For the second year in a row, an elusive group of tagged trout at Lopez Lake has managed to slip away during the Second Annual Reel `Em In Trout Derby. Sometimes it just does not matter what the weather is going to be like during County Park-sponsored events. That is what park rangers and trout derby sponsors say about Lopez Lake's premier recreational event. Despite the gloomy skies, a determined crowd of 200 anglers braved the weather on May 3 and 4 in search of the grand prize trout.
Rain clearly did not dampen the spirits of young Steven Orozco of Santa Maria. The ten-year-old took first place in the Kid's Division for catching the event's longest trout. The 17 3/4-inch fish rewarded Steven $300 for his efforts.

Although anglers caught no tagged fish during the event, the $3000 Grand Prize was split three ways and raffled off to lucky winners: Randy Coons of Paso Robles, John Watanabe of Guadalupe, and John Lawson of Bakersfield. Each person won $1000 for participating in the raffle.
An after-derby promotion continues out at Lopez Lake. Anglers catching any remaining tagged trout can turn in the tag and receive $100. Three have already caught tagged trout and received their prizes. You have until June 1 to catch the remaining fish.

The Friends of Lopez Lake and County Parks wish to thank everyone who came to the derby and encourage participants to give them opinions about the event by contacting San Luis Obispo County Parks at (805) 781-5930. The Friends look forward to the next event in 2004!

From the Manager's Desk
by Pete Jenny, Parks Manager

San Luis Obispo County is at a crossroads. Behind us are the good ol' days (which probably weren't as good as we'd like to remember them) and ahead lies an uncertain future. Like much of the rest of the country, we are struggling to determine where to allocate resources which simply don't seem sufficient to meet all of our identified wants and needs. All too often, we make that allocation based on an "either/or" view. As a result, we place many important services in competition with each other. Parks OR roads; libraries OR police; schools OR jails. The real challenge today is to determine how much of each will lead to the balanced society we seek.
In trying to sort out how to slice up the pie of County resources (read "funding"), we often oversimplify the situation to make the choices easier. We need roads and, of course, we need police officers and firefighters. But just how much quality can we afford when it comes to schools and libraries, parks and open space?

In an age when 64.5% of American adults are either overweight (10 to 30 pounds over healthy weight) or obese (more than 30 pounds overweight) and 15% of children aged 6 to 19 are overweight, what is the value to society in providing more opportunities for exercise to fight and reverse that modern trend? An estimated 300,000 Americans die each year from conditions related to obesity like heart disease and diabetes. The cost of health care in this country related to obesity alone was estimated to be $117 billion in 2000. A recent Brown University study suggests the nation could save $20 billion annually if every sedentary American walked one hour per day. A part of such a solution comes from providing safe and accessible parks, trails and open space near people's homes to make exercise easier and more enjoyable.

Crime is another costly area where a commitment to parks and recreation programs can make a huge difference. A Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development study reveals that 40% of the typical youngster's time is discretionary and available for choices–both good and bad. Where recreation programs and facilities are available in making those choices, crime rates drop. Gang related problems cost California taxpayers about $1billion each year. The Department of Justice reports that well over 5,000 gang members are incarcerated with the California Youth Authority at an estimated annual cost of $160 million. In making choices, can we afford to prevent youth crime by giving kids constructive options for their free time? Can we afford not to do so? The typical recreation coordinator costs about half as much as a police officer or prison guard.

Some choices only come to a community once. Open space or park dedications generated by development have already been lost due to insufficient funding to maintain the facilities for public use. Ask the residents, planners or leaders of any urbanized area if they have too much or not enough open space and parkland and the answer is always the same: "we need more but have no place to get it now." Will we in San Luis Obispo County continue to pass up opportunities to acquire parks and open space and trails until the day comes, as it has for many other communities, when we find it is too late?

The growth pressures on this county, both internal and state-imposed, are going to increase and the chance to plan and build a balanced, healthy community is before us now. Such choices are always best made when there is time to consider alternatives and consequences. We have the choice to commit ourselves to maintaining, even enhancing, the quality of life issues we so proudly tout on the Central Coast. We can even make up some of the lost time and lost opportunities which resulted from too many years of neglecting the recreational and open space needs of a healthy community. Or, we can go the way of so many other communities where choices were made in haste and the consequences were ignored by short-sighted expediency. The time is quickly coming for us to chose our destiny.

So what is the solution? Well, there's the rub. If we decide it is important to us as a countywide community to provide parks and trails and open space, along with the recreational benefits associated with them, then we'll also need to decide how best to fund them. Perhaps it's simply a reallocation of existing revenues, setting aside one percent of the County's budget for parks and recreation (more than we're doing today). Other communities have employed a modest increase in sales tax or property transfer fees or even assessments on property in the effort to build a healthy, economically stable service base. Those solutions are available to us but first, as we stand at the crossroads, we must decide which path we wish to follow.

A recent rash of bear activity at Santa Margarita Lake has prompted park staff to mount an aggressive "Be Bear Aware" campaign. We have spotted a female black bear and her two cubs in the early morning hours raiding garbage dumpsters and fish cleaning stations at the facility. The cubs are just over a year old and appear to weigh around 100 lbs. each.

The American Black Bear, (Ursus americanus) can weigh between 200 and 400 pounds and reach lengths of 5 to 6 feet. Problems for people occur when young bears get accustomed to interacting with us and begin feeding primarily on a smorgasbord of garbage we provide. Once they find an easy source of food, they will continue to use the artificial resource as often as they can. Park Ranger Glenn Simpson adds, "Bear cubs exhibit little fear, or aggression for that matter. They do not really know what to think about humans."

Staff at the lake have been warning campers and advising them to store all food in the trunk of their vehicles and avoid leaving any food or toiletries in their campsites. Black bears have an exceptionally acute sense of smell. They can easily detect the attractive odor of toothpaste or cologne inside a tent or backpack. Some additional tips for camping in bear country include:

• Keep a clean campsite; dirty paper plates and cups smell of food and can attract bears.
  
  
• Never leave food, toothpaste, deodorant, or medications inside your tent. Bears easily detect these items, and their odors can stay with your tent for long periods after you remove them.
  
  
• If you encounter a bear, make noise, wave your hands and do anything you can to appear larger than you are. Do not approach the bear or act aggressively. Stand your ground, or back away slowly. Never turn and run from a bear as it may stimulate aggressive behavior sometimes called a "prey reflex."
  
  
• Never feed a bear! This is the most common reason National Park visitors are injured by bears. It creates a dangerous situation for you, other visitors, and ultimately for the bear who may be euthanized for dangerous behavior.

Follow these simple rules for camping in bear country and you will be "BEAR AWARE!" You can obtain additional information on black bears in the "Living with California Black Bears" handout distributed by the California Department of Fish and Game.

For the past school year, Morro Bay High School student Jason Bates has been participating in an interesting partnership program between County Parks and his school. As part of his Agriculture Science curriculum, Jason has been fulfilling a "supervised occupation experience" requirement by doing various duties at Morro Bay Golf Course. The curriculum requires students to do public service hours each semester in assignments concerning their studies.

Jason, who is also a member of the MBHS golf team, chose to do his service hours learning about the profession of turf management. Jason reported for duty at the golf course at 5:00 a.m. on weekends to help the greens keepers set up the golf course for daily play. His duties included mowing greens, moving tee markers and changing the flag stick locations.

Jason also learned about the various types of grasses managed on golf courses and some horticultural practices unique to golf operations.
Based on the enthusiasm that Jason had shown for his project, his high school teacher and adviser encouraged him to apply for a Future Farmers of America (FFA) Proficiency Award in the category of "Outdoor Recreation." This required more report writing and documentation on Jason's part but ultimately resulted in his winning the top "Proficiency Award" in the San Luis Obispo Section, as judged by a group of local high school Agriculture Science teachers. Following this achievement, Jason submitted his project for consideration of an FFA Project Competition award. Here again, they deemed Jason's project worthy of a Gold Award for the San Luis Obispo Section and was noted as one of the top six projects overall in his section.

Our sincere congratulations go out to Jason Bates for all his hard work and interest in the turf management profession. This project is a wonderful illustration of how County Parks can provide excellent recreation and learning opportunities for our local youth.