Photo: Shannon Hill, 8, and her mother Mildred Hill, left, along with Shannon’s friend Alli McCabe, 9, right, experience using a large handsaw with a member of the USDA Forest Service on Friday at the Pocket Park in Vallejo, where the Visions of the Wild Festival has set up a series of family and youth-friendly activities. The festival continues today.
Some people work all day in cubicles, never seeing the outside world. Some are confined to a drab, windowless office.
Then there’s Sarah King, who must knock on wood every time she acknowledges how lucky she is. And that wood would be a pine tree.
King works at the Pt. Reyes National Seashore, some 150 miles of trails and 80 miles of shoreline.
Tough gig? Hardly. Not with a daily view many only see in paintings.
“You can’t really beat it,” said King, perched behind an information in the grassy area on the 200 block of Georgia Street as part of the Visions of the Wild festival.
King’s colleague, John Dell Osso, encouraged Vallejoans to get to Pt. Reyes to enjoy what nature provides. And it’s free.
“There’s something for everyone,” Dell Osso said. “Beaches, hiking trails, overnight camping, elephant seals. We only get 2.5 million visitors a year. Vallejo can add to that.”
Friday’s activities included the family-friendly activities during the day, along with presentations and exhibits up the street at The Hub, a model of the Pacific Crest Trail, and a panel on wilderness and culture. The early-evening offerings included a Gallery Walk, then film screenings at the Empress Theatre.
There’s more of the same today, plus ecopoetry and environmental hip hop as the first-time festival concludes with a 7:30 p.m. variety show and closing night celebration.
Though Friday’s attendance during the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. family/youth activities appeared sparse, more will likely be aware with today’s farmer’s market downtown.
“This was a dress rehearsal,” said Jeff Kingman behind the JFK Library table.
Other attractions at the so-called “pocket park” include Dixie, a horse helping to promote the Wild Horse and Burro Program, a 20-foot enclosed nylon fish tent, Project Coyote, and a children’s crafts table.
The fish tent is a way to bait kids and adults into understanding the importance of fish to the ecosystem, said Patti Krueger, a 23-year U.S. Forest Service employee.
Kids learn the web of life, “how fish are integrated” with animals and the environment, Krueger said, noting the importance of the 50-year anniversary of the Wildness Act.
“The act provided for clean water and fish need clean water,” Krueger said.
Karina Grasso stood behind the Project Coyote information table, explaining the misunderstood animal that’s related to the dog via the nonprofit founded in 2008.
It’s about humans “co-existing peacefully” with coyotes, Grasso said.
“They are so misunderstood. People are scared of them because they don’t understand them,” Grasso said, adding that coyotes “have a natural wariness of people. They prefer to not have anything to do with us.”
Coyotes, she added, “are very beneficial to the environment and ecosystems.”
Originally reported by Richard Freedman in Vallejo Times-Herald.
