Tuesday, May 14, 2013

3rd annual Kids to Parks Day will be held May 18

3rd annual Kids to Parks Day will be held May 18, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at McKelligon Canyon, 1331 McKelligon Canyon Rd. in conjunction with National Park Trust, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and National Park Service. National Kids to Parks Day empowers kids and encourages families to get outdoors and visit America’s parks.

• Event is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Vendors will be allowed to enter the area to unload at the booth location
• Set up time 8a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
• Booth Spaces are 10 x 10
•  Shades are limited encourage to take a tent
•  Please review attached document for booth location
Agencies participating on this 3rd annual event:
El Paso Parks and Recreation- Carlos Rodriguez
Texas Parks & Wildlife/Franklin Mountains State Park - Adrianna Weickhardt
Chamizal National Memorial - Anne Doherty
Ascarate Fishing Club - Toni VanDePutte
Northeast YMCA - Kevin Pearson
Franklin Mountain Wilderness Coalition - Judy Ackerman
Water Tech H2O - Diana Perez
Rock Art – Jane McFarland from Hueco Tanks State Park
Geology – Eric Kappus
West Texas Regional Poison Center - Sal Quintanilla
Texas Parks and Wildlife - Diana Moy
Geocaching 101 – Officer Ted Stevens from Hueco Tanks State Park
Activities
9:00 Welcome/Introduction – Walk around
9:30 to 10:00 Geocaching 101
10:15 to 10:45 Willie the Waterdrop
11:00 to 11:30 Archery
11:45 to 12:15 Bicycle Repair Workshop
12:15 to 1:00 visit all of the other booths
For further information feel free to contact: Carlos Rodriguez at 915-544-0753 /rodriguezca@elpasotexas.gov or Adrianna Weickhardt at 566-6441/ Adrianna.weickhardt@tpwd.state.tx.us.

Franklin Mountains State Park to Grow by More Than 600 Acres

AUSTIN -- The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission at its Thursday meeting approved the acquisition of approximately 658 acres to expand a state park in El Paso that already ranks as the largest urban park in the continental United States.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will purchase a parcel of land that straddles Loop 375, also known as Trans Mountain Road, to further extend the Franklin Mountains State Park’s western reach into the surrounding high desert country. The acquisition will bring the state park’s total acreage to more than 26,000 acres.

The El Paso Public Service Board offered the desirable property to TPWD at a bargain sale price. The tract of undeveloped land will provide a buffer from pending new city growth and increase public recreational opportunities through the possible future expansion of the park’s trail system.

After much land use discussion about the environmental impact due to encroaching development on the western flanks of the Franklin Mountains, the El Paso City Council this past summer agreed to the sale. The TPW Commission’s vote was the final action required to consummate the land deal.

New Member Organization!

Please welcome N.E.- El Paso National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NERFE)  Chapter number 1473 as FMWC’s newest organizational member!  President, Rodney Smith will be NERFE’s representative to FMWC.

Update to FMSP Entrance


Your calls, letters and e-mails made a difference when you asked TxDOT and elected officials to ensure that Franklin Mountains State Park (FMSP) will have a safe and effective entrance to the Tom Mays Section of the Park from Transmountain! 
El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar, Chair of the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Transportation Policy Board (TPB) said she received dozens of e-mails.  In her reply she said, “Please know that TxDOT is still in the process of gathering input for the park entrance and your email was forwtarded to the TxDOT engineer who is charged with that process….  At a meeting earlier this week, the MPO Transportation Policy Board made it clear that we wanted the input regarding the entrance to take into account not only vehicle safety but also the needs and safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and wildlife.”
During that meeting on 15 April, Mayor John Cook made an amendment that gave direction to TxDOT saying, “the environmental needs assessment for the Franklin Mountain State Park Entrance must include pedestrian, vehicular, and wildlife access as well as traffic safety to both sides of the Park and a commitment that District Discretionary funds up to $10 million will be used if no other source of funding is found.”
The MPO TPB heard that you support our State Park.  Thank you!  Now we must stay vigilant.

Franklin Mountains State Park Update

by: Adrianna Weickhardt
Park Interpreter/Ranger/Volunteer Coordinator

This year has already been exciting and busy filled with many improvements and new staff members to the park.  As many of you know, the park recently acquired over 600 acres which just makes the Franklin Mountains SP more impressive and more special as the “largest urban wilderness in the continental United States”.  We’ve also recently hired two new employees and are glad to welcome Richie Sanchez and Jonathon Murphy to the team!  Richie is our new maintenance specialist with a contagious enthusiasm for mountain biking, and boundless good energy; he’ll be helping the park interpreter with upcoming programs throughout the year, too, so we’re lucky to have such a versatile team player.  Jonathon is our new park police officer who brings a wealth of knowledge from his background in the sciences and adds to the positive atmosphere with his smile and great personality.  He’ll be starting academy later this year, and in the mean time is learning the ropes during ride-a-longs with park police officer Fernie Rincon and hitting the trails on his own to learn about his new park!
May is National Bike Month and FMSP is involved on the local level by adding in 4 new bike rides to the schedule of events at the park, as well as partnering with the El Paso Bike Month planning committee to spread the word throughout our great city about biking in all of its wonderful forms.  Make sure to check out www.elpasobikemonth.com for all of the great bike activities scheduled throughout the city.
Texas Parks and Wildlife recently won the top Texas Social Media Award.  Here’s an excerpt from the article:  “Nimble and targeted, the agency operates more than 100 social media sites, attracting more than 100,000 Facebook and Twitter followers. Its crisply produced videos — including a popular series on game preparation and cooking — have been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube.
“Social media enables us to interact with a broad audience, including people not traditionally engaged with the outdoors,” says agency video and Web producer Whitney Bishop. “This is especially important as Texas becomes a more urban state and people depend increasingly on technology to communicate with each other.”  -- to read more about our department’s great accomplishments, you can find it in the Austin American Statesman, article title “Texas Parks and Wildlife wins top Texas Social Media Award”.  And remember, on days that you can’t make it out to your Franklin Mountains State Park, you can always keep up with us on our facebook page which we update regularly and is chock full of amazing photography  from some of our great volunteers.
Start looking forward to later summer programs to include paragliding workshops, guitar lessons in the park, and morning yoga for beginners. 
We hope to see you out in the park soon!

Franklin Mountains State Park
May Schedule

Sat., May 11:   9:00 a.m. Mother’s Day wknd - Women’s bike ride/clinic – Lazy Cow Trail
Sun., May 12:  8:30 a.m. Mother’s Day wknd - Women’s Only hike - Lower Sunset 
Sat., May 18:   9:00 to 1:00  2nd Annual Kids to Parks Event
Sun., May 19:  6:45 a.m. Peak Fitness Challenge - N. Franklin Peak
Sun., May 19:  9:00 a.m. Seniors hike - Nature Walk trail
Sat., May 25:   8:00 a.m. Guided Bike Ride  - Old Tin Mine Rd/Lazy Cow Trail
Sun., May 26:  8:00 a.m. Guided Bike Ride - Old Tin Mine Rd/Lazy Cow Trail