Welcome to the Foundation’s sixth E-News, an end-of-the-month monthly newsletter designed to keep you up-to-date with developments and progress related to the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail.
The ultimate Holiday Party! And gifts!
Don’t forget that December 12 is our night to thank you for all the hard work you’ve done with us this year! And if you haven’t met us yet, or have friends you think would enjoy themselves for an evening, do come. Courtesy of Luce Forward, this year’s Holiday Party sponsor, the drinks and the snacks are on us.
There’ll be great opportunities to buy gifts as well. You can buy your children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews a gift for 1,000 years - their very own native California Oak or Sycamore, to be planted near the Trail! And they get a certificate with all the relevant information on it, just about their tree.
Also up for adoption, for a limited time, will be 30 lonely miles of Mile Markers for the Trail, just needing some TLC. Adopt your very own Mile along the Trail for $1,000.
We’ll also be offering “Friends of the Foundation” membership packs. Buy a ‘Friend’ membership for a friend, and they receive a Foundation Friend certificate, the official Foundation T-shirt, monthly E-News, first invite to our special events, and more.
If you’d like to start your Holiday season shopping right now, click here. And do pass this URL on to all your friends, family and work pals.
We’ll also have a presentation of all the photos taken on Trail Day 2002 so if you see yourself in one of them and want your own copy, we can arrange that evening for them to be e-mailed to you.
Venue for the December 12 annual Holiday Party is the boardroom of Luce Forward’s Carmel Valley office: 11988 El Camino Real, Ste 200, San Diego, CA 92130, from 6pm to 9pm. So drop in after work and blow away all those pre-Holiday shopping blues! E-mail Kristen as soon as possible if you would like to reserve a space and attend.
Take only photos
This could be the outdoors photo competition of 2003 for San Diego County, if not the entire USA! At the Holiday Party on December 12, we’ll be launching a major photographic competition, “Take Only Photos". Based on life on and around the Trail, there’ll be 13 prize opportunities with thousands of dollars worth of prizes. Twelve winners will have their shots published as the online San Diego Sea to Sea Trail’s calendar, and the final winner’s photo (of the 12) will be the Trail’s official poster. For more information and entry forms, click here.
Grant success for the education program
Great news for the Foundation this month. The Alice C Tyler Perpetual Trust has awarded us $60,000 towards the education program. The purpose of the Trust is “to contribute to the improvement of the environment of the world, including the preservation of all living things, the land, waters and the atmosphere."
To further our goals and those of the Trust, we will be holding a series of six fun educational events in 2003, focusing on environmental and land use issues. They will be held out on the Trail itself, each location depending upon the event’s topic, and open to young children and their parents. Topics to be covered are:
- Fire ecology
- Desert life
- Coastal wetlands
- Water management
- Bird life on the Trail and at the Salton Sea
- Trail flora & fauna.
At each symposium, children will work with experts in their field to learn and complete related projects. An important feature of each symposium will also be the opportunity for attendees to learn about career paths and interact with real scientists and researchers.
We will be marketing the events through a variety of grass roots organizations, including schools, the Sally Ride Science Club, Girl Scouts and Big Sisters. In particular, the Foundation’s alliance with the Sally Ride Science Club will be of benefit with its experience with science-related events for children, connections to draw-card scientists and researchers, and connections with like-minded organizations to help “bring out the kids".
Overall, we wish our program to reflect the importance of educating the next generation on environmental issues and their global impact from a local perspective.
If you would like to get involved with the planning and implementation of the events, please e-mail Kristen.
Renowned ‘Twin Team’ out on the Trail!
The locally based internationally famous ‘Twin Team’ Angelika Castaneda and Dr Barbara Warren have taken the Trail under their wings literally. To celebrate Thanksgiving in their own inimitable way, Angelika and friends are running and biking the entire Trail in just three days. And our very own lead volunteer, Mandy Oglesby, will be their support crew leader.
If you’d like to see them off, they’re leaving Salton City at 6am on Friday November 29th, and have plans to dip their toes in the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines North Beach around 2pm on Sunday. Do keep an eye out for them on the Trail over the long weekend! And to check out the team’s pedigree, visit their site.
Trail days the work goes on!
We’re nearly there! There’s not far to go now to finish off the Trail section in Los Penasquitos Canyon from Black Mountain Road to the I-15. To make a difference and have some fun, join us for the next Trail workdays on December 7 and 21. Check-in time is 0830 at the Rangers’ trailers off Black Mountain Road. Please note that these are Saturdays we’ll be transferring back to Sundays in 2003. E-mail Kristen if you would like to join us and for directions.
And thanks for all for your hard work on Saturday 23. Working under the I-15, building rock walls and widening trail, 14 volunteers completed 245 feet! That alone is 56 hours of valuable time and effort.
New Web page
We’re often adding new pages to the Web site, or updating existing ones, but there’s a new page that may be of interest Trail Tales. Here’s your chance to tell others of your experiences along the Trail sections you’ve done or advice you may have for others. And many thanks to lead volunteer Dana Law, and his son, Brendan, for the first of their Trail Tales.
Web interest
We thought you might like to know that since the Web site was launched May 4, 2002, to date we’ve had 450,350 hits and 18,144 visits. We’ve had hits from 25 countries around the world, including China, Taiwan, Israel, Brazil, Poland, Finland, Australia and NZ.
A small NZ company, Cabbage Tree Creative, created the initial design for the site. With their brilliant publishing system that comes with the initial design Thrive we can add pages and photos, make changes instantly and do everything else necessary to keep the site maintained all on our own, which means we never have to pay to have the site updated. In fact they’re so tickled with what we’ve accomplished, they’ve even featured us on their Web site.
Soul Food - Books that inspired you to get outside!
We’re kicking off a new section for E-News and the Web site reviewing the books that inspired you to get out into the great outdoors. If you’ve a special book (or two) that did just that for you, send us an e-mail on what it was about the book that had that effect on you. We’ve dedicated a Soul Food page on the Web site and, with your help, we’ll add to it each month. Click here for the first offering from Friend of the Trail, Virginia Haddad. We look forward to hearing from you! E-mail your offering of Soul Food to Kristen.Amazon.com for Holiday presents?
If you’re buying goodies from Amazon.com for the Holiday season, you can help the Foundation raise a few extra dollars for the Trail and our education program via our affiliate link with Amazon.com. How? Just click here, click on the Amazon.com logo and make your purchases. And thanks for thinking of us!
In the News
We hit your TV screens this month! ITV’s Channel 16 covers the San Diego City School Board of Education’s meetings. On November 12, the Foundation was awarded a plaque following its recent partnership program with the CPMA Charter Middle School.Click here for this and all our media mentions.
Become a Friend of the Foundation for just $35
Like most good causes, it all costs money! For a minimum of $35 you can become a Friend of the Foundation and help us in our commitment to not only creating an outdoor resource for hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians and disabled adventurers from around the world, but also a living resource for Trail users to learn about the wildlife and history of this beautiful California region. Click here and help us make it all happen!
The San Diego Sea to Sea Trail Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, making your donation tax-free.
Did you know?
Over 90% of natural inland wetlands have been lost in California since 1780.
