Contacts - Friends of Bidwell Park

Contacts

Friends of Bidwell Park Board:

President: Susan Mason
Vice-president: John Merz
Secretary: Josephine Guardino
Treasurer: Patsy Schutz
Webmaster: Steve Green
Board Member: Nancy Park
Board Member: Susan Bazell
Board Member: Jane Turney

Mail:
Friends of Bidwell Park
PO Box 3036
Chico, CA 95927

Become a Friend of Bidwell Park:

You can sign up as a friend of Bidwell Park, learn about volunteer opportunities, receive our weekly email announcements, or make a contribution. Please print and fill out this form and mail it to us at the address listed above.

All contributions to Friends of Bidwell Park are now tax-deductible!

Please send donations to: Friends of Bidwell Park, PO Box 3036, Chico CA 95927

If you prefer, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to us online through the philanthropic organization JustGive.org by clicking on the button below.

How are donations used?

Friends of Bidwell Park Frequently Asked Questions

Who are Friends of Bidwell Park?

Friends of Bidwell Park (FOBP) is a park advocacy organization, formed in April of 2003. Our focus is on preserving and protecting the natural resources of Bidwell Park, increasing the volunteer opportunities in the park, participating in the ongoing update of the 15-year-old Master Management Plan for the park, and community outreach focusing on providing education about the park's natural resources. Currently, we are not a membership organization because we don't have the resources to manage membership lists, arrange for regular member meetings, write and distribute newsletters, etc. We received our IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit designation in January 2004.

If you're not a membership organization, who are the "Friends" in Friends of Bidwell Park?

Anyone who volunteers in the park or contributes to organizations that directly help the park is a Friend of Bidwell Park. We try to facilitate volunteerism and encourage donations by letting people know how they can help the park, via information on our web site, a weekly email listing the park's volunteer opportunities during the upcoming week and through volunteer activities that we organize for the park's benefit.

How do you spend the money that's donated to FOBP?

Most of our early donations were used to pay the fees and administrative costs associated with setting up a new non-profit organization. Currently, most donations are being spent on supplies and specialized tools that we need in order to be efficient in our invasive plant removal program. These tools are available for use by other organizations when we're not using them. We also purchased an inexpensive GPS units to help map the locations of rare plant species and invasive plants. In 2007, we sponsored a free CEQA workshop that was attended by 27 individuals including members of the Chico Avenues Neighborhood Association, Altalcal Audubon, Sierra Club, Butte Environmental Council, City of Chico staff, Mechoopda tribal members, and others. We'v paid the registration fees for our board members and others to attend workshops, seminars, & symposiums so that they can learn more about natural resource management. Later, we hope to print materials that can be used for educational outreach programs. You can see a summary of our latest financial report.

What has FOBP done so far?

See our list of accomplishments.

What are your plans for the next year?

We'll continue to co-sponsor walks in the park focusing on its natural resources, such as geology, soils, invasive plants, riparian plants, and wildlife. We're trying to increase the number of volunteers for park projects by contacting community organizations to explain the various park volunteer programs. We've proposed a project to remove all the old wire fences in Upper Park. We'll also continue to participate in the Master Management Plan update and its associated Environmental Impact Report, expand our trash pickup & invasive plant removal programs, and increase the amount of information on our web site.