Much progress was made at Spring Hill in 2010. The “Friends” and Regional Parks have successfully completed the general clean up of the cemetery as well as the restoration and resetting of the cemetery’s monuments (with the exception of one last headstone that is still being pieced together). Additionally, a formal map was drawn up for the cemetery, and one more of Spring Hill’s missing headstones was discovered in San Francisco and returned to its original spot. We continued researching and documenting the cemetery and its inhabitants. Research and history of the cemetery was shared with the community through our strong connections to local historical societies (Western Sonoma County Historical Society and the Sonoma County Historical Society), monthly articles in the WSCHS’s Apple Press, and the Spring Hill website at:
http://www.wendtroot.com/cockrill/d0011/d0011notes/SpringHillCemetery.html

Tasks left over from 2010: we had hoped to have both the future burial policy and the informational Kiosk completed in 2010, but the burial policy is still being drafted by Regional Parks, and Regional Parks is withholding Kiosk approval pending resolution of burial policy and cemetery access issues.

Specific 2011 goals:

1. Clean up the cemetery, removing winter storm debris.

2. Continue ongoing maintenance of the cemetery – trash and debris removal, removal of invasive ivy/ acacia, and maintenance of monuments and paths.

3. Identify hazardous conditions at the cemetery and refer them to Regional Parks for action (bees, poison oak, dead and dangerous trees, etc).

4. Continue search for missing / buried monuments.

5. Continue to work with the County to finalize a burial policy.

6. Install an information Kiosk at the cemetery.

7. Continue outreach to Spring Hill Descendants and Sonoma County community as well as further research into Spring Hill burials.

We look to Regional Parks to:

1. Alleviate dangerous situations (bee / poison oak removal, resolution of dangerous tree issues).

2. Resolve / negotiate neighbor and legal issues.

3. Support our workdays with tools, supplies (first aid, refreshment), a means of disposing of debris (dump truck).

4. Parks or volunteer services personnel to support use of power equipment (chain saws/ weed whackers).

5. Installation and maintenance of cemetery boundary markers.

6. Support our efforts to share the history of the cemetery by approving an onsite informational kiosk

Having completed most of the restoration of the cemetery in 2010, fewer workdays will be required in 2011. Due to possibility of rainouts, several scheduled days are requested in spring to deal with winter debris. Similarly, we are requesting 2 workdays at the end of the year in anticipation that one of them may be rained out. Summer through fall, workdays every 6 – 8 weeks should be sufficient to keep up with maintenance and monitoring of the cemetery. Tentative dates requested for 2011: Feb 18, Mar 18, Apr 29, June 17, Aug 19, Oct 21 and Nov 18. These dates may be modified to accommodate volunteers’ and Regional Parks’ schedules, and/or the needs of outside businesses. Any changes must be pre-approved by Regional Parks. The “Friends” generally take December and January off, and will plan to resume 2012 cemetery activities in February 2012./P>