Photograph by Roberrt Scheer
Volunteer Karen Wood patrols open-space trails with her 8-year-old horse, "Dashing Fan."
By Julie Mehta
Just minutes away from Saratoga lie open-space preserves where the march of time does not bring new development, noise or traffic, and visitors can see what much of the Bay Area must have looked like long ago.
Maintaining and helping people to appreciate the natural character of these areas takes the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. Whether they are handing out maps, cleaning up litter or pointing out wildflowers on a hike, open-space volunteers are critical to the upkeep and enjoyment of these areas.
"They're a great group of people who put in thousands of hours overall," says Malcom Smith, public affairs director for the Midpeninsula Open Space District, which was created to preserve open space through a public vote in 1972.
"We really depend on our volunteers. Many things would not get done as soon if not for them."
The district relies on six different groups of volunteers to supplement its 54-person staff in overseeing and showing off its 23-preserve, 41,000-acre system that stretches from Los Gatos to San Carlos. Docents, who lead hikes and walks, have been used by the district since the mid-1970s and require the most training. There are currently 85 docents, some whom have been in the program for nearly 20 years. They attend lectures and field sessions for several months, learning about botany, geology, local history and Native American cultural history, and then pass this knowledge along to visitors on walks along ridges, gulches, and faults encompassing a variety of flora and fauna and scenic views. Docents must commit to lead a hike once a month for at least one year.
Trudy Bidstrup, a 31-year Saratoga resident, has been a docent for four years. She lives near the Fremont Older open space preserve and has been hiking there for years. "Being a docent is a way of paying back. I'm really grateful for this open space," says Bidstrup. "What I really like is the opportunity to educate people about what we have and convince kids to help preserve it."
Bidstrup leads walks about every other month and has helped with the annual tour of the historic Woodhills house, formerly the home of San Francisco newspaper editor Fremont Older and a meeting place for writers, artists and politicians.
Longtime Saratogan Bernie Larkin, who has been a docent for almost two years, got into the program because of a love of walking and a desire to learn about wildflowers. About twice a month, Larkin leads aerobic hikes, which are faster-paced and include warm-up and cool-down periods.
"The people are so interesting. They're from all over the world and from all walks of life," says Larkin. "Some do this for medicinal purposes, some for friendship. Some have hiked in the Himalayas, Europe, and South America. It seems I learn more from them than I can possibly teach them."
Roughly 300 people volunteer in other capacities for the district, many of them in the trail patrol. These volunteers hike, bike or ride horses along trails, informing visitors of preserve rules, talking about the history of the district, handing out maps, and filing reports on trails in bad condition.
"We're not rangers, though we wear vests and badges. We're sort of designed to be a public-relations tool," says Karen Wood, a Saratoga resident who recently completed the three-week training program and joined the equestrian trail patrol. The experience has afforded her the chance to learn about many of the preserves she believes she may otherwise have never seen.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, June 5, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved