www.tamalpais.org
Hi and welcome to my profile! My name is Larry Minkes
and I am President of the Tamalpais Conservation Club located in Mill Valley, CA.
I have served on the TCC Board since 1993 and have served as previously as president in 2004-06. I have also served as Corresponding Secretary for several years representing our interests at many public meetings. I currently serve as the president of the Bay Area Trails Preservation Council where I have been board member since 1992. In 1999/2000 I founded the MMWD Watershed Citizens Advisory Committee which successfully developed our 50-year watershed protection plan.
I run a product development, manufacturing and istribution and marketing company. We develop new product concepts, develop them for manufacturing, and then distribute our products around the world.
My wife and I have been together for 30 years. We have two lovely daughters, Zoe, 19, a college sophomore, and Rachel, 15, a high school sophomore. I am an avid hiker, and an avid mountain biker and get out on the mountain several times per week, all year long.
The TCC is unique. Few Marin organizations can claim a nearly 100 year history. As your President, I shall to uphold our venerable Club traditions we hold so dear. We have many challenges ahead of us and many opportunities. At the top of the list is for us to work at growing our membership.
Going hand in hand is the need for our board to work at increasing public awareness of our role as Guardian of the Mountain for future generations. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but fortunately we have a great, enthusiastic board for 2008-09.
About the Tamalpais Conservation Club
Mount Tamalpais is located in Marin County, California, just
north of San Francisco. The Tamalpais Conservation Club's primary
purpose is to protect the natural features of the mountain, and its slopes and
spurs. The club is known as the Guardian of the Mountain
in recognition of its activities to preserve the wild and scenic character of
Mount Tamalpais. The club supports
retention of these lands as a public park and nature preserve, and aids in the
acquisition of open space.
Tamalpais Conservation Club: A History
From the 1890s, when the little community of Mill Valley and its
railroad spur were established at the southerly base of Mount Tamalpais, hikers
flocked to the mountain to partake in the pleasures of vigorous hiking on its
many trails. Most hikers came by ferry from San Francisco and Oakland. Many
did day hikes, while others camped overnight on the mountain.
At that time, farmers were using the lower slopes and valleys for
grazing dairy cattle. With increasing numbers of hikers, tempers between hikers
and the farmers flared up. Hikers had a tendency to leave gates open, allowing
cattle to wander off. Camp sites and picnic spots became littered with trash.
Deer were poached near hiking trails. And there was always a concern that the
careless camper would inadvertently start a wild fire in the dry chaparral and
grasses, or pollute the free-flowing streams that ran down the mountain slopes.
Formation of the Tamalpais Conservation Club
Back in 1912, the year the club was founded, the world was
changing rapidly. Horse-drawn carriages were being replaced by automobiles. The
population of Marin County was growing rapidly as a result of the San
Francisco earthquake and fire six years earlier. The Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods
Railway took increasing numbers of people on excursions to the mountain's
summit. The first Mountain Play was being rehearsed. It was in this setting
that the first meeting of the Club took place.
Since all lands on Mount Tamalpais were privately owned, many
hikers became concerned that landowners would deny them access to the trails
that crossed their farm lands, unless the conflicts were resolved. In 1912, a
group of hikers representing various Bay Area hiking clubs got together to solve
the problem. As a result, the Tamalpais Conservation Club (TCC) was
formed, and all hikers were invited to be members. The new club was an
immediate success. In its first year of existence, 1300 enthusiastic members
joined, including Alice Eastwood, Ernest J. Mott, and Gifford Pinchot.
The TCC board of directors was comprised of representatives from
other hiking clubs, and thus became an effective coordinating force that worked
toward the preservation of Mount Tamalpais as a hiking and recreation area. the
members considered themselves to be "The Guardians of the Mountain." The TCC
published a newsletter, California Out of Doors (now called the
Tamalpais Guardian), which reminded members to keep the mountain free of
trash and fire, and to respect private property, and which gave updates on
upcoming activities of the TCC and other hiking groups.
At that time, the TCC assumed responsibility for building and
maintaining the many trails, campsites bridges, springs, and trail signs, with
regularly scheduled trail maintenance days. They even hired a full-time trail
maintenance man, and built a cabin for him at Bootjack Camp.
TCC's Role in Preserving Mt. Tam
In the late 1920s, residential developers began building on the
southerly slopes of Mt. Tamalpais. The TCC successfully thwarted this threat by
starting a campaign that led to the creation of Mount Tamalpais State Park in
1930. The state park, however, controlled only a small portion of the
mountain. The, shortly after World War II, developers made another assault on
the mountain. An influx of people resulted in new homes being built along
streets that were being carved up the slopes. Again in 1957, the club, along
with other organizations, rose to the challenge by helping secure funds for
purchasing land that resulted in the park much as we know it today.
Changes on the Mountain and TCC's Continuing Role
Through the years, four regulatory agencies were created to
protect open space on and surrounding Mt. Tamalpais. With foresight, the Marin
Headlands came under the jurisdiction of the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The Marin
County Open Space District acquired lands surrounding Mt. Tamalpais for
public use. In addition, the Marin Municipal
Water District, which controls a larger portion of the mountain than the
state park, established guidelines for land use, while keeping in mind its
primary goal of providing safe drinking water. And finally,
Mount Tamalpais State Park greatly
expanded its responsibility for the affairs of the mountain, including trail
maintenance. Each agency has rangers who patrol, administer, and maintain their
respective lands.
The club works closely with the four regulatory agencies, helping
purchase open space, developing wise use policies for the land, and reviewing
and responding to requests for land use changes. Some examples have been the
recent purchase of 42 acres of Warner Ridge, removal of the Air Force buildings
from West Peak, persuading agencies not to build additional facilities or
parking lots, and promoting the reduction of the number of antennas on West
Peak.
The TCC still promotes better trail maintenance, trail signing,
and cleanup through regularly scheduled trail days each month. The club also
supports efforts for better control of invasive exotic plants such as broom,
pampas grass, eucalyptus, and ivy. The TCC is a strong supporter of recreation,
including hiking, biking and equestrian use on the mountain provided these
activities are practiced in an environmentally sound and socially responsible
manner. However, the TCC adamantly opposes the use of mechanized vehicles,
specifically bicycles and other recently introduced wheeled modes of recreation,
on all hiking trails and foot paths. The TCC initiated and is one of the
sponsors of Youth Day, which promotes environmental education and actual trail
work on the mountain by high school students. Today, with the Bay Area's
increasing population, Mount Tamalpais needs its guardian more than ever.
By Ron Olson, TCC Historian (d. 2001)
Executive Committee
Larry Minikes, President
John Leonard, Vice President
Janice Barry, M.D., Corresponding Secretary
Vesa Becam, Membership Secretary
Perry Cole, Treasurer
Susan Harris, Recording Secretary
Directors
Derek Anderson
Steven Schoonover
Arlin Weinberger
www.tamalpais.org
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