Fresno County’s Lost Lake Park a big, windblown mess [The Fresno Bee, Calif.]

Dec. 31--This fall, a corps of volunteers made it their mission to spruce up long-neglected Lost Lake Park.

Armed with a first-ever contract to help run a county park, the volunteer group painted the scruffy entrance station, cleared out trash and began surveying campgrounds, trails and hillsides with the hope of restoring some of Lost Lake's lost luster.

That vision is now on hold.

The freak windstorm that blew through the Valley on Dec. 1 did a surprising amount of damage to the park along the San Joaquin River just north of Fresno. Scores of toppled trees crushed water lines and restrooms, and made roads, picnic areas and sports fields inaccessible.

A "closed" sign hangs on the park's front gate while the county wrestles to find money and manpower to clean up the wind damage and reopen the park.

"This park was already run-down. This just adds insult to injury," said Radley Reep, coordinator of the new volunteer effort Friends of Lost Lake Park. "We were ready to roll in January: replace picnic tables and [posts], refurbish barbecues and restrooms, just make things more pleasant. Now we have to wait."

Cleanup from the wind has been hampered by the same financial constraints that in recent years have limited maintenance and patrols at many county parks. The county's core parks budget -- about $1.2 million annually -- is less than half of what it was two years ago.

As a result, groundskeepers once stationed at many of the 13 parks have been replaced by a couple maintenance crews that make only periodic visits to each park.

County Resources Manager John Thompson, who oversees the park system, said his crews and cash stream can't handle the new mess at Lost Lake.

He's expecting $25,000 from a county emergency fund and as much as a quarter-million dollars in private insurance money to pay for cleanup. Next month, he plans to ask the county Board of Supervisors to expedite a contract with a private company to do most of the tree removal. Thompson is hoping the park will reopen by mid-February.

In the meantime, Thompson's small staff and Friends of Lost Lake Park have been inventorying the wind damage. They've counted 155 downed trees, some of which are more than 70 feet in height and five feet in diameter.

Many of their root systems, which were unearthed as the trees fell on their sides, stand more than eight feet tall.

"I kept going, 'Oh my heavens, oh my heavens.' I just couldn't believe what happened," said park volunteer Micki Beston, who helped record damage at the park. "I grew up in hurricane country back in Massachusetts and that's what I thought it looked like: a hurricane had come through."

The National Weather Service says Lost Lake Park bore the brunt of what it calls a Mono wind pattern: strong gusts originating on the other side of the Sierra and blowing in from the northeast, often accelerating when they're squeezed through canyons or valleys.

According to meteorologist Kevin Durfee, the winds arrived when two major weather systems collided, one to the north in Idaho and one south in the lower Colorado River Valley.

"We don't normally have winds that strong in the San Joaquin Valley," said Durfee, noting that 2004 was the last time Fresno County saw similar gusts.

On Dec. 1, gusts hit 150 mph in the mountains and soared above 50 mph in the foothills, according to the National Weather Service.

Most of the trees knocked over by wind at Lost Lake Park were Italian Stone pines, a nonnative tree planted in the 1960s to grow quickly and provide lots of shade. They're not as adapted to the region and its weather, parks supervisor Manuel Diaz said.

With an eye toward future storms, park officials said they hope to plant native trees such as Valley oaks, sycamores and willows. No plans have been made, though, and financing will remain a sticking point.

Friends of Lost Lake Park, which is committed to making sure the park recovers, came into the picture this year when county officials agreed to allow outside groups to volunteer to assist with operations at any county park.

So far, the coalition is the only group to come forth. A handful of others showed interest, including the Table Mountain Indian tribe and Sun-Maid Growers of California, but no deals have been inked.

Friends of Lost Lake Park is made up of about three dozen regular members and is sponsored by a number of nonprofits, including the Fresno Audubon Society and the League of Women Voters.

Radley, who passes out business cards to solicit volunteers, says the windstorm has made the coalition's workload much more than what it expected. Still, he said, the group is not deterred from making Lost Lake Park a better place.

The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6679.

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