TULEYOME'S SPRING THING EVENT CELEBRATES NATURE

Davis resident Houston Wilson came to this year's Spring Thing with his one-year-old son, Eli, to teach him to appreciate the local ecosystem.

“We're relatively new to the area and we're always looking for activities where we can expose the kids and teach them about the local ecosystem,” he said. “I never heard about this group before but my wife heard about this event through a friend and it looked really cool.”

Wilson and his wife are both environmental scientists who recently moved to Davis from Fresno. He argued that the Woodland Regional Park Preserve — located at the crossing of Road 25A and 102 — is important because it contributes to the quality of life in the area by helping conserve the biodiversity of the area and giving people an opportunity to engage with the outdoors.

“We appreciate all the parks that are in the area and that extends to this,” he said regarding the park preserve. “It's great to have people that can interpret what's going on around us and teach us about the local insects, animals and other wildlife.”

Nonprofit conservation organization Tuleyome has held Spring Thing for the past two years to celebrate its programs and access to public lands. This year, Woodland partnered with the organization to further support the objective.

Dozens of visitors were able to experience the park and learn about several projects the city and its partners have taken on to prepare it for public access while enhancing and protecting the wetland, plants and wildlife.

The event featured several activities throughout the day, including a birding tour with Yolo Audubon, a wetlands walk, a compass navigation course, and several story times, among others.

The 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. event kicked off with a welcome address from City Manager Ken Hiatt and Mayor Tania GarciaCadena, who highlighted the park's importance and its continued need for funding and support.

Hiat explained that the park used to be a municipal landfill in the 1970s and 1980s noting that the city has since been “sitting on this property looking for a purpose for it.”

Discussions over the years have debated several uses including the potential construction of a shopping mall, but Hiatt said the City Council realized the city should be “better stewards of this property” and pushed the city to work with its partners — Tuleyome, YoloHabitat Conservancy, Yolo County and ExplorIt Science Center — to create the park preserve.

“Over the last 10 to 15 years, we've leveraged $2 million in state funding, state parks grants and wildlife conservation board to start to put that vision into place,” he highlighted. “Just last summer, the Habitat Conservancy negotiated a conservation easement that established a permanent open space in conservation on this property.”

Hiatt also explained that what the city and its partners have so far accomplished is only the initial phase of the improvements, which includes the installment of 1,600 lineal feet of a paved ADA-accessible path.

Although the park is still not open to the public, Hiatt said the city is working on a project to add a signal to make the turn getting into the park less dangerous. Once that's done, the park should be accessible to the public.

Mayor Tania Garcia-Cadena also shared some words taking a moment to thank several individuals, organizations and businesses that donated10 benches, each $2,500, to the park, which includes the following:

Tuleyome board members Susan Torguson and Dr. Glen Holstein

The California Waterfowl Association

Holiday Inn Express & Fairfield Inn & Suites

Woodland Tree Foundation

Meg Stallard and Councilman Tom Stallard Matt and Jenn Rexroad Woodland community member Mary Loveless

City volunteer Jennifer Hogan

Woodland Community College

Former Tuleyome board member Lars Anderson

Additionally, Garcia-Cadena highlighted a $3,000 donation from Dan Dowling, a local business owner and philanthropist, that allowed the city to purchase a picnic table and an additional $4,000 donation from Anderson for a park shed that will be used to store maintenance materials and tools.

Collectively, these individuals have contributed $32,000 towards the project that the mayor believes will be “everlasting and impactful” to the park.

To learn more about the park preserve, visit cityofwoodland.gov/1314/Woodland-Regional-Park-Preserve.

PHOTOS BY GERARDO ZAVALA — DAILY DEMOCRAT Autumn Turner (front right), a Yolo Audubon board member and newsletter editor, leads a morning bird walk Saturday, at the Woodland Regional Park Preserve during the Spring Thing event. Turner pointed out birdhouses built along the paved path and several species of birds including Canada Geese and swallows.

PHOTOS BY GERARDO ZAVALA — DAILY DEMOCRAT Houston Wilson and his one-year-old son, Eli, enjoy a walk in the Woodland Regional Park Preserve Saturday during the Spring Thing Event.

Roxanne Moger, a volunteer and certified naturalist for Tuleyome, helps kids build shelters using basic items such as long sticks, dirt, clothes pins and cloth Saturday, in Woodland. “The kids are very earnest,” Moger said. “They like trying and experimenting so it's been great fun.”