A Newsletter Published by the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail Summer 2013

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Save Sunday, September 29 for the fun and exciting Trailblazer Race and trail walk on the scenic Stevens Creek Trail! This is our 19th annual fundraiser and features certified 10K and 5K races, a 3-mile scenic trail walk, and free kids’ events. All proceeds benefit the non-profit Friends of Stevens Creek Trail.

Race and walk events start at 8:30 a.m. sharp, include a race T-shirt, and are open to anyone who can safely participate, plus we have free ongoing children’s inflatable mazes, games, and face painting. Free age-appropriate chil-dren’s races are about 9:45 a.m.

This family-friendly celebration is for all ages and experience levels, from first-timers to competitive athletes and from children to senior citizens. We do it to get more people outside for fun, healthy exercise and enjoying the trail. It is made possible by support from the city of Mountain View, presenting sponsor Microsoft Corpora-tion, and our other generous sponsors.

Everything starts and finishes at the Micro-soft campus, 1065 La Avenida in Mountain View. The 5K (3.1-mile) and 10K (6.2-mile) footraces are certified by the U.S. Track and Field Associa-tion and officially timed. They head north on the trail to Shoreline Park before returning back to campus for a spirited finish in front of a crowd of cheering onlookers. The more relaxed, self-paced and non-competitive 3-mile trail walk enters Stevens Creek Trail from the Microsoft campus and heads south away from the runners along a

particularly scenic stretch of trail. Complimen-tary food, water and Starbucks coffee (while it lasts!) are provided.

Paid race and walk participants receive free T-shirts with this year’s stylish race logo cre-ated by local artist Bill Murray. Free children’s events do not include a T-shirt. All registered participants including volunteers are eligible for a post-race drawing of valuable prizes donated by race sponsors.

We need many adult and student volunteers to come early and help setup, hand out food and water, guide participants on the course, manage kids’ events, and then help clean up.

Pre-registered volunteers receive free race T-shirts and become members of the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail!

Register to run, walk, or volunteer us-ing the attached form, a copy, or online at our website. Runners and walkers get a $5 advance registration discount if they mail or email fully completed forms in to us by September 15, or register online by September 26 at www.stevenscreektrail.org. We welcome businesses, organizations or individuals to sponsor the event or donate prizes—email exec-dir@stevenscreektrail.org or call 408-255-5780.

The Friends organization has been dedi-cated to the completion, enhancement and enjoyment of the trail and wildlife corridor since 1992, and each Trailblazer Race helps raise the funds we need to continue our work. Thanks for your support!

Registration Advance At EventAdult 5K or 10K Race $25 $30Adult 5K Trail Walk $10 $15Youth* Race or Walk $10 $15

*Youth rates are for ages 19 and under. Z

Trailblazer Race September 29th — Fun for All!Proceeds Benefit the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail

Want to know more about volunteer opportunities, becoming a member or supporting trail activities

in your neighborhood? For the latest, please check our website:

www.stevenscreektrail.org.

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID CUPERTINO, CA PERMIT NO. 466

Friends of Stevens Creek Trail22221 McClellan RoadCupertino, CA 95014

Kenneth Alton • Larry Ames • Corin Anderson • Eric Anderson • Joane & Ross Anderson • Subramanya Avadani • Sherry & Peter Barba Hillary Barnhart • George Bell • Kathy Bettman • Eduardo & Aida Bibat • Tom Bornheimer • Peter Botsford • Susie & Sam Brain • Hilton Brown • Nancy Burnett • Patricia Campbell • Monica Cavallaro • James Chien • Mary Gilliland & Clinton Turner • Alice & Jim Cochran Reba Cohen • Clare & Eugene Cordero • Kathleen Creger • Rune Dahl & Sharlene Gee • Bill Danielson • Dick & Edwina de Losa Curt & Joan Demele • Martin Donald • Carla Dorow & Henry Pastorelli • Mitsuko & Roderick Dunphy • Karen Dyce • Wallace Erichsen Paul Feigelman • Tom & Jan Frankum • Steve & Susan Garrity • Heidi Gerster & Isaac Kikawada • Ellen Gilkerson • Elliot Gillum • Paul & Carole Goldstein • Judy & Steve Gorin for Jim Meyerson • David Greenstein • Waldo Griffin • Aaron Grossman • Scott Harger & Patricia Shriver • Diane & Steve Haze • Ross Heitkamp • Teena Henshaw • Don Hildenbrand • Walter Hsaio • Joy Hsiung • Rob Hurlston • Leroy Jebian • Rune Jensen • Robert Karchevski • Beth & Peter Karpas • Jack Kay • Robert Kirby & Helen Landsman • Alexei Kosut • Anthony & Judith Kramer • Dean Kudlick • Subra Kumaraswamy • Tracy King & Chris Kuszmaul • Eric Lee • Mark Lentczner • Kathleen Long • Steven Longcor • Leanne Luna • Joan MacDonald • Darren Magda • Soma McCandless • Curt McDowell • Nancy McKown • Donald & Amelie Meyer • Margaret Miller • Joe Mitchner • Vicki Moore • Julie & Chuck Muir • Edward Munyak • Tom Myers & Hartono Sutanto • Jim Napier • Anne & Sam Ng • Leslie & Anita Nichols • Tim Oey • Steve & Carol Olson • Abraham & Anna Oren • Doug & Shirley Pearson Roberto & Dalia Perelman • John & Barb Puccinelli • Bob Reay & Judith Fan • Randy Rhody • Robert Rich • Philip Roemer • Michael Rogers Alan Ross • Janette & Thomas Rudkin • D. Grover Sams • Owen & Barbara Saxton • John Schaefer • Tom Schaefer & Diane Reedman Rhonda Scherber Farrar • Aaron Schuman • Jeffrey Segall • John Seyfarth • Ann Sievert • Kathleen Sinclair • Meghan Stanley • Andrea Stawitcke • Meghan Stawitcke • Madeline Stovel • Art Takahara • Kathy & Page Thibodeaux • Greg Unangst • Charles Utley • Pieter Van der Starre • Robert Ward • Donald Weden • Linda & Glenn Wegner • Garth Williams • Tracy Wingrove • Keith Wood

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

408-255-5780

Online Registration: www.stevenscreektrail.org

Board of DirectorsMeghan StawitckePresidentTim OeyVice PresidentAnne NgSecretaryGarth WilliamsTreasurerDirectorsKathy BettmanTom BornheimerJohn BrazilRoss HeitkampGeoffrey PaulsenAlan RossGreg Unangst

Sarah Chekfa, Associate DirectorAaron Grossman, Executive Director

The Trailblazer is a publication sponsored by the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail. The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail is a nonprofit 501 (C) (3) or-ganization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. The Friends orga-nization promotes community pride and citizen involvement in the completion, enhancement, and enjoyment of the Stevens Creek Trail and Wildlife Corridor.

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Newsletter Design and Production

Chris Mendible, Page Creations408-316-0074

chrismendible@gmail.com

Articles and Photos Aaron Grossman, Ross Heitkamp, Ray Meyer, Anne Ng, Tim Oey,

Geoffrey Paulsen, Meghan Stawitcke, Greg Unangst, Garth Williams

Trailblazer Race 2013 Sunday, September 29th

Mark your calendar for a day of fun for the entire family!

After twenty busy years on our board, Art Taka-hara decided to step down. From helping founder Rhonda Scherber Farrar get things started at our very beginning in 1992, until early this year, Art worked tirelessly to develop the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail and carry out its mission.

Born and raised in Seattle, Art graduated as an electrical engineer from the University of Washington, then moved to Mountain View and worked with Intel and National Semiconductor. Thirty-five years ago he started his own business, De Anza Manufacturing, a contract electronic manufacturing company. He ran it himself until taking a leave of absence last year to care for his wife during her last seven months. His adult kids took over running the business while he was out, and they have since kept the arrangement so that he is now partially retired.

Art first served on the Mountain View Plan-ning Commission for three years, and was then elected to the City Council in April 1988 and 1992, the first Asian council member and then mayor. For years he had talked with his friend Tony Look about how to create a public trail along Stevens Creek. Rhonda and Art realized a community organization was needed to be voice for the trail, and that as mayor he could help it along, so they collaborated on starting the Friends in 1992.

Art was instrumental in making the trail the number one Parks & Rec priority, and then a top city council priority as well. It took a while to get the necessary support from county, state, and federal politicians and California Transportation Commission, but Art’s efforts paid off in strong support when it came time to secure funding.

It was a busy city council in 1992 under Art’s leadership. Besides developing the first trail feasibility study and plans, Mountain View built Reaches 1 and 2, won the Light Rail route, closed Moffett Airfield, opened the new city hall complex, and renovated downtown.

Art is very proud of how, when controversy over the Mountain View Sleeper seg-

ment threatened trail progress, the Friends took a leadership role to organize support and help resolve key issues. He also takes pride in the Friend’s involvement in the ongoing work to get the upstream communities involved. As the Mountain View trail sections began approaching the Sunnyvale and Los Altos borders, Art knew that we could not just say, “you guys take over.” He realized that a consortium was needed to make it work and move ahead, and he helped start the Four Cities joint planning team created to coordinate planning between the four cities involved. He thinks it has good traction now and it’s great that all four cities are fully involved to develop the trail.

He is also proud of our elementary school education projects in the early days, providing creek coloring books to school kids and getting classes outside and on the creek looking for bugs and plants. Art likes to say, “Children’s education is a great thing to bring up when people ask what we do with our money.” He likes the new Friends WOW (Watching Our Watershed) project, being developed under a Google grant, and suggests it might be time to complement it with a brochure on the trail and watershed.

Art sometimes gets impatient with the apparently slow progress of the trail, but he knows these big projects take time. The Moffett

Boulevard over-crossing is something he wanted from the beginning as a safety issue, but could not get included in the original trail plans. He never gave up, and it was eventually completed in 2009. Likewise, the El Camino Real north side trail entrance was finally added on and opened in 2013.

Looking back, Art says he met some pretty good people over the years. He is really excited about the current board, which he describes as, “... an unusually strong group of grass-roots members, which makes it easier for me to decide to retire from the board. My original goal was to stay on until Stevens Creek Trail was completely done, from the Bay Trail to the Ridge Trail, but crossing Highway 85 and twenty years is good enough.”

Even though Mountain View is about 90% finished with its section of trail, Art believes the overall goal should remain a continuous bay to mountains trail. He finds it amazing how many people still don’t know about the trail and creek, and reminds us that we need to keep reaching out to them. A fisherman at heart, he is excited to see trout returning to the Cupertino parts of Stevens Creek, thanks to effective creek restora-tion work both there and further downstream. He notes that it took a whole community to make it happen, and we still have much to do. Art—we thank you for doing so much for so many of us. Thank you!

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President’s CornerHello to All Our Friends of Stevens Creek Trail

To start off, I’d like to in-troduce myself as the new President of the Friends of

Stevens Creek Trail. In January 2013, I took over the position from Ross

Heitkamp, who remains on the Board. He was a great leader for our organization over the past

three years. In these past few months, I have met a wide

variety of people at the Working Team’s public meetings, various City Council meetings and numerous festival events. I am struck by the dedication and passion they all share for the Trail. I thank all of you who support the Stevens Creek Trail. We would not have been around this long or come this far without all of you.

This last year has been a busy one. In this newsletter, you’ll read about the exciting hap-penings in Sunnyvale, the Joint Cities’ continued collaboration, the upcoming Trailblazer Race and the Friends’ 20th Anniversary Celebration. The 20th Anniversary Celebration at Michael’s at Shoreline was a huge success. Our founding members joined our newest members, sup-porters and many city officials for an enjoyable

evening. One of the highlights was honoring this year’s Volunteer of the Year, founding member Art Takahara. Guided by his vision and spurred on by his passion, the trail has never lacked for supporters and advocates. We are lucky to have such a leader among us.

The Stevens Creek Trail continues to see prog-ress in several cities. Mountain View completed its bridge over Highway 85 that connects Sleeper Avenue to Dale/Heatherstone. This beautiful bridge is already much beloved by commuters and recreational users alike. In Cupertino, the next phase of creek restoration and extension is making steady progress near McClellan Ranch. Though the trail here is short, it is beautiful and worth a visit. In Sunnyvale, the city and com-munity are working together to move forward with the feasibility study, slowly putting together possible trail alignment options.

The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail are very excited to announce that Google has generously awarded us a grant to develop an educational tool that will help the public better understand various aspects of Stevens and Permanente Creeks. Using GoogleEarth, this tool will let you

click on “layers” showing plants, animals, human impacts, pollution; etc. If you or your organiza-tion would like to help us build these layers, please contact Board Member Greg Unangst at gunangst@pacbell.net.

We are gearing up for our annual Trailblazer Race, which will be held on Sunday, September 29th. Registration is now open on our website at www.stevenscreektrail.org. To run, walk or volunteer, please click on the Trailblazer Race link and reg-ister early. Register online by September 26th to receive a discount and volunteers, to receive your free T-shirt. We hope to see you there.

Happy Trails!

Meghan Stawitcke, Presidentpresident@stevenscreektrail.org

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Volunteer of the YearArt Takahara Retires from Board after 20 Years

Creek Cleanup 2013 More Volunteers than Ever!On Saturday April 20th, the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail held its annual creek cleanup in cooperation with the Mountain View Shoreline Parks department. This year’s event attracted 100 volunteers who cleaned up trash along the creek, painted fences and benches along the way and also worked to paint over graffiti along a sound wall near the end of the trail. This was a record turnout for the day and while larger than we had anticipated, everything went smoothly and quite a bit of work got done. As usual there was a good size pile of trash at the end of the day to show for our effort.

Kids and families had a good time picking up the trash. The find of the day was a large TV set in the creek itself that had to be left for the Mountain View employees to handle later. One of the kids working on painting benches had completely paint-covered hands, and when asked if he was aiming for his hands more than the benches replied “maybe…” so he was having fun at the task.

Lastly, we would like to thank Blue Coat Systems of Sunnyvale for providing the dozen pizzas, which were there to supply a well deserved lunch for all at the end of a rewarding day.

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Art Takahara—Founding member of the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail and former city council member and mayor of Mountain View

Gathered around the mound of trash bags they filled before enjoying a pizza lunch are some of the 100 creek cleanup volunteers in Whisman Park in Mountain View.

JCWT and City UpdatesJoint Cities Working Team

The Joint Cities Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study, consid-ering options to get the Stevens Creek Trail from Mountain View to Cupertino, has been underway since last summer and should conclude early next year. Funded by Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Cupertino, Mountain View, the Valley Transportation Authority, and the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, with Sunny-vale as lead agency, the study is led by consultant Jana Sokale and has included several public meetings so far to introduce a variety of trail alignment proposals. The consultant team works under the direction of the Joint Cities Working Team, a policy group consisting of one Council member or Board of Directors member and one staff person from each city and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The Working Team selected a Citizens Working Group (CWG) consisting of two or three residents of each city to act as a sounding board for the consultants before they present their proposals to the Working Team. Several Friends of Stevens Creek Trail board members serve on the CWG.

Initial analysis indicates the trail may be feasible along the creek and Highway 85 heading south from its current terminus at Dale/Heatherstone in Mountain View to Fremont Avenue. There are significant technical challenges in this stretch, but if success-fully handled would open 22 acres of open space to the public. The study is considering only publicly owned land, so the trail will probably have to leave the creek and follow streets for part of its route in Sunnyvale, Los Altos, and Cupertino, to connect to Cupertino’s soon to be completed new trail segment at Stevens Creek Blvd. (The creek is the boundary between Los Altos and Sunnyvale.) Various traffic calming and bicycle and pedes-trian friendly measures proposed for the several streets that are being considered have proved contentious. One intriguing possibility is a proper multi-use trail along the Highway 85 sound wall on Bernardo Avenue in Sunnyvale between Fremont and Homestead. This route requires either a loss of street parking or restriction to one-way travel for motor vehicles to provide adequate right-of-way for the trail. Another is a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge over Highway 280 near the creek, joining two Cupertino neighborhoods. Challenges there are both technical and political. Crossing Fremont, Homestead, and Stevens Creek Blvd. pose additional challenges.

The final study report will include information on all routes considered, including those that were rejected. For those considered technically fea-sible, specific neighborhood concerns will be noted. Final route selection and the complicated process of implementation will be up to the City Council of each city once the study is complete.

The next public meeting will be held this fall, exact date to be an-nounced. To find the date, see the study web page on the Sunnyvale web site at sctc.insunnyvale.com/ and sign up there for email notifications. Trail supporters, especially those from the four cities, are urged to attend.

Mountain ViewMountain View may have been the first city to build part of the Stevens Creek Trail in 1990, and may be the city with the most miles of trail at nearly five, but that does not mean they are done with it, by any measure. New access was added just earlier this year from the North side of El Camino Real, cutting about a half mile from the trip of people coming north on the trail who are transitioning onto El Camino Real heading west, as well as making for more direct access for those coming from the east.

Last summer, Mountain View did a wonderful repair/upgrade on the Central Expressway bridge. They replaced the worn and slippery wooden U-turns (aka “those wretched, lumpy, bumpy hairpin turns”) with concrete slabs that provide much better grip, smoother ride, have no gaps to grab tires and should last much longer. Prior to that, they had also improved access between the trail and Evelyn Avenue.

Although last year’s newsletter made mention of the newly opened trail extension and bridge over Highway 85 to Dale Ave and Heatherstone Way, we really learned to appreciate that addition in the year since. This is a very popular route for students going to Huff Elementary and Mountain View High School. Again this year, Friends of Stevens Creek Trail hosted a Bike to Work Day Energizer Station at the Sleeper Avenue access point. This year we saw a 50% increase in the number of riders passing by our location—over 680! About half the riders entered the trail from the new Dale/Heatherstone extension! With success like that, Mountain View may keep busy not just with extending the trail in length, but also in width!

Trail Progress Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Cupertino

SunnyvaleThanks to the City of Sunnyvale for serving as lead agency and primary funder for the Joint Cities effort, hosting the monthly meetings of the Working Team and the Citizens Working Group as well as the associated website.

As usual, the Friends had a booth at the Sunnyvale Art & Wine festival, and also participated in the Centennial Anniversary celebration with maps showing the Stevens Creek corridor over the past century and more and a self-guided bike tour of historic Sunnyvale sites.

The inaugural Fritz Stawitcke Memorial Bike Ride last summer honored our beloved former Friends’ Board member, who was a passionate advocate for the trail. The ride was part of the annual CJ Olson Cherry Festival, where it ended, and will be repeated this year. Carrying on in her father’s footsteps, Meghan Stawitcke has joined the board and is now president.

Los AltosWith the inception of the Joint Cities study, Los Altos aware-ness and discussion of Stevens Creek Trail has increased over the past year. Residents spoke at city council meetings, articles and letters to the editor appeared in the local weekly paper, and updates on the study were frequently posted on the Los Altos city website home page.

In June 2013 the Los Altos Public Works Department hosted a com-munity meeting, attended by over 150 Los Altos residents, to explain the goals of the study to late-comers, lay out the next steps in the process, and allow public comments. Fifty comments were listed on flip charts by city staff for consideration in the study process.

Of particular interest is finding a suitable connector route through Los Altos from Fremont Avenue on the north to Homestead Road on the south. By necessity a street alignment will be required, and the challenge is to create easy and safe access to the scenic creek side portions of the trail.

CupertinoConstruction on Cupertino’s Phase 2 of the Stevens Creek Corridor project will begin any day now, and should finish next year! The contract to restore Stevens Creek and build the trail alongside it between Blackberry Farm and Stevens Creek Blvd. was approved May 21. First comes creek restora-tion, which must be completed before the rainy season starts in October. The creek channel will be widened to the east along the golf course. The existing deteriorating concrete bank protection will be removed and the channel bank laid back to create an inset floodplain bench for planting riparian vegetation, greatly enhancing the creek’s wildlife habitat value while allowing it to flow more naturally. A backwater area will be created on the west bank, adding habitat complexity. The trail bridge across the creek will also be built at this time. Then comes construction of the trail, as weather permits, with the same permeable concrete paving used in the first segment through McClellan Ranch and Blackberry Farm. It will sneak along the golf course for a short distance before crossing the creek into the historic Stocklmeir property and emerging onto Stevens Creek Blvd. A well marked crosswalk with flashing lights and a median island will be built across Stevens Creek Blvd. at the Phar Lap intersection.

The chances for extending the trail south from McClellan Road could improve with a development proposal currently being formulated for 18 homes on the last piece of open land between the creek and Stevens Canyon Road, just downstream from the County Park. Landowner Parkside Trails

is offering a 34 acre piece of its property on the other side of the creek for parkland, as well as trail dedications through its neighboring properties, if the proposal is approved.

Trail extension to the north of Stevens Creek Blvd. along city streets is being considered in the Joint Cities Feasibility Study currently underway. One of the proposals includes a new bicycle pedestrian bridge over Highway 280 joining Phar Lap or Stokes with the Barranca/Maxine neighborhood. Other poten-tial Highway 280 crossings would be Mary Avenue and the Burnett Bridge, Foothill Blvd., or, going even farther afield, the trail system in Rancho San Antonio if access into the County Park from Stevens Creek Blvd. is achieved by Cupertino’s proposed trail bridge over the Union Pacific railroad tracks. To learn more, check the website at http://StevensCreek.inSunnyvale.com/ where you can sign up for email notifications, and confirm date and loca-tion of the public meeting coming up this fall.

Habitat enhancement (adding native plants and removing non-native invasives) along the trail in McClellan Ranch and Blackberry Farm is being accomplished weekly by volunteers under the direction of Joanne McFarlin of Acterra (http://www.acterra.org/) thanks partly to a grant from the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail. Please contact Joanne at joannem@acterra.org if you’re interested in joining her crew, which currently assembles on Wednesday mornings.

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Flash! Flash! Flash! The Friends has received approval from the City of Mountain View for a bronze trail-side plaque to honor our work and those who support it. To include names, email Aaron Grossman at exec-dir@stevenscreektrail.org for a pledge form and submit it by Septem-ber 30, 2013. Donation levels (tax deductible) are: $100 Bronze, $250 Silver, $500 Gold, $1,000 Platinum, or even higher! It is fine to include the names of past supporters who are no longer with us—we are happy to remember and honor them.

“Geenfingers” volunteers are working on habitat enhancement along Stevens Creek Trail in Cupertino’s McClellan Ranch Preserve, removing non-native invasive plants and planting native ones. Join them Wednesday mornings! They’re led by Acterra with some funding from the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail.

This cracked concrete armoring the creek banks of Blackberry Farm Golf Course along Stevens Creek will soon be removed as part of the creek restoration work being implemented with Cupertino’s next segment of the Stevens Creek Trail, linking Blackberry Farm Park and Stevens Creek Blvd. through the Stocklmeir property.

Start/Finish Microsoft Campus 1065 La Avenida, Mountain View Exit Highway 101 at Shoreline to the Bay. Follow signs to La Avenida. Free parking and bicycle corral.

Race Day Registration 7:30 a.m. Events start 8:30 a.m.Free Children’s Races about 9:45 a.m. (no T-shirt).

USATF 5K/10K Races Stevens Creek Trail & Shoreline Park, mostly asphalt for serious and casual runners. Strollers okay.

3Mile (5K) Trail Walk mostly flat Stevens Creek Trail, with beautiful creek and wildlife views. Wheelchair accessible.

M/F Age Divisions 12 & under, 13-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+

Registration Fee Adult 10K, 5K: $25 advance/$30 race day Adult 5K Trail Walk: $10 advance/$15 race day Youth (19 & under): $10 advance/$15 race day

Registered Participants & Volunteers Receive T-shirt, free food, drinks, and entry in post-race raffle prize drawing! Mail Advance Registration by 9/15 or online by 9/26.

Info 408-255-5780 or ED@stevenscreektrail.org.

Special Thanks to City of Mountain View, Mountain View Voice, Hobee’s, Starbucks and our sponsors.

Register at www.stevenscreektrail.org

Official Entry Form — Mail before September 15 or bring with you on race day

Sunday, September 29, 20131065 La Avenida, Mountain View

10K & 5K USATF Races

3-Mile (5K) Scenic Trail Walk

Free Children’s Races, Inflatable Games and Face Painting

Festival Area

Free Car Parking

Secure Bicycle Corral

Trailblazer Race & Walk—Information & RegistrationPresenting Sponsor

Register Onlinewww.stevenscreektrail.org

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Check Payable to FOSCT enclosed for $____________________

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Mountain View

It was 20 years ago that the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail was officially founded as a nonprofit organization. And what a wonderful 20 years it has been! To mark this milestone anniversary, a special invitation-only celebration was held on May 10 at Michael’s at Shoreline. Approximately 120 people attended, those who have been sup-porters, friends and followers of the trail and its progress over the last two decades.

It was a fun and festive event, with a variety of tasty appetizers, drinks and a custom logo-decorated cake. Special recognition was given to former board member Art Takahara, who was instrumental in the success of the early years of the trail while in his role of City Councilman and Mayor of Mountain View. In addition to Art, speakers included board president Meghan Stawitcke, Glenn Lyles (former General Man-ager, Shoreline Park), Rhonda Scherber Farrar (official founder of the Friends), and Aaron Grossman, Executive Director of the Friends.

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Geoff PaulsenGeoff Paulsen grew up on a ranch above Palo Alto next door to his grandparents, who became pioneers in the local open space movement by deciding in the 1950’s to donate much of their ranch to become a park. Geoff followed in their footsteps and at age 13, wrote a petition to save 250 acres of local land from development. He went on to work as a park ranger, open space planner, and for the last 25 years has spent much of his spare time managing a 450-acre forest in far northern California.

Geoff recently retired from over 30 years of public service, most recently in the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, and has decided to spend his remaining years planting trees. Since he has a B.S. degree in natural re-sources, and a master’s degree in public admin-

istration—and lots of government experience, an invitation to join the Board of the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail was a natural. Although he actually can plant trees (and still does so as an oc-casional volunteer along the Stevens Creek Trail), he wants to put his education and experience to work helping to complete the Stevens Creek Trail.

Geoff ’s love of bicycling and community plan-ning led him to become a founding member of the Cupertino Bicycle/Pedestrian Commission, and he is currently on the Cupertino Parks and Recreation Commission. He also enjoys hiking, politics, history, church leadership, prescribed burning, and telling stories. He and his wife, Janine, a school nurse in Cupertino, have four adult children. Geoff has been a member of the board since May 2013.

Sarah ChekfaSarah Chekfa, Monta Vista High School class of 2015, is our new associate board member. She learned about the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail when she was sent to help with the Friends’ table at the Cupertino Earth Day Fair in April. After happily entertaining kids with our “What Belongs in the Creek” game while we chatted with their parents, she eagerly agreed to apply for the associate board member position. As Sarah says, “Although I do not know as much about the trail as the rest of the board, I am excited to learn more about it and pitch in to help serve it and nurture it. As of June 2013, I am working on a social networking project for the Trail to help expand internet outreach and further broaden the mission of the Friends.”

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The Friends Welcomes New Board Members Geoff Paulsen and Sarah Chekfa

Friends of Stevens Creek Trail

20th Anniversary Celebration

Top (from left to right): Back Row: Roy Verley, Anne Ng, Art Takahara, Tim Oey, Greg Unangst Front Row: Geoff Paulsen, Meghan Stawitcke, Aaron Grossman, Kathy Bettman, John Brazil, Ross Heitkamp

Bottom Left: Rhonda Scherber Farrar

Bottom Right: Glenn Lyles