Historic Signing of Memorandum of Understanding Between Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and California State Parks
Story from: Martin Rizzo-Martinez, Santa Cruz District
 Photo taken after signing. At table: State Parks Director Armando Quintaro (left) and Amah Mutsun Tribal Chair Valentin Lopez. Standing (left to right): Native Stewards Corps members Gabriel Pineida, Natalie Pineida and Marcella Luna. Photo from Alexii Sigona, Oakland, California.
On Monday, November 29, State Parks celebrated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band that establishes their practice of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK) within Año Nuevo State Park (SP). This historic document codifies the relationship between our institutions by expressing our mutual desire to nurture and protect natural and cultural resources important for maintaining ancestral traditions and spiritual connections.
Tribal Chairman Valentin Lopez and California State Parks Director Armando Quintero signed the MOU against the stunning coastal backdrop of Año Nuevo SP, located in the historic homelands of the Quiroste Tribe (Keer-osti), one of the largest and most powerful of San Francisco Bay Area Tribes at the time of Spanish arrival in October 1769.
Prior to the signing, State Parks employees and Amah Mutsun Tribal members visited the Quiroste Valley Cultural Preserve overlook, with views of the valley where we the signing partners have collaborated on TEK for over a decade. Supervisor of the Santa Cruz District Cultural Resources Program Mark Hylkema pointed out the Mitenne village site where the Quiroste hosted and fed Portolá’s lost and weary expedition. Following the stop at the overlook, the group proceeded to the Cascade Ranch Greenhouse where the tribe has been propagating selected native plants important to their culture for reestablishment within the cultural preserve.
Chairman Lopez shared about overcoming the Amah Mutsun’s initial reluctance to trust archaeologists and government officials. Their hesitation, Lopez related, was founded on the long history of exploitation and traumatic treatment that began after Portolá’s expedition, with the California missions. But, as Lopez explained, the Amah Mutsun has been richly rewarded after taking the leap of faith to partner with State Parks and University of California, Berkeley, as the partnership created opportunities to re-learn and implement TEK, and led to the formation of the Tribe’s own Native Stewards Corps.
 Supervisor of the Santa Cruz District Cultural Resources Program Mark Hykema (left) and Santa Cruz District Superintendent Chris Spohrer. Photo from Randy Widera, Santa Cruz, California.
Amah Mutsun Tribe’s First Salmon Ceremony
Story and photo from: Mark Hylkema, Santa Cruz District
 Amah Mutsun Tribal Band dancers pause before the start of a song and the beat of the box drum.
On a warm afternoon Saturday, November 20, members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band gathered at Wilder Ranch State Park to perform their first Salmon Ceremony.
Many Indigenous communities along the California coast performed dances and ceremonies to honor salmon, a major contributor to their food and livelihood. Our tribal partners among the Amah Mutsun expressed a desire to reestablish their relationship to their ancestral food, and the Santa Cruz District responded by providing access to an area where archaeological findings document their long history at the place the event was held.
It was wonderful to see the youth of the tribe perform a dance and prayer session, as they reconnected with their ancestral food and reified their cultural identity to the landscape. The scent of sage smoke wafting on the sea breeze and the rhythmic pounding of the box drum and bird bone whistles all in time with the ocean waves crashing into the cliffs directly adjacent to the dancers were exhilarating.
This was the first time in recorded history a salmon ceremony has been held on the Santa Cruz coast since the Spanish mission of the same name impacted ceremonial life after the 1790s. The people persevered, but many ceremonies must now be rediscovered, which is wonderful as no culture is frozen in anthropological time.
Participants Needed for 2022 Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay
Story from: Bill Wolcott, Retired State Park Employee
 Ranger Micah Moore from the Santa Cruz District ran the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay in 2017.
After a two-year hiatus necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 36th Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay will be held April 9 and 10, 2022. State Parks has a new team captain—recently retired superintendent Bill Wolcott—and preparations for the race have begun.
The race pits more than 250 international law enforcement teams against each other in the mountains of the Mojave Desert in a 120-mile, 20-leg relay run from Baker, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada. Each team consists of 20 runners (peace officer rangers and lifeguards in our case), as well as volunteers who drive the follow vehicle, coordinate logistics and provide hydration and encouragement. The 15-hour race begins late in the day and is run through the night on dusty state routes through small towns such as Shoshone and Pahrump before arriving in Las Vegas. A great deal of recruiting, planning, training and fundraising must occur before the first runner’s toes hit the starting line.
California State Parks fielded a team for eight consecutive years preceding the pandemic and has a decades-long history in the event, having finished in the top-10 nine times, including during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 events. The race requires a great deal of physical fitness and logistic coordination to be successful, but perhaps the most important takeaway for the team is the camaraderie built when 40-plus people come together to achieve a common goal.
If you want to learn more about the race, please contact team captain Bill Wolcott at cspteamcaptain@gmail.com.
 Pajaro Coast Sector Supervising Ranger Peter Estes was a member of the State Parks 2017 Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay.
Sierra District Celebrates Chief Ranger Matt Green's Retirement
Story from: Dan Canfield, Sierra District, and Adeline Yee, Communications and Marketing Division
 Celebrating Matt Green's retirement after 25 years with State Parks at Empire Mine State Historic Park (SHP) on Tuesday, November 30. Photo 1: Group shot. Photo 2: Michele and Matt Green in 2008. Photo 3: Matt at Bodie SHP with retired Supervising Rangers Mark Langer and Brad Sturdivant, and volunteer Matthew "Woody" Woodall in 2009. Photo 4: Matt at Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point State Park (SP) in September 2018. Photo 5: Matt serving the inaugural forehand at the newly restored historic tennis court at Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point SP in Sept. 2020. Photo 6: Matt during a recent patrol at Anza-Borrego Desert SP at Fonts Point. Photos from Adeline Yee, Communications and Marketing Division, Matt and Michele Green, and Evan Waterhouse, Sierra District.
Sierra District staff (past and present) along with district partners met at Empire Mine State Historic Park (SHP) on Tuesday, November 30, to celebrate the retirement of Chief Ranger Matt Green. After lunch and cake, many of the attendees spoke of the great contributions Matt has made to State Parks over a 25-year outstanding career.
Matt began his career with Parks in 1996 as a park aide at Palomar Mountain State Park. He and his wife, Ranger Michele Green, graduated from Basic Visitor Services Training (BVST) 14 in March 1999. Over the next quarter of a century, Matt would work at parks all over the state—desert to coast to eastern sierras to gold country. Rising through the ranks to hold increasingly challenging positions in public safety and resource protection programs, he ultimately served as district superintendent and chief ranger in the Sierra District.
Matt’s prosperity with State Parks is no surprise as parks run in Matt’s blood, literally. Matt’s great-grandfather, John Green, emigrated to California from Sweden around 1880 and was a “guide” for the California Park Commission around the turn of century. John Green also served as the first caretaker for Big Basin Redwoods State Park (1901-1902) while the park was being created with the support of the Sempervirens Club.
In Matt’s time with Sierra District, he had many successes. Too many to list here but most notably, the rebuilding and reopening of the Bridgeport Covered Bridge at South Yuba River State Park (SP), development of the commercial solar plant to power Malakoff Diggins SP and the restoration of the Trains Station building at Bodie SHP.
When asked about some of the highlights during his 25-year career, Matt mentioned his boat patrols on Lake Perris with 400 vessels on the lake, seeing flocks of Wilson’s Phalarope birds fly over Mono Lake during their annual migration from Canada and Alaska to South America for the winter, and working at Bodie SHP, Grover Hot Springs SP, Mono Lake Tufa SNR and Anza-Borrego Desert SP.
As the speakers toasted Matt during his retirement luncheon, it was evident how loved and respected he is. His wife, Michele, gave an emotional tribute for all his accomplishments not only as a ranger, but also as an amazing husband and father during the adventure they embarked on together. Daughters Savannah and Sierra spoke eloquently of their dad who taught them life lessons and took the time to coach their basketball and softball teams and attend every single game, despite his demanding career.
Matt’s advice for those thinking of becoming a ranger to “Live the Parks Life” is that this is “the greatest adventure they can ever have if they make it that way.” But don’t expect Matt to sit around the house quite yet. He has a long list of adventures planned that includes visiting Yellowstone National Park and Portugal, camping and backpacking, buying a trailer, running a 10K, working on home projects and maybe some teaching.
Matt’s knowledge, experience and training will be sorely missed by the Sierra District and all of us here in the Parks family. We wish Matt peace, success and prosperity in retirement. We expect to see him often back in our district park units, enjoying himself. Congrats, Matt, on your much-deserved retirement!
 Top photos: Scott Elliott takes a group selfie though the first one (left) was photobombed by Dan Youngren. Bottom left: Matt Green with Scott Elliott listens to Northern Communications Center (NORCOM) staff as they list his accomplishments over 25 years. Bottom middle: Heidi Doyle, executive director of Sierra State Parks Foundation, presents Matt with a tennis racket to thank him for his service. Pun intended! Bottom right: Retired State Parks Ranger Dave Carle, now with the California State Parks Rangers Association, presents Matt with a plaque. Photos from Adeline Yee, Communications and Marketing Division.
 "Park Commissioners and Advisory Board" photo by Andrew P. Hill (Sempervirens Club Records, History San Jose). Matt Green's great-grandfather, John Green, is third from the right (dark suit). John was a resident of Boulder Creek in the early 1900s and worked for one of the lumber companies around Big Basin. Research determined that he did not appear to be affiliated with the Sempervirens Club but served as a guide and was the very first "superintendent" of Big Basin before it officially became a state park.
Sierra District Hosts Overnight Survival Course for El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Volunteers
Story from: Brad Cheshire and Darren Cooke, Sierra District
 Darren Cooke of the Sierra District demonstrates fire by friction in wet conditions. Photo from John Peltier, El Dorado County Search and Rescue Volunteer.
This month 17 El Dorado County Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteers had the opportunity to learn about bushcraft and wilderness survival tactics in a variety of environments.
Lake Tahoe Sector State Park Peace Officer (Ranger) Darren Cooke taught the group the five survival priorities (shelter, water, fire, food and signal). The group was also introduced to the “10 C’s”: a minimal gear list that every outdoor enthusiast should carry. Volunteers learned how use modern survival technology and were given an introduction on how replace modern gear with traditional skills and knowledge. The SAR team had fun building tarp and debris shelters, starting fires with ferro-rods and bow-drills, making cordage from natural fibers and even had the opportunity to “coal burn” their own bowls or spoons, which were accompanied by a sampling of pine needle tea.
The team tested their gear in damp conditions and in below-freezing temperatures at the park. El Dorado County SAR volunteers work under the umbrella of the Sheriff’s Office and partake in an average of 60-130 deployments per year, which include technical rope, vehicle, swift water, ground, off-highway vehicle, canine and mounted rescue operations.
Ranger Cooke has an extensive SAR, outdoor recreation and wilderness survival background. This is the third course that Ranger Cooke has given to El Dorado County, and he hopes to provide a longer course for California State Parks employees in fall 2022.
 Upper left: Cooke demonstrating modern and natural hasty shelters. Some of the students slept in tarp and wikiup shelters. Upper right: Cooke points out squirrel tracks on a Jeffrey pine. Bottom: Students stayed up late around the fire working on essential skills. Photos from John Peltier, El Dorado County Search and Rescue Volunteer.
 PARTNER NEWS
A Fond Farewell to Michele Luna, Dedicated Supporter of California State Parks
Story from: Amelia Schall, Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District
A truly dedicated and hardworking leader will be officially retiring at the end of the year. A proud partner of Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve (SNR), Austin Creek State Recreation Area (SRA) and Sonoma Coast State Park, Michele Luna has inspired countless members of the community for 27 years as executive director of Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods. During her career, Stewards entered into a co-management agreement with California State Parks to operate Austin Creek SRA and Armstrong Redwoods SNR. This was the first time a partner of State Parks acted as a park operator.
Michele Luna was hired as the first—and only—employee of Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods (originally Stewards of Slavianka) in September 1994. From those first days when the accounting was done using a manual double-entry system and membership was in a small file box, Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods has flourished under Michele’s leadership.
In 2012, Michele Luna received the Dewitt Partnership Award. On Wednesday, December 1, the Sonoma County Conservation Council honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District Superintendent Terry Bertels commented, “It has been my pleasure to work in partnership with Michele for the last four years. We experienced fire, flood and pandemic together. She maintained a can-do spirit through it all, providing the leadership her team needed to succeed. She has earned her retirement, but she will be missed.”
The Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District is glad to welcome new Executive Director Justin Lindenberg, who has spent the last five years working for Save the Redwoods League and throughout his career, has worked collaboratively with various organizations.
Here are some Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods milestones during Michele Luna’s long and successful career:
- 1995: Concert in the Redwoods to fund ecological restoration in the Armstrong Grove.
- 1996: Started operating the Jenner Visitor Center.
- 2001-2011: Willow Creek Restoration Project, a multiagency partnership with Stewards acting as the fiscal agent for over $1,000,000.
- 2003: Watershed Education Program.
- 2008: Save our State Parks Campaign.
- 2012: Became a nonprofit operator in partnership with State Parks.
- 2012: Began preservation and revitalization of Pond Farm Pottery, now with an artist-in-residency program and a site on the National Register of Historic Places.
- 2012-present: Interpretive Panel Donor Program, which raised funds for and designed and produced many interpretive panels in our parks.
- 2019: Tidepool Touch Table, which raised funds and managed the project to develop an interpretive hands-on display.
- 2020-2021: Fire Recovery and Pandemic, which kept Stewards viable through the Paycheck Protection Program, grants and donations.
- 2021: Funded the Pond Farm PBS documentary.
Michele will be missed by many, and from all the staff in the Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District, “Thank you for all your service and dedication!”
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