Recap and videos from our event at The Freight & Salvage!

Hi campers, staff and friends!

We had a brilliant night of learning about The Rim Fire from our friends at The United States Forest Service!

The Freight and Salvage was a packed house of enthusiastic Bay Area residents interested in learning about the scope and size of the fire, and what can be done going forward to help our forest be sustainable, and healthy. We had campers from Tuolumne Camp, Camp Tawonga, Camp Mather, San Jose Camp and Lair of the Bear, as well as other non-profits working in the forest. Thank you to The Freight for hosting us!

Amongst the biggest news we learned is that the City of Berkeley and the USFS have an agreement to go forward for the rebuilding of camp at the current Harden Flat location! Huge news! That leads us to The Master Plan development process which has started with public meetings. See the schedule at: http://www.cityofberkeley.info/Parks_Rec_Waterfront/Recreation/Tuolumne_Camp.aspx

Please come and give the Master Plan your voice and opinions in these public workshops!

We learned about the cooperation and volunteer effort needed from the Bay Area community to help the USFS plant 7 million trees over the size of an area equal to Los Angeles!  Since the fire was one of the most devastating in California history, there is an unprecedented effort to reforest and they need help from every source they can.

Watch the 13 min. clip of “The Fire Next Time” which we showed that illustrates what Mega-Fires are all about and the amazing collaboration of the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions group that FOBTC is a part of:

Most people have not been to camp to see what it currently looks like. We showed a slide show from our Executive Director Scott Gelfand made in December of what Camp looks like today after the 1400 hazardous trees were removed in the fall. View it here:

Craig Veramay and Denise Brown from the City of Berkeley spoke beautifully about the rebuilding process of Camp, and also Sierra Family Camp at Echo Lake. The business of Camp is vital to the process of rebuilding camp, and our support of camp at Echo Lake is very important to the continuing of the traditions and experience of Tuolumne Camp. There is still room for reservations, although the camp is filling up.

Please go to http://www.cityofberkeley.info/FamilyCampEchoLake/ and sign up for some time at Camp. FOBTC will be programming a Labor Day weekend there (Boat Regatta on Echo Lake!) at the end of the summer, and Blues Weekend returns as well! Check out our events page for more information.

Finally, we ended the night by showing rare footage saved in the fire of 16 mm film taken at Camp Tuolumne in 1948! FOBTC paid for digitizing the film and editing it to a cohesive short film of what it was like to be at Camp in 1948! Enjoy:

Our new partnership with the Forest Service was in full bloom at this event, and everyone in the audience could feel their incredible efforts to save Camp and rebuild it in the same location. We are amongst their top priorities in their planning, as they recognize the important history and connection to the Bay Area.

A “Call to Action” plan will be coming down the road to rebuild trails, plant trees, collect seeds, clear brush, etc.. all under the supervision and guidance of the USFS. We’ll keep you posted and hope you will join us.

Thank you!! We’ll see you at The Master Plan meetings! Very exciting!

Scotty and the Board of Friends of Berkeley Tuolumne Camp