Trail Project Crew Leader Training: Feb 4 & 5

The Central Texas Trail Tamers is hosting free crew leader training sessions – if you regularly lead volunteer workdays or would like to, please consider signing up at trailtamers.org!

Many of you have gone on numerous long-distance projects over the years and have helped on perhaps as many local projects, but have you ever noticed how these crews seem to be led by the same people over and over again? We have about half-a-dozen people, including me, who continually lead crew after crew. We really enjoy doing this, but we’d love to share this exciting part of trail taming with more of you!

Leading a volunteer crew can be fun and rewarding! Come learn more about the details and exciting opportunities by attending one of the following classes that are scheduled on these dates:

1. The first 2-day class session will be held on FEB. 4th & 5th from 6-9pm at Wild Basin Preserve. Snacks & beverages provided. FREE to CTTT members and Austin Parks Foundation members.

2. The second 2-day session will be held on MAR. 4th & 5th at the same location & time period. Snacks & beverages provided. The class is FREE to CTTT & APF members.

Everyone who attends will receive a handy Crew Leader Manual and a Certificate of Completion.

To register online, go to www.trailtamers.org and click on the link for either class session. Class size is limited so register soon!

Happy trails!

Lynda DeGroot
Vice President & Planning Director
Central Texas Trail Tamers

Oct 28 – Austin Oyster Adventure Race

On Sunday, October 28th, 38 teams of 3 people competed in the first Austin Oyster Adventure Race. Developed and produced by Team Sage Productions of Denver, Colorado; Austin is the fourth city to host the race (Denver, San Francisco and Seattle being the others.)

Austin Parks Foundation is the non-profit beneficiary (yeah!) and we helped with over 30 volunteers at REI downtown and various checkpoints. On the left are some photos of teams from two checkpoints – Mt. Bonnell and Shoal Creek Trail between 9th and 6th Streets. A lot of fun! Teams ran, biked, rolled, walked to seven different checkpoints, taking photos, finding clues, buying produce and many other tasks. More info at www.austinoyster.com

It’s My Tee Shirt!

We are still getting compliments on our 2006 It’s My Park! Day tee shirt, designed by Enviromedia. Today I even received this picture in my email – of Jessica from Keep Austin Beautiful wearing the shirt on her vacation to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. It’s a good reminder-Austin Parks Foundation is just a small piece of the puzzle. Wherever we go parks are there for all of us to enjoy and protect.

I hope next year’s tee-shirt design can live up to this one – Jessica promised to get a picture of herself wearing it on Mt. Kilimanjaro!

Come visit us at ACL Music Festival!

Austin Parks Foundation is the presenting non-profit foundation of the Austin City Limits Music Festival again this year and will be tabling at the Good for Austin tent that will be located either near the SoCo Art Mart or near the AMD Stage. Come visit us – we’ll have info on our latest projects funded by ACL Music Festival, our latest quarterly newsletter, info on Austin parks and more.

West Austin Park Amazing

I stopped by West Austin Park last weekend. There’s a renegade garden growing by the kiddie pool with beautiful flowers and ripening cherry tomatoes. What a nice gift to the neighborhood! (I probably shouldn’t say that if it is really renegade… let’s pretend I didn’t.) The main attraction, for me, though, was checking out the newly terraced off-leash area.

West Austin Park has one of the only fenced off-leash areas in the city. It’s on a steep hillside. For the past few years, the Canine Social Club has been fund raising, planning and agitating to complete a terracing project. The new terraces protect the trees from erosion and will hopefully prevent the park from turning to mud every time it rains.

Dog parks really bring people together, don’t they? The couple times I’ve been to the park, I’ve noticed the amazing sense of community present there. Everyone said hello, remembered each others names and the names of their dogs, checked in about neighborhood news, and relaxed while their dogs frolicked. A nice Austin experience. If you want to stop by, the park is on 9th St, west of Lamar.

Haikus We’ve Received So Far – What do you think?

Please comment and let us know which of these you think best expresses Austin Parks Foundation. I’ll be adding more haikus as they come in.

1. Eternal summer
   We might rely on A/C
   But for Austin Parks

2. Laying foundations,
   Town Lake, Barton and Shoal Creek,
   For generations.
3. Trees, a trail, a bench
   A green place built by neighbors
   hands – This is a park.
4. Neighbors gather at
   the park: move rocks, plant trees and
   Celebrate green places

Volunteer evening at Shoal Creek

On Friday, June 1, REI and Austin Parks Foundation hosted our first National Trails eve volunteer worknight (vs. day) We had over 50 volunteers come out between 8-11 pm and collect, haul and place rocks to fill a flood damaged section of creek side just above 6th St. We’ve included a before and an after picture here.

Our volunteers enjoyed (maybe it was the Amy’s Ice Cream) so we’re going to another one, this time at West Avenue where it meets Shoal Creek. June 21, 6-9 pm – the longest day of the year. We’ll be doing some trail surface repair (rock moving and shoveling)

Parkland Dedication Ordinance Changes Update

The Austin City Council held a public hearing and vote on proposed changes to the Parkland Dedication Ordinance at the City Council session on June 7th, but did not vote on the ordinance due to a snag in how the agenda item was posted for action. So, the council will vote on at their next regular session on Thursday, June 21st. We’ll keep you posted.

But to recap, on May 25, the Austin Parks Foundation Board of Directors approved the following statement of support for the proposed changes to the City of Austin Parkland Dedication Ordinance:

The Austin Parks Foundation supports broadening the application of the Parkland Dedication Ordinance to apply to all residential developments of four or more units, at a fee level that supports abundant, vibrant parks. The city of Austin should not reduce the parks and recreation budget to offset amounts raised by the ordinance. We support fees being used on capital improvement projects or on parkland acquisition within the neighborhood planning area, or, if no neighborhood plan exists, within a one-mile radius of the fee area.