Hiking with Director Mercurio

Much of BTCEB’s advocacy work happens behind the scenes.  One aspect is building positive working relationships with land manager staff and our elected decision makers.  Recently our Advocacy Director, Scott Bartlebaugh, invited East Bay Regional Park District Director John Mercurio out to Crockett Hills for a hike and a chat.  Scott and John hiked from the trailhead out to Sugar City trail, where John could get a feel for the typical seasonal overgrowth.  Director Mercurio was also able to see some of the trail stewardship that BTCEB leads at Crockett Hills.  Discussion on the day included a wide variety of park district topics including cattle management, funding, volunteer opportunities, land bank property opening, and many others. We didn’t solve any problems directly on that hike but we did get to understand each other’s perspectives a little bit better.

We encourage you to reach out to your elected officials at East Bay Regional Park District, East Bay Municipal Utility District, or your local municipality to let them know what you’d like them to continue doing, what you’d like to see them do, and why both are important to you personally or to the broader community. We’re constituents of our elected officials, and letting them know what is important to us shapes how they’ll respond.  Showing up at the ballot box is also important, but a lot of time passes between elections that gives us opportunities to engage our elected officials and land manager staff.

Scott Bartlebaugh, Advocacy Director