FRIENDS OF EDGEWOOD NATURAL PRESERVE
|
FRIENDS OF EDGEWOOD NATURAL PRESERVE
|
|
|
A SENSE OF PLACE, EDGEWOOD NATURAL PRESERVE By Susan Sommers Edwards For me, Edgewood Preserve epitomizes a sense of place. From my first visit in May 1969, I saw a panorama of beauty and felt a powerful response - one that gave me that sense of place. From Edgewood to the Santa Cruz Mountain crests, the sky radiated over forest, savannah and grassland. Millions of blossoms separated the grassy slopes of the Central Ridge from those of the South Hill. The heady aromas of perfume from spring's burgeoning blossoms wafted on the zephyrs. On that glorious day I knew here was something of great value that urgently needed protection. Sharing my concern and appreciation of Edgewood, Dorothea Kauffman enhanced my desire to identify the resources and stimulate preservation by others who recognized Edgewood's unique values. Most of the plants at Edgewood were new to me, as was the serpentine ecology. No local Natural History museum had serpentine displays. Arthur R. Kruckeberg was yet to publish his 1984 treatise on "California Serpentines". With Dorothea's support I became a catalyst for Edgewood's preservation. I knew interpretation was the key to its protection. Through CNPS wildflower exhibits I learned about the wildflowers that were not in the reference library collections. President Doug Erskine of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter responded to my Edgewood concerns, by introducing me to June Bilisoly. She, Lennie Roberts, and others formed the Serpentine Protection League to protect the serpentine flora on the Farm Hill School site from development. Through my Serpentine League activism I met Tom "Doc" Lindenmeyer, an ecologist devoted to serpentine protection. In the mid '70s, at our initial meeting, he greeted me by asking, "So you want to know about serpentine, eh?" For more than two hours he educated me about serpentine ecology. He championed the preservation of Edgewood by stimulating the local citizenry to activism. I talked to everyone, everywhere, about Edgewood. As I gave slide shows and led spring tours for schools and groups, people's interest grew. After about a decade, other organizations started to include Edgewood in their springtime tours. This grass-roots "interpretive center" was mobile; it traveled by foot, by word of mouth, and through local slide shows. The circle of interpretation expanded as people responded to their own sense of place at Edgewood. During the Edgewood Environmental Impact Report (EIR) review period, the first public collection of Edgewood interpretive material was installed in the Hall of Justice and Records in San Mateo County. More than thirty large color prints of my Edgewood photographs were displayed with placards describing the significance portrayed in landscape, flower and butterfly pictures. During EIR discussions, Lennie Roberts, the Committee for Green Foothills, and other grass-root groups brought Supervisors, planning personnel, and the public to the photographs. They would, point to the photographs and say, "See! This is what we're talking about." Lennie said the pictures were most helpful to educate people about the need to preserve Edgewood's extraordinary ecological value. It is time for Edgewood's mobile, grass-roots Interpretive Center to have a new permanent home where ideas and values can be shared with people of all ages. The new Interpretative Center can provide a place to begin field trips, to offer educational opportunities, and to encourage stewardship. As envisioned, the Interpretive Center is both a beautiful and an enriching gift to Edgewood. I deeply thank the Friends of Edgewood for your contributions and your efforts to ensure that Edgewood will continue to provide a sense of place—a place that continues to excite future generations as it did on that spring day in 1969. |
|