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![]() Volunteers are always welcome at Heaps Peak Arboretum. Each year more than 100,000 forest visitors benefit from ROWIA's activities and you can be a part of the team. CLICK HERE |
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FRIENDS OF THE ARBORETUM NEWSLETTER
ROWIA AUTUMN 2018
GLORIA’S GLEANINGSGood News! You can now donate to ROWIA on line. We are one of the organizations in San Bernardino County’s Give Big campaign. The big day is October 30th, but you can contribute any time in the next year by going to https://www.mightycause.com/organization/ Rim-Of-The-World-Interpretive-Association/settings. We thank you for your support, financial and otherwise.
The spring and fall plant sales were successful. As usual, we sold out of dogwoods at the Spring plant sale and took orders for more of them.
If you’ve been to the Arboretum lately, you might have noticed the big- gest change that we’ve had staffing the information booth six days a week instead of just on weekends. Many thanks to Tim Wilcox for meeting and greeting visitors from Tuesday through Friday. (See Tim’s article for details.)
If you’ve looked at our web site lately, you will notice some changes on our home page. We are now advertising that we are open from dawn until dusk instead of 24/7. (Thanks, Tim, for that idea.) We’ve had lots of daytime visitors this summer and early fall, including a Girl Scout troop from Orange County that were there in June. A new troop from Crestline visited in September and were led on a guided tour by Tim Barany. Gina Richmond led a tour for homeschoolers in early October.
We have had the loop trail at Switzer Park re-paved, which should make it an easier walk.
Thanks to Christine Smiley for giving out information on the Arboretum at the Running Springs Farmer’s Market on a couple of Saturdays this summer. Many thanks, too, to Ken Witte for all his efforts to maintain the trail and take care of all the things that need to be done at the Ar- boretum. Thank you to Ellie Maitre and Michelle Belangar for all their work to make the garden area look so good.
GIVE BIG. BE GREAT!
Your donation will go directly to help main- tain and improve HEAP’S PEAK ARBORE- TUM, a natural treasure high in the San Ber- nardino Mountains. Visitors to this unique National Forest destination will benefit from your generosity. Donations to the Rim of the World Interpret Association benefit the approximately 120 vis per day through increased opportunities to interact with the environment and learn to appreciate the value of the forest ecology. Your donation will help develop STEM projects for students to meet school science outcomes.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE ARBORETUM
This is the terminus of the drinking fountain dated 1965. It has been now cleaned out and has water in it. The drain is connected and there is evidence that wildlife is again using the waterer.
One of the 20 Ponderosa seedlings planted in the Arboretum.
The seedlings hopefully will look like these Jeffreys and Sequoias.
These were planted after the OLD fire in ‘03 and are located at the very north end near the Fire Interpretive Sign
Erosion control measures. The railroad ties were an Eagle Scout project with Arron Scullin’s friend. As you can see the water has bypassed the treatment. We have laid branches and may backfill with rock to slow down the erosion. This site is upstream from the Sequoia Grove.
Why do they call this area the Rim? Because we are on the rim of the largest watershed in Southern California. Traversing down the middle of Highway 18 into the Arboretum and then between the cedars on the west of the Sequoia trail is the obvious natural crest of the north basin of the Mojave drainage and the south basin of the Santa Ana River. SAWPA (Santa Ana Water Project Associa- tion) are giving these signs away. Furthermore, they have a selfie contest in to take a picture in front of all the 36 signs in the watershed. Hint: one of them is in front of Hortentia’s Cliff Hanger.
OUR INFORMATION BOOTH
For visitors to the Arboretum, such as the Àbrego family from Redlands, the information booth is a helpful starting point.
An arboretum is all about trees, shrubs, flowers and other plants. It’s about wildlife as well. Of course, it’s also about people.
With that last category in mind, members of the ROWIA Board of Di- rectors took action at their June 4 meeting to expand and enhance the hos- pitality offered to people visiting Heaps Peak Arboretum. Specifically, they voted to staff the arboretum’s information booth six days a week rather than the usual two. Through mid-October, the booth was open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and not just on weekends. Tim Wilcox, who was in the booth on weekdays, reports that average daily attendance from early June on was about 70. The Fourth of July and Labor Day saw well over 100 guests. According to Wilcox, visitor counts were taken during booth hours, and the arboretum is actually open dawn to dusk.
“Most visitors were pleasantly surprised to find the booth open on a weekday,” Wilcox says. “They were happy to be able to buy Forest Service Adventure passes and other items on site and to have their questions an- swered.” He adds that “ROWIA believes it was an important public service, a courtesy we extended to as many arboretum visitors as possible during another busy summer in the mountains.” Currant or Gooseberry Family GROSSULARIACEAE Sierra GooseberryRibes roezlii
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT Ron Esposito has been help- ing the Arboretum for over 7 years. A graduate from Rim High and a Vietnam veteran who has fought cancer twice and won, he started with repairing fences, and then worked on the switch back that the public was short cutting. He then helped Ellie and Michele pull weeds and Ron cleared the weeds all the way to the west of the bathroom. You will rarely see Ron during the day, but late in the afternoon or even early night you might see the light that he wears on his head working removing rocks in the trail or working on his current project the west Garden. Early this spring he used a wildflower seed mix and some seeds of left over from our plant sale to reseed that garden. As the picture attests, he has done a fine job. We congratulate him on how beautiful it looks. It will take much work since the Wild Rose also likes to drink with the flowers. He says that he loves giving back for the enjoyment the Arboretum has given him and his brother for many years. 5
Michelle Belangar & Ellie Maitre
Students volunteering at the Arboretum on Earth Day
PLEASE JOIN US
We Need your help!
Volunteering begins with membership in ROWIA. Your annual dues help fund the efforts at the Arboretum. Your membership entitles you to our special events and our newsletters. Our annu- al events include our Spring Plant Sale held on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and our Fall Plant Sale held on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer even if you can only give four hoursonce a month, please contact Elaine Shaw at 909.867.7187, or [email protected]Volunteer opportunities include:Information Booth Host Greets and fields questions from the public, sells Adventure Passes and mer- chandise and informs visitors of our self-guided and guided tours. Also directs visitors to other natural sights in the forest. The Information Booth is open most Saturdays & Sundays from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
Interpretive Trail GuideConducts guided tours of the Arboretum’s Sequoia Trail highlighting the trees, plants, animals, ecosystems and the history of the San Bernardino Mountains.
Trail Maintenance/PatrolPatrols and maintains the Sequoia by removing litter, making repairs, servic- ing check dams and bathroom facilities. Also keeps watch for vandalism and answers visitors’ questions.
Demonstration GardensIntroduces new plants, maintains existing plants and flowers and helps with planning future additions to the gardens.
Please visit www.heapspeakarboretum and click on Volunteer Opportunities and let us know what your interests are. Do you have a hobby or particular skill/talent you would like to use in this program? If so, please let us know.
Training is provided for all positions
ROWIA News Editor, Sandra Koos 7
ROWIA News
Rim of the World Interpretive Association PO Box 1958, Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352 <p style="text-align:right; margin-top:0 |