Input Requested on Proposed State Parks Changes

The California State Parks department has scheduled a public workshop for June 18 to discuss recommendations that will change the ways visitors use and experience .

The department is inviting community members to attend the meeting, to be held on Saturday, June 18th, 9:30am -12:30pm at the Vintage House, 264 1st Street East, Sonoma.

Participants will be able to comment on proposals that will affect some of Sonoma’s iconic historic sites: , , and Kitchen, the , and the Vallejo Casa Grande/20 East Spain area, located between the Cheese Factory and Toscano Hotel.

More information about the development of the Sonoma State Historic Park Interpretation Management Plan (IMP) can be found online at www.parks.ca.gov/SonomaPlan

To date, the year-long IMP planning effort has included opportunities for visitor, community and stakeholder participation via in-park visitor surveys, one-on-one interviews, stakeholder planning, a public meeting and a teacher focus group.

Slated to be completed in December, the IMP will be the master planning document for the way history is told and experienced at the park and will include a 5-year “Action Plan,” a flexible and realistic road map to achieve the plan’s goals.

According to a press release from State Parks, recommendations have been developed by Frank Binney & Associates, a professional interpretive planning firm contracted by California State Parks to complete an IMP for Sonoma State Historic Park. Funding for this planning effort was secured from the 2010 California State Parks budget earmarked for critical project needs.

Interpretive planning at Sonoma State Historc Park represents a high operational priority for State Parks, the statement continued, due to the park’s statewide significance, heavy visitation by school groups, increasing visitor demand for park interpretive opportunities and the park’s contributing role in local tourism.