Kids On Public Lands Event June 21-22

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Posted by Cecile on June 12, 2003 at 20:40:18:


While this is not in Death Valley and it's not even in the desert it is on dirt roads & it might be of interest to those of you who have 4 wheel drive vehicles & want to volunteer your 4 wd skills to help teach children appreciation for our public lands.

Harry Lewellyn aka the Silver Coyote, of ECO4WD Adventures & Rick Russell are working on this great event June 21-22. As a former YMCA employee, and partner with Harry, this is right down my alley, or should I say "dirt road". However I'll be attending Tonie Seger's memorial that weekend. I'm posting this here in case any of you can attend and help out.


*** PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ***
Join the Coyote and volunteer at Rick Russell's (Sidekick Off Road -
www.sidekickoffroad.com ) 6th annual Kids
on Public Lands Event on June 21-22 , 2003 at Big Bear!!!
This event provides an educational, outdoor and 4WD experience to Anaheim
kids ages 8 to 12 who participate in a YMCA after school education and
recreation program designed to stimulate and improve their learning skills.
Details are provided in the first attachment and a registration form is in
the second.
Some of the areas where volunteers are needed are: male drivers for boys
(Sat), female drivers for girls (Sun), sun tarp setup & take down, moving
food from upper parking lot to patio area, organizing gift bags for the
kids, helping drive to the store to pickup ice, assisting kids during the 3
hr. Discover Center Tour (movie, fire fighter demo, ATV demo, gold panning,
seeing stuffed wild animals, hearing presentation about forest, etc.), trash
pickup, parking control, etc.
If you cannot attend, please consider donating some much needed funding to
this worthwhile event.
We hope to see you there!
~Jenna and Harry
PS: If you know someone who might be interested in participating, feel free
to forward this email.


=============================


Kids on Public Lands
Big Bear Discovery Center, Big Bear California

Kids on Public Lands, KOPL, is an event meant to give children the opportunity to spend a day in the San Bernardino National Forest and learn about off-highway trails, natural resources, and the plants and animals in the forest. It is organized and put on by a group for Forest Service Volunteers in conjunction with the San Bernardino National Forest Association, several 4x4 clubs, 4x4 enthusiasts, the Anaheim Police Athletic League (PAL) and the Anaheim YMCA.

The program takes children, ages 8-12, from the Anaheim area in Orange County who are a part of the Anaheim YMCA after school education and recreation program. These children are in a program to help with learning skills and to make sure they will meet the level of education necessary to pass into the next grade. As a reward for a certain level of participation and excellence, they are given the opportunity to attend the KOPL event. The program has been an outstanding success for the children, parents and YMCA. The Anaheim Police Department’s PAL program provides additional adult staffing and insurance coverage for the event.

We bring up fifty boys on a Saturday and fifty girls on Sunday to the Big Bear Discovery Center in the San Bernardino National Forest for the one-day event. Each day the group is split into two. One group goes on a trail ride in a 4x4 vehicle. The boys have men drivers and the girls are driven by women. It’s one driver to one child. A medical person goes on the trail with each group as well as a trail guide, mechanics and several backup vehicles. Members of the press travel in 4x4 vehicles with the children. The other half of the group goes on a tour of the Big Bear Discovery Center and learns about motorcycle and ATV safety. The tour includes learning about the animals and plants of the forest and the equipment and tools our firefighters use to protect us and the forest. Volunteers should meet at the Discovery Center at 8:00 am.

Hamburgers and hot dogs with drinks and dessert are provided to the children and the volunteers. After lunch the two groups split again and participate in the opposite activity from the morning.

About 4:30 pm everyone meets, the children load the bus, and head back down the hill, tired, but with many positive memories and experiences of a fun filled day. The 2003 event will be chaired by Rick Russell and co-chair Maggie Fleshman. The duties are divided into ten separate committees including YMCA rep, PAL rep, Meals, Logistics, Donations, Activities, Communications, Media Relations, Trails, Transportation, and Medical.

This activity involved about 80 volunteers, divided equally between event volunteers and trail and tour volunteers. Last year they donated 2000 hours. Insurance is provided by PAL, the YMCA and the SBNFA. Transportation costs are covered by the YMCA and PAL. The KOPL committee raises about $3000 in cash, about $800 in food, and numerous small gifts to build a goodie bag for each of the kids.

The 2003 KOPL event will be held on June 21-22. To donate time or money to this event contact Rick Russell at (909) 628-7227 or email him, KOPL@sidekickoffroad.com, P.O. Box 727, Chino, CA 91708. Make checks payable to SBNFA (San Bernardino National Forest Association) a non-profit Fed. Tax ID: 33-0638981.

Event Activities for Participating ChildrenTrail Rides• Meet your driver• Checking vehicle safety equipment• Using a CB radio• Driving on dirt and rock trails• Enjoying the scenic outdoors• Visiting a historic fire lookout siteNatural History• Animals of the San Bernardino Nat. Forest• Plants of the San Bernardino Nat. Forest• Fire safety and firefighters Lunch• BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone• Drinks• DessertsSpecial Events• Gold panning• ATV and motorcycle safety presentation• Meet the Forest Ranger

Responsibilities

Drivers and Backup Drivers

Plan to be at the Discovery Center at 8:00 am. The Discovery Center is located on the north side of Big Bear Lake, east of Fawnskin (this is the Forest Service Visitor Center)
Bring a CB radio. This will be for the child riding with you to use to talk to their friends. The opportunity for them to talk to each other continues to be a big hit. We still need to make them aware of proper use. We will use CB Channel 4. If you do not have a CB radio please make sure you see Rick Russell before 8:00 AM to borrow one of his extra radios.
If you are a licensed amateur radio operator, please bring your ham radio for our operations communications. We will have a base station at the Discovery Center. The simplex frequency we will use will be 145.535.
Please make sure that your vehicle is gassed up and ready to go each morning that you are using it. You may want to air down before the children arrive so that we can assign the children and hit the trails.
There will be a nurse along on the trail, but you must still bring your own first aid kit with you. We will also have an EMT at this event.
Pick up a bottle of water for yourself. There is enough water so that you can have a bottle in the morning and can get another during lunch for the afternoon ride.
You will stand by the sign-in table and a child will be assigned to ride with you. Please be there to meet the child and introduce yourself. Get a bottle of water for the child if they do not already have one. Go over to your vehicle and show it to the child. After you help him/her put their belongings inside, take the child around the vehicle and inspect the vehicle using the check off list that will be supplied. Sign this card and give it to the child. It is a part of their experience. The check off items are: CB Radio, Tow strap, Tow hooks on front of vehicle, Tow hooks on rear of vehicle (hitch and pin acceptable), Water (one full bottle per person), First aid kit, Fire extinguisher, Plenty of gas, and a seat belt for every person.
Your vehicle, as well as you, represents the KOPL program. It needs to be nice looking and should not have stickers or other items displayed that are inappropriate or offensive to any group or individual. Remember that we are trying to promote a positive image about ourselves and our hobby for the press including the TV, radio and newspapers that may be present. Sometimes the press tends to focus on controversial issues that end up reducing the message about the good things that we are doing.

Nurses
If you are a nurse or EMT, please let us know. We can use more medical assistance. Please make sure that the child assigned to you is kept hydrated -- make sure they drink enough water. If the child feels sick, please notify the nurse.

Trail leaders/sweep/mid gunners
We will have a trail mechanic who will be responsible for on the trail problems. We will also have a designated sweep vehicle. In addition, there will be at least three vehicles on the trail that can be used for transporting children in case of a breakdown. We will have one volunteer assisting those at that top of the peak when we turn around.

BBQ Staff
This year the lunch will be organized by a group of our volunteers. We can use your help in this area with setup of EZ-up type sun shades in the morning and take-down at the end of the day. Please bring a sun shade, if you have one (remember to put your name on the shade and the carrying case). Bring folding chairs for you and your family to use during the lunch.

Lodging
We have reserved 10 rooms at the Motel 6 just across the lake, about 10 minutes from the Discovery Center. These rooms are being held until June 16th for the KOPL program. Their phone number is 909-585-6666. Please call as soon as possible.

Gifts for the children
We plan on having some gifts for the children as they participate in events during the day. These gifts may include a water bottle holder, a sports bottle, a foam soft-drink holder, a tee shirt, a hat, Smokey Bear badges, and other items. We must remember at all times, that although we would like to give the children more, we must be consistent and not treat any child different than another. In other words, please do not bring any gifts for a child that might be riding with you. It can create extreme problems when they get back home and compare what they got. Last year we had an unfortunate experience that resulted in an investigation where it was rumored that a child had stolen an item from the Big Bear Discovery Center. These children are from disadvantaged homes and live in close proximity to each other. We should not do things that differentiate one child as being better than another.

Explaining the forest, trails, plants and animals
A part of the experience is to teach the children about the forest, off-highway vehicles, recreation, caring for the environment and keeping the forest clean. They will get that message during their tour of the Big Bear Discovery Center and from Smokey Bear. Your job on the trail or during walks at the Center is to enforce those positive points.

Being a Friend to the Children
One of the original three tenets of this program was to let the children meet, one-on-one, responsible adults. This is the reason for having one driver and one child riding with the driver (in the front passenger seat). Please take the time to tell the child what you do for a living (or what you did) and your education – especially that you finished high school. Then let the child tell you what they enjoy doing and if they have thought about what they want to do in the future.

What to say to the press
As mentioned before, the press is expected to be with us. This is our opportunity to represent our sport and hobby in a very professional and positive light. We get exuberant when we start talking about what we do, but remember that what you say can be taken out of context. Be careful of saying things like “This trail is really pretty flat to us OHV drivers. We usually travel over large boulders three feet high, drive through streams, drive through deep pockets of mud. When we get stuck we hook a strap to a tree and winch ourselves out. We don’t need a road, we can go anywhere”.
Instead, consider things like this: “We really enjoy the outdoors. We use our vehicles to travel the less frequented roads and trails that have been around for nearly a century to visit and experience the forest and desert. We spend time keeping these roads in safe conditions, locate illegal trails and close them, destroy abandoned illegal campfire rings, remove abandoned vehicles from the forest, help visitors by answering questions as we drive on the roads and pick up over six tons of trash each year from the forest.”

Dogs
We prefer that you leave your dogs at home.

Adventure Pass
If you already have an Adventure Pass, for access to the Forest, please bring it. If you don't have one, it will not be required for this event when you are driving with our group.

Participants
There are many other tasks that we will need help with on the days of the event. Some of these are actual assignments and others are just helping out where you see that help is needed. The group of volunteers has been chosen from organizations and friends that we know and are a real asset to any event, so we know that you are the kind that will just pitch in wherever needed.
If you have any questions we encourage you to ask any of the organizers of the event. If you are not handling any particular task or you are finished with your assigned responsibilities, you may attend the tour of the Big Bear Discovery Center with the children or on your own kids.
If a friend or spouse is driving a child and you wish to ride along then please let the person assigning staff and children know where you are riding. You may ride along, but please remember that it’s the driver and child that are the center of focus on the trail ride.

If you are bringing you own children
Your children are welcome. If there is no one with you to take care of them while you are driving, they can ride with you assuming that you have a back seat. Please remember that the program child you are driving gets to ride up front next to you and use the CB radio.
There are several other functions that your child will get to participate in. Here is a list:
· They may join the other children in the tour of the nature facilities and lectures in the Discovery Center and will be chaperoned.
· They may help out preparing the gift packages at the headquarters right after the two groups leave for their ride or tour.
· They get a free lunch. We always have more than enough food for our volunteers and their children. Just let the program children go first in the food line so they can stay on schedule.
· The bottled water is for your children, too, and we encourage you to make sure they take enough in the morning and afternoon so they do not get dehydrated.
So yes, we have lots of opportunities for your own children, but we ask that you keep in mind that this event is for the program children and that you focus on them when you are driving or leading a group through the Discovery Center.


KOPL - June 21-22, 2003
Headquarters:
Big Bear Discovery Center Parking Lot
8:00 a.m. - Volunteer Registration & Meetin




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