ever-favorite astronomy nights and Michael Gordon’s fantastic web site. Board meeting dates are listed on the enclosed season’s calendar. Please join us. The annual training/indoctrination day is scheduled for May 2nd at Barton Flats, 8:00 a.m. This is always a special day for me, but regretfully I will miss this one. I’ve promised my wife Patti that we will celebrate our 25th anniversary in Europe -- so to postpone that trip would hardly be in my best interests towards another 25!! So, for the veteran volunteers, please make our new recruits feel at home -- remember your first day, the enthusiasm and questions you had. For our new volunteers, be sure to ask questions, relax, and enjoy the day. You will receive lots of information, but don’t panic. You will have veteran volunteers with you most of the season to help and guide you. There will be two interesting trail work events that you might like to participate in. On June 6th, in conjunction with National Trails Day, we will work on a rugged stretch of the trail tread south of Coon Creek Group Camp, and on July 17-19 we will brush a section of Momyer trail from the Dobbs Cabin area past Saxton Camp toward Plummer Meadows. More information will be in future 4-Victors. Tom Rutledge, who owns the Angelus Oaks restaurant and lets us use the facility for summer Board meetings, took a serious fall down an ice chute while on a mission with Search and Rescue. He is recovering at Casa Colina Rehabilitation Hospital in Pomona and has made fantastic progress this past month, getting around without a wheelchair and building strength and stamina. I would like to add to this a note on safety: with all the snow this El Nino winter has brought, we may find some areas still covered with a tough crust and very slippery. If you have any doubts or are uncomfortable, do not venture farther. Trail work, meeting and educating the public and checking camp areas are goals to be achieved only if they can be done safely. I am looking forward to seeing you all again and meeting all the new folks. Let’s all work together to make this another great season. Don’t forget to have fun – I think that was one of the main reasons we all volunteered for this, right? ‘Til then, Roger Gossett
The Editorial staff welcomes Ann Robinson who will serve as "layout editor." Pat Peters and Jan Gudgell will continue as Editor and Publisher for the season and hope you will help make this an interesting publication by sharing your ideas, articles, stories, bits of information, happenings on the trail, etc. The deadline date for submitting articles will be the last Tuesday of each month. Please send your editorial contributions to: Editor, 4-VictorP.O. Box 487 Calimesa, CA 92320
Business Manager and Volunteer Coordinator, John Flippin, reported that the budget for the year is financially sound and that the Merchandise Managers, Bonnie and John A. Flippin, are busy researching new and varied sales items. If you have any ideas or suggestions you think might sell, please let them know. The SGVA awarded a $500 scholarship from the Fotheringham-Fuller Memorial Fund to Malena Heinzen, a hard working volunteer who will be transferring from junior college to Humboldt State University in August. Malena is a very deserving and capable young lady whose desire to study forestry and related management areas began while she was a member of AmeriCorps. She planted trees, constructed trails, built houses with Habitat for Humanity, and served international guests at the Olympics in Atlanta. Malena was one of our most active volunteers last summer and will work again for part of this summer before heading up to Humboldt in northern California. Malena said, "Thank you. Your scholarship will allow me to have a career conserving and managing natural resources as well as preserving historical and wilderness areas for future generations." Upon successful completion of her first term with a 2.5 GPA, Malena will receive an additional $500 stipend. We wish Malena all the best and thank her for her dedication to the environment and public service.
Cindy McGregor reminds us that on April 25th we will have our first Cal-Trans trash pick-up. The Whispering Pines Trail will also be raked and any trail maintenance that might be needed will be done. Meet at the Whispering Pines trailhead at Highway 38 and Jenks Lake Road West at 9:30 a.m. Bring a lunch and water. Other scheduled trash pick-up days are June 13, August 8, and October 3. If you have any questions, please call Cindy or Joe at 909-780-7051. Editor: Cindy and Joe McGregor have served ably as our coordinators for this project for several years. Please come and support their efforts! Besides, you never know what treasures you might find along the highways and byways! Val Silva, past SGVA President shares this with us about her meeting with Wallace Baker and his llamas at the Back Country Horsemen of California rendezvous held in March. "Wallace will be a new llama packer in the San Gorgonio Wilderness area this summer. He breeds, sells, packs, and sells the wool of his 21 llamas. He is aware of and understands natural horse phobias as they relate to seeing or meeting llamas. He and I agreed that a controlled meeting might be best for introductions rather than a jaunt up to Dry Lake!! I invited him to bring his llamas to Tulake Camp occasionally beginning in May so that you horse folks and your horses will have an opportunity to get acquainted. If you have any questions, please call me, Val Silva, at 909-760-868, ext. 2133.
John's Quick Notes, Updates, and Reminders First Aid Training… Be sure you have a current basic first aid card/certificate. You will be reimbursed up to $20 for your training. Snow, Snow, Snow... We’ve received lot of it this year. Hooray!! Volunteer Michael Garant has given us periodic reports – about 10 feet at Dry Lake now (not dry this summer) and over 18 feet in the flat, protected areas near the San Gorgonio summit. Graffiti Attack... On the beaches of Mill Creek, above Thurman Flats, an advanced team of six volunteers landed with Alfredo Zarate and John Flippin. Lloyd Eggebrecht, Roger Gossett, Del Hawkins, Terry Licht, and John Wegner were the volunteers who cleared out a trail across the Mill Creek wash to enable an assault force of graffiti busters to storm the beach with all their equipment (including a sand blaster) the following day. The volunteers cleared a lot of rock and small boulders to reach the multiple channels of Mill Creek. Huge, brightly colored graffiti covered many gigantic boulders on the far side of the deep, swift running channels. Of course, studies have proven (or would if they existed) that boys cannot be near water for any length of time before finding an excuse to play in it. So we decided that a temporary diversion dam would enable the impending assault force to get their heaviest equipment closer to the graffiti. The beautiful warm, sunny day may have led to several of us "accidentally" getting a bit wet. But we toughed it out and the volunteers can be proud in knowing that the graffiti is gone – until the next delinquent da Vinci comes along. How To Attack a Tack Room...On a recent sunny Saturday, ten brave volunteers and Forest Service personnel descended on the old tack room and adjoining Wilderness patrol supply/tool room at Mill Creek. Their mission – to clean, repair, paint, search, and destroy. Their challenge – peeling paint, rotting wood, old junk, bugs and black widows, a ton of mouse nests and droppings, and a dozen mouse mummies (what, no daddies?).With a couple of insect bombs and the skill of our volunteers, the old tack room (now the new sign room for Wilderness and dispersed areas) and the supply/tool room look better than they have in 10 years. The courageous volunteers were John Dombrowski, Craig Konrad, Joe McGregor, Bill Ostic, Chuck Phelps, and Jeff Stevens. Leading the battle were Forest Service personnel Karen McKinley, Alfredo Zarate, Marc Stamer, and Larry Vincent. After a long day, a little sweat, a lot of laughs, and more than a few donuts, the exterior of the building looks very fashionable with those sharp light and dark green hues. The interior is clean and ready for at least 10 more years of valuable service. I’m sure the mice are smiling and ready to move back in. Thanks to all you volunteers for a job more than well done. Wanted: Handyman/Woman for Mountain Projects. We’ve got a few, and will have more, one- or two-person mountain projects requiring some handy volunteers – I know we have several. If you have your own tools and would like to take care of a small interesting project or two, please call John Flippin at 909-790-2157. Materials are reimbursable. Projects currently looking for a handyman/woman are:
If you’d like to be of service on one or more of these projects, grab another volunteer you know, if you think you need a helping hand, and come on up for some fun in the great outdoors. Exotic mountain Getaway in the Tall, Cool Pines... We are getting ready for another exciting summer at the Barton Flats Visitor Center. Our basket weaving, bear chasing Barton Flats managers, Ed and Lane Lutz, will be back to take care of us at mountain central. We also have a new couple, Marcie and Glen Riddle, coming from Arizona to be assistant managers for July and August. However, we do not have anyone lined up yet to give Ed and Lane a hand before and after July-August. So we are looking for volunteers who would like a private place of their own to stay at in the mountains for at least a couple of days at a time during May 15-June 30 and September 1-October 11. Primary duties will be light maintenance around the Center and staffing the visitor desk. Volunteers can stay overnight in the old green Forest Service trailer (the Green Palace) which has cold running water, electricity, and propane. Volunteers calling first will have their choice of nights to stay over. However, to meet our most pressing needs, volunteers able to stay from Friday noon through Sunday afternoon or entire holiday weekends will be given priority. But don’t assume we’ll have a volunteer to stay all weekend every weekend. If you can only stay Friday or Saturday night, give us a call. Please call John Flippin, 909-790-2157 to make your exotic getaway reservations. And Finally, a Note to the Past President... In the last newsletter, Val Silva, out-going (friendly, too) President, said that I know everything and that I am essentially the SGVA. Well, Val is a very kind person, or she is some kind of person. Anyway, I certainly don’t know everything. I don’t know what’s on the other side of the universe (but I’m not too concerned, considering the distance), I don’t know why they call them apartments (they are together, not apart). That’s most of what I don’t know, but I do know that you volunteers are the SGVA, not me or any other one person. We are a collection of many outstanding volunteers -- like Val Silva going into her 15th summer with us, continuing as our equestrian coordinator and our Horse Meadows interpretive-site chairperson. It is a pleasure knowing Val because someone who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world. Remember… Things are more like they are today than they have ever been before, and there is nothing that can be done in a short time that can’t be done just as well in a long time. John Flippin Editor: Thank you, John. Your contributions help make our 4-Victor interesting reading.
With continuing decreases in Forest Service personnel and funds, the SGVA is in a critical time of transition. We continue to move from an Association funded almost entirely by the Forest Service to one funded almost entirely by profits from our merchandise sales and by the generous donations of our contributing members. And this comes at a time when the public needs more service in the forest and the forest needs more care due to greatly increased use. Without greatly increased taxes and use fees, the only way these needs can be met is through working volunteers and contributing members. Many who know the great value of our forests and wilderness areas may not have the time but have the monetary resources to help the SGVA continue to "Serve, Protect, and Educate." New or recently renewing contributing members to whom we and forest visitors owe much thanks are: Regular Contributing Members ($20 or more annually)
President’s Club ($100 or more annually) Friends of the Big Bear Valley Preserve Michael Garofalo Paul Garofalo Malcolm Heppenstall John Podolsky Suzanne Roat Santa Ana River Cabin Association
Minimum Impact Tip of the Month When traveling in the wilderness, take only photographs, leave only footprints.
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