Gilroy
– Combine Earth Day, a green-minded company and 65 high school
students and the result is clean trails and a happy park
ranger.
Gilroy – Combine Earth Day, a green-minded company and 65 high school students and the result is clean trails and a happy park ranger.
The students and employees from Timberland, the maker of rugged outdoor shoes and clothing with a store in the Gilroy Premium Outlets, converged on the three parks Saturday, and Senior Park Ranger John Heenan couldn’t have been more pleased.
“The students did a fantastic job,” Heenan said. “I can’t believe how hard they worked.”
The work crew came mostly from Live Oak High civics classes taught by Diana Rocha and Raul Torrez. The two teachers were the only ones who responded to a call for help from Timberland.
“Timberland has been absolutely wonderful,” Rocha said. “In past years we have worked with Henry Coe Park also clearing trails but Timberland is the catalyst.”
Rocha said the student involvement is the result of a senior service program where students accumulate points for community service. Senior civics students also earn points by attending City Council, Planning Commission meetings or sitting in on court sessions.
Heenan said the 25 students who worked at Mt. Madonna loaded up 20 truck loads of old trees and dead limbs from the ruined Henry Miller estate site. They cleared trails and walkways exposing an 18-station nature walk and put up a new map box and display board.
“When you consider the five and a half hours each of those 65 kids put in, the savings were tremendous,” Heenan said.
The other 40 students worked at Chesbro and Uvas reservoirs, picking up trash. They all left with an appreciation of clean parks.
“It went pretty well,” said Angelina Varela, a Timberland employee who worked with students at Uvas and Chesbro. “A lot of the students were surprised at the junk. You could tell people parked their cars and hang out – there are lots of food wrappers, tires, alcohol containers and lots of clothing.”
Live Oak student Kristina Elmasu worked at Chesbro and Uvas.
“I helped pick up dead wood, swept up and walked around the reservoir picking up trash,” Elmasu said.
Another student, Kaitlin McHargue also worked at Uvas and Chesbro.
“We picked up garbage around the water and found a lot of fishing line,” McHargue said.
She said they were told that fish and birds can choke on line left lying around. The girls admitted learning about the impact of littering.
“I’ll be more careful in the future,” McHargue said.
Student Sima Bhalala was part of the work crew at the Miller ruins in Mt. Madonna County Park.
“There is this old house – and we helped clean up around it,” Bhalala said.
Mt. Madonna County Park is near the top of Hecker Pass Highway between Gilroy and Watsonville. The 3,688-acre park has been home to white fallow deer, Ohlone Indians and cattle baron Henry Miller, who spent his summers in a compound he built.
A farmer’s son, Miller left Germany at age 14, arrived in San Francisco in the middle of the 1850 Gold Rush frenzy and made his fortune. He eventually owned three million acres in the west, running a million head of cattle.
Miller Avenue in Gilroy is named after him.
Uvas Canyon Park was formed from lands owned by the grandmother of Morgan Hill Realtor Anita Mason. Mason is a direct descendent of Martin Murphy Sr., an early settler of the area and the grandfather-in-law of Hiram Morgan Hill.
About Henry Miller: www.cagenweb.com/santaclara/hmiller.html
About county parks: www.parkhere.org/ (click on Mt. Madonna, Uvas Canyon or Chesbro)
