l-r: Judith Tronsrue, Pres. Craig Brown, teacher Carole D. Bruin, and student of the month Paola Martinez

As part of its ongoing partnership with Abraxas High School, the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club recently presented its Student of The Month award for November 2016.

l-r: Thomas Herrera-Mishler, President Craig Brown

Thomas Herrera-Mishler, CEO and Director of the Balboa Park Conservancy in San Diego, spoke at the RB Sunrise Rotary breakfast meeting on Tuesday, December 29, 2016.  He holds a Masters in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning with a specialization in Urban Design from the University of Michigan.

 

Thomas started by talking about his passion for the outdoors and being in nature formed the person that he is today.  He is not only passionate about his job, but feels going to work every morning is an adventure.  Thomas spoke about how Balboa Park is an extraordinary place that connects the arts, culture, nature, history, and recreation, all in one place.

 

What is a Conservancy?  A conservancy is a private, nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that works in partnership with the local government to help improve or manage a public park.

 

The Balboa Park Conservancy (the Conservancy) helps preserve, enhance, and improve projects and initiatives in Balboa Park (the Park).  The Conservancy is San Diego City’s nonprofit partner in the Park.  The Park is the fifth busiest park in the world with 14.8 million visitors a year.  The Conservancy offers a Visitor Center, hosted by an army of volunteers, which is opened every day, except for two days a year.  It was set up in 2004, formally in 2010, and in 2014 merged with the Women’s Planning Committee.  It is a very data driven organization with tree inventories, cultural landscape reports, economic impact studies, and signage inventory.

 

As the Park is an economic engine for our region, it has been starved for resources for a very long time.  At the current time, this national historical landmark is in the process of historic preservation and restoration, i.e., the adding of new lighting and an irrigation system.  In 148 years, the Park’s 1200 acres have only been about 50% developed.

The Conservancy wants the Park to not only be the crown jewel of San Diego, but is also looking ahead so that future generations may enjoy it as much as we do.

 

Note: Years as a member includes only the time since a members most recent start date as a member.  If a member left the club and then rejoined, the years as a member before the interruption of membership is not included in the above years of membership information.  Membership in other clubs previous to membership in RB Sunrise also is not included in the above information.