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Here’s an overview of some of the stewardship activities we were up to during the previous month. Volunteers Make BioBlitz Successful at Mangini Ranch, Lime Ridge, and Arroyo Del Cerro…

Pittsburg High School, Mount Diablo Resource Recovery, and Save Mount Diablo are building up the bench of future supporters for the beautiful and natural Mount Diablo area. According to a 2017 report, The Path Ahead, “Today, kids spend less time outside than prison inmates, with the average child playing freely outside for just four to seven minutes a day.”  This report, commissioned by the REI Co-op, notes that the average American now spends about 95 percent of their life indoors. It further reports that we are becoming an “indoor species” which comes with consequences: “Our health and well-being may suffer.  And the less we value our outdoor spaces, the less likely we are to protect them.” To help address such concerns, Save Mount Diablo (“SMD”), Pittsburg High School (“PHS”), and sponsor Mount Diablo Resource Recovery (“MDRR”) recently signed and then completed an educational and experiential Conservation Collaboration Agreement. Read more in the press release.

Interviewed by Laura Kindsvater, Stewardship & Outreach Intern About Scott How long have you lived in the Bay Area? Since the fall of 1988, so 30+ years. How did you…

California hasn’t opened a new state park since 2009. A confluence of budget deficits, political choices and failed ballot measures is to blame. But with a state budget surplus and a new governor, parks advocates are hoping for a turnaround. Read more.

Check out this new article in the East Bay Times, featuring Save Mount Diablo’s Four Days Diablo group camping trip this past April. | Montclarions Steve and Carolyn Balling have hiked all over the world. So has Oakland’s Shirley Langlois. But there’s a place in their own backyard that keeps calling them back — Mount Diablo. “A lot of people think of it in a spiritual way,” says Steve Balling, but hikers know it as a spectacular playground that dominates the Bay Area landscape.” For Steve, Carolyn and Shirley, Mount Diablo is more than just a prominent part of the landscape. They’ve found world-class hiking in one of the most diverse ecosystems in California. “Our philosophy is ‘You can’t protect something you don’t love,’ ” says Steve. “People need to learn to love Mount Diablo … learn to love the outdoors.”

Research funded in part by one of the Save Mount Diablo Mary Bowerman Science and Research Program’s grants has now been featured in an article by KQED. The grant helped…