Click here www.goletavalleybeautiful.org to see this newsletter on the web and to reserve online for the May 1^st 37^th Annual Goleta Valley Beautiful Awards

GOLETA VALLEY BEAUTIFUL NEWS HEADLINES - STORIES BELOW     

·        Winners Announced for the 37^th Annual GVB Awards Event May 1^st

·         Towbes Challenge Grant to Goleta Valley Beautiful

·    Sign Up for April 2011 Goleta Valley Beautiful Volunteer Events

·         The loss of two giants mourned

·    Goleta Valley Beautiful News Briefs

·         May 22^nd Save the Date – 10^th Annual Goleta Valley Heritage Tree and Garden Tour

·    March Goleta Valley Beautiful Events

Winners Announced for the 37^th Annual GVB Awards Event May 1^st

  

Goleta Valley Beautiful Awards Chair Zea Bauer released the winners for the 37^th Annual Goleta Valley Beautiful Awards.   The Awards event will occur Sunday May 1^st from Noon to 2:30 at the Rancho La Patera and Stow House Gardens.  The Event will feature a barbeque lunch catered by Country Meat Market and a Silent Auction including a wide assortment of local merchant offerings as well as unique gift baskets.  Invitations will be mailed next week, or you can reserve a seat online for only $25 at www.goletavalleybeautiful.org.     For more information, call 685-7910.

2011 Awardees

Residential – 5344 Paseo Rio

Multi-Family – 6626 Picasso , Coronado Apartments

Sustainable – 944 N. Patterson

Homeowners Association – SunGate Ranch, Old San Marcos Road

Educational/Institutional – Pollock Theater , UCSB

Commercial – 6550 Hollister Avenue , Cottage Health System

Restoration – 600 Pine Avenue , ATK Space Systems

Parks/Open Space – 7300 Mirano Drive , Bella Vista Park

Historical Preservation – 300 N. Los Carneros Road, Goleta Depot

Orchard/Farm – Rancho Del Ciervo, N. Patterson

Open – Heritage Tree – Shamal Ash, San Jose Creek

Towbes Challenge Grant to Goleta Valley beautiful

Michael Towbes has pledged up to $50,000 to Goleta Valley Beautiful in a challenge grant intended to inspire additional donations to GVB.  It is not surprising that Mr. Towbes would provide assistance in such a meaningful way, since he has been a generous supporter of our community in so many ways.

GVB welcomes donations of any amount and especially at this time when all donations will be matched by Mr. Towbes’ challenge grant. 

 

GVB also provides special recognition at the following levels:

 

            $5,000 Champion of the Good Land

              2,000 Guardian of the Good Land

              1,000 Steward of the Good Land

                 500 Friend of the Good Land

 

We ask you to consider becoming a Champion, Guardian, Steward or Friend of the Good Land for 2011 – with the knowledge that anything that you might choose to donate to GVB will be matched by Mr. Towbes and GVB will receive a doubled amount.

 

We ask you to take advantage of Mr. Towbes’ matching grant and join him in supporting the work of Goleta Valley Beautiful.

  

Sign Up for April 2011 Goleta Valley Beautiful Volunteer Events

For all volunteer events….

Please RSVP for all events by sending an e-mail to kennethknight@cox.net  with your name, phone and e-mail, and the date, time and location of the volunteer event in which you would like to participate.  For questions before the event call Ken at 685-7910, and during the day of the event at 252-1952.

No experience necessary.  Goleta Valley Beautiful provides all tools and equipment.  Please wear old clothes you wouldn’t mind getting dirty and sturdy shoes – no open toes or flips please.  All work done from the ground.  Students, bring your community service forms to get signed for credit.  Families welcome as long as younger children are constantly supervised.

Sat, April 2, 9-12 – Street tree planting – Planting 9 trees at 4 sites beginning at 7625 Dartmoor Ave

Sat, April 2 1-4 – UCSB tree care – Meet at UCSB parking lot 37 Mesa Road, then walk to various sites on campus

Sat April 9, 9-12 – Tree planting at San Marcos High – Planting 10 trees on campus.  Meet at Turnpike side of San Marcos High

Sat, April 9, 1-4 – Tree care at Al Turnbull Grove.  Park at lot by fire station 14, 300 N. Los Carneros Rd and walk towards railroad depot to grove.

Sat, April 16, 9-12 – Tree planting at Dos Pueblos High – Meet at distinguished school sign at Dos Pueblos High

Sat, April 16, 1-4 – Devereux Greenhouse

Sat, April 23, 1-4 – Tree care and maintenance at Hollister 1 landscaping.  Meet at Goleta Girl’s Inc parking lot, 4973 Hollister Ave

Sat, April 30, 9-12 – Devereux Greenhouse projects with Mormon Helping Hands.   Meet at Devereux Greenhouse

Sat, April 30, 9-12 – Joint project with Habitat for Humanity’s Brush with Kindness program.  Tree planting and landscaping at 7512 Padova

Sat April 30, 1-4 – Preparation for Annual Event.  Meet at Devereux Greenhouse

Litter Pickup

•  Roadside trash collection in the Goleta area on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays.  Trash grabbers and bags provided by the City of Goleta.  Call Don and Judy Nason 964-4895 to RSVP   

Graffiti Removal

• Call 964-7117 to participate in graffiti removal and to report incidents in your area as soon as you see it.     

 

Goleta loses two giants in March

 

Thom Myall passed away peacefully at home on March 13^th at the age of 69.  Last year, Thom was honored with the 2010 Golden Shovel Award in recognition of his lifetime of service to Goleta Valley Beautiful.   Thom served in many capacities for Goleta Valley Beautiful, including Board Member, Webmaster, awards judge, urban forestry chair, Fire Safe Council representative, tree tour organizer and maintenance and inventory of the Stagecoach signs.  He retired from the Forest Service in 2000 as Chief, Fire Management for the Los Padres National Forest and then came to work with Goleta Valley beautiful.  We will miss him greatly.

 

Goleta also lost one of its largest and oldest Coast Live Oak trees located in the Lake Los Carneros Preserve.  The tree was damaged by storms and lost one of its main scaffolds.  However when it was reviewed and measured by Arborist Dan Condon as part of our Heritage Tree Survey last month, Dan said the tree needed work but was definitely salvageable.  City contract crews cut down the remaining portion of the oak in mid March without any review process.  While the City is responsible for resolving health and safety concerns, the process for exercising and documenting this authority is not clear and not open to public review.  This issue needs to be addressed.  

 

Goleta Valley Beautiful News Briefs

-       California Urban Forest Council Announces Free 2011 Membership – Goleta Valley Beautiful members also receive free 2011 membership in the California Urban Forest Council.  The California Urban Forest Council is the nation’s oldest urban forest council, sustaining and expanding California’s urban forests to make our communities healthier and stronger.  Check out their website at www.caufc.org. 

-   GVB Event Sign – Ever have problems finding the GVB event location?  We now have a sign to help identify our location, in case you can’t see our one ton white box Goleta Valley Beautiful truck.

- Goleta Valley Heritage Tree Study – Arborist Dan Condon has returned to Michigan and Intern Tiffany Armstrong has  finished entering data on the Google Earth map.  We’re doing the final review of the data and hope to have it ready for the website soon.  So far we’ve identified 90 trees primarily in 3 major groves, but we’ve just lost one at Los Carneros so we’re down to 89.   If you have a favorite tree you think we should consider, please send us a photo or give us a call.   

- Goleta Urban Forest Management Plan   – A review of the Urban Forest Management Plan is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday April 19th.  If you have questions, check it out on the City’s website or contact Bill Millar at 968-6848 for further information. 

- Free Street Trees - Preaching to the Choir – We keep telling you about our free street program supported by a grant from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.  But it’s like preaching to the choir.  We need you to tell your neighbors.  Just about every time we plant a tree in a neighborhood, a neighbor comes strolling by and says “Hey, can I get in on that?”  Please save us some time and talk to your neighbor today.    If you would like to arrange for a street tree to be planted in the parkway in front of your property, and you are willing to water it for the first several years while it is getting established, please give us a call and we’ll work with City of Goleta officials to provide you a tree free of charge.   We are now taking orders for trees to be installed in May.  

- Honor Trees Are a Great Way to Remember Loved Ones: Honor trees come with a certificate that can be sent to the honoree.  In addition to our Dos Pueblos High School Honor Grove site, GVB can also plant Honor Trees on any private sites.  Any trees planted on private property require someone to assume responsibility to provide ongoing maintenance.   For more information, call 685-7910. 

- Goleta Valley Beautiful Wish List:  Please call GVB at 685-7910 if you can help with our wish list posted on our website www.goletavalleybeautiful.org