Changes to Pinnacles National Monument afoot
As Pinnacles starts off its 100th year since becoming a national
monument, park officials have many enhancements in the works
including an updated concession store, a science camp for local
schools and the possible addition of the historic Bear Valley
School to park property.
Changes to Pinnacles National Monument afoot
As Pinnacles starts off its 100th year since becoming a national monument, park officials have many enhancements in the works including an updated concession store, a science camp for local schools and the possible addition of the historic Bear Valley School to park property.
The owners of Damm Soft Water Company have taken over operations of the concession store at Pinnacles National Monument.
Adam Damm is running the concessions store at Pinnacles.
“We’ve got a ton of stuff – beer and wine,” he said. “They had a real limited selection.”
The store also has “tons” of drinks, not just water.
“There was a limited supply of that kind of stuff, too,” Damm said.
For local residents, he stocks necessities, such as bread and beans.
The store caters to the Monument’s day users, campers, and local residents, Damm said.
“We’re going to start selling a line of rock climbing stuff,” Damm said.
Rock climbers told Damm they would buy from his store rather than a store in San Jose, Damm said.
“I’ve got a lot of local farm stuff,” he said, “Walnuts and almonds from Guerra Nut Shelling, dried apricots from Fairhaven Farms.”
In addition, park officials are planning to unveil a new science camp in the fall, said Michelle Armijo, education specialist for Pinnacles National Monument.
To accommodate different schools, the camp would take place on the side of the park closest to the school, either the east or west side, said Carl Brenner, chief of interpretation and education at Pinnacles National Monument.
There will be a test run of the program this May, Armijo said.
“We’re trying to keep the costs low by making it a mobile tent camp,” Brenner said. “The goal is to provide [students] with an opportunity that they usually cannot get without driving for several hours.”
Armijo agreed.
“It’s going to be the closest science camp for the three cities,” she said. “We have all the main equipment already purchased through grants.”
The curriculum is designed for 6th graders, Armijo said.
Students will go on day hikes, track condors, use bat detectors to monitor the Townsend bats and use GPS units to map vegetation, she said.
To keep costs low, students will be preparing their own meals and sleeping in tents, she said. Park officials will provide tents and cooking equipment, she said.
According to preliminary figures, the cost will be under $200 per child, Armijo said. Other science camps in the Bay Area cost between $200 and $400 per child, she said.
The camp will not rely on park funds, she said.
“The way I’m designing it, it should be a self-sustaining program,” Armijo said.
The camp will run during the dry season, from September through November and March through June, she said. Dates will be first come, first serve.
Armijo is developing a program for other age groups, she said.
“I’m actually working with three principals for one-room schoolhouses to develop the curriculum,” Armijo said.
In addition, officials have talked to the property owners of Bear Valley School. The Bear Valley School is a historic one-room schoolhouse set at the center of a community that used to be Bear Valley.
“It was more than just a school though,” Brenner said. “It was a community gathering place.”
After the school closed its doors to students, it remained in use as a community meeting place. Students in the area now attend Jefferson School
The building was closed to the public in 2002, according to a Web site from Friends of Bear Valley School.
Due to deteriorating conditions, the building requires significant restoration and improvement to allow for handicap access.
“There’s been discussion amongst the owners to sell it to the park,” Brenner said. “We’re not going out and trying to find land to buy.”
The owners have approached officials from Pinnacles to gauge their interest in purchasing the school, he said.
“We will look for funding to buy it,” Brenner said. “It definitely helps to tell the story of the park.”
Bear Valley School would be an asset to the science camp, he said.
“That would be a really neat thing to have them in the historic building where students used to learn,” Brenner said. “I think it would be a wonderful asset, to bring them back to what it was like to live in that time period.”
Starting next fall, Brenner is hoping to host small star parties at the park, he said. Currently, he is working with local astronomy groups, he said.
“It’s more of a gathering of astronomers and sharing of knowledge than a formal program,” Brenner said. “A full-blown star party is everybody has their own scope. Everybody stays out there all night.”
