Bluegrass, Blue Jeans, and Beyond

   The San Bernardino National Forest Association (SBNFA) has partnered with presenting sponsor, Keller Williams, Big Bear Lake, to raise funds through a bluegrass music festival at the Big Bear Discovery Center on Saturday, July 26, 2008, to benefit forest restoration on the San Bernardino National Forest.  The SBNFA’s summer fund raising campaign, “Forest Aid”, is designed to raise awareness of the “mountain” of restoration work to be done on the San Bernardino National Forest, recruit youth and community volunteers and plant seedlings in the burned areas from the 2003 and 2007 wildfires.  Dollars raised from this festival along with the SBNFA’s 2008 summer concert series also staged at the Discovery Center Amphitheater will purchase soil, sand, tools, safety equipment as well as fund transportation expenses to and from the designated restoration sites. 

   The event themed “Bluegrass, Blue Jeans and Beyond” will bring bluegrass, western and folk music to the Big Bear Discovery Center, one of six divisions managed by the SBNFA.   “Music is a powerful medium and bluegrass with its origin known as ‘mountain music’ is a perfect fit to raise funds to help heal our forest,” said SBNFA executive director, Sarah Miggins, “We have two incredibly dedicated teams working passionately in rebuilding ecosystems and restoring habitats; however, this is a multi-year project and will take many cycles of volunteers and youth leaders to complete.  We need people who want to get down and dirty while leaving a personal legacy on our national forest.”   Visit www.SBNFA.org for more information on how to get involved from an individual basis, corporate sponsorships and teambuilding opportunities.

   The first project wave has been completed this past spring by SBNFA’s Great Seeds Youth Leadership Restoration Team and Urban Youth Conservation Corps. Over 4,000 seedlings have been planted in the Heaps Peak area burned during both wildfires this decade. Watering, monitoring and collecting data at these sites provide a unique field learning experience for these future science majors. The native species greenhouse at Children’s Forest, located in Running Springs, has been launched by the youth leadership team in preparation of planting to resume late fall in the Slide and Butler Peak burn areas.   

   Fire and fuels suppression, long-term drought and bark beetle infestation have contributed to the catastrophic wildfires this decade on the San Bernardino National Forest destroying over 185,000 acres.  Burn areas become vulnerable to opportunistic non-native plants that disturb the balance of the ecosystem.  Wildlife habitats are destroyed and steep slopes are prone to erosion.  The SBNFA works hand-in-glove with the U.S. Forest Service utilizing the expertise and direction set by the botanists while the SBNFA, as their lead nonprofit partner, supplies the people power and additional funding and greenhouse production to support the field work.  

   Bluegrass, Blue Jeans and Beyond festival hours are 9:00 am to 10:00 pm with the music beginning on stage at 10:00 am featuring The Millcreek Boys, Sligo Rags, Scott Gates and the Pacific Ocean Band along with many local bands delivering a mountain bluegrass vibe.  Headlining the evening program will be the Ramblin’ Rangers, a bluegrass ensemble of San Bernardino National Forest Rangers; the Black Irish Band, hailing from the historic Gold Rush Country of America excelling at Italian, Irish and American Folk; and riding in to close the fund raising will be Cody Bryant and The Riders of the Purple Sage, featuring tight harmonies and familiar melodies of their brand of bluegrass and western music.    

   Tickets are available online at www.SBNFA.org, the Discovery Center Adventure Outpost or via the ticket line at 909-382-2780. Ticket prices are family-friendly at $10 for the day-fest, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm; $30 for adult evening-fest tickets, 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm; or save with a combo day and evening pass at $35 for adults. Additional savings are available for teen tickets (ages 13-17); children 12 and under are free. Food, soft beverages and a beer and wine bar will be available for sale; consequently, no outside food or beverages will be allowed. Parking is free.  

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