State parks are looking for Coastside volunteers

California State Parks is looking for volunteers interested in helping in three parks in the San Mateo Coast Sector—the Pigeon Point Light Station Historic Park, Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve, and Half Moon Bay State Beach.  Volunteers may choose to help in one or more of the three parks. The sector also has a special need for highly trained volunteers to present programs for school groups in the parks and in local schools.  Free training for new volunteers will begin in August.  Volunteers receive passes for free parking at nearby state parks.

If you love lighthouses, the ocean, and the beautiful San Mateo County coast, you’ll love serving as a volunteer docent/keeper at Pigeon Point Light Station.  The site is spectacular and full of history.  As a lighthouse volunteer you can contribute in several ways:  Conducting tours of the lighthouse grounds to present the natural and social history of Pigeon Point, answering visitors’ questions about the lighthouse tower and its history, operating the lighthouse bookstore, leading a shore-based whale-watching program in the spring, helping with the annual ceremonial lighting of the original Fresnel lens, or working on maintenance and preservation projects, including native plant restoration.

Pescadero Marsh is one of the few remaining coastal wetlands south of San Francisco.  It is an important layover point for birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway and is home to a variety of plants and animals, including nesting great blue herons and the endangered red-legged frog and San Francisco garter snake.  Volunteers are trained in the history and ecology of the marsh, becoming experts in the evolution of the marsh, various marsh habitats, and the plants, animals, and birds that are found in the marsh. Trained docent/volunteers perform many functions, including leading guided walks, acting as roving naturalists answering visitors’ questions, presenting programs for school groups, contributing to research projects, and creating and maintaining trails and interpretive displays.

Half Moon Bay State Beach volunteers operate a visitor center with displays on various cultural and natural aspects of park units in the San Mateo Coast Sector.  They answer visitors’ questions, interpret displays, and sell books and other educational materials.  Volunteers may also receive additional training to help develop and present special programs for park visitors and for students in their classrooms and in the park.

Volunteers have an important role in state park educational programs.  Each year approximately 550,000 school children attend formal interpretive programs in state parks and over 48,000 students benefit from presentations that state parks staff and volunteers bring to the schools.

An introductory class for new state park volunteers will be held on Thursday, August 10, and Wednesday, August 30, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at the Half Moon Bay State Beach Ranger Station, 95 Kelly Ave, in Half Moon Bay. Additional classes on the individual park units and the history and natural history of the San Mateo coast will be held at intervals this fall.

To register for volunteer training or for more information, call Nelle, Rose, or Avis at (650) 726-8804, voice mailbox 7#, or e-mail [email protected]