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Ross Smith visits an overgrown patch of land behind Montair Elementary School every other week to combat noxious poison oak and Himalayan blackberry growth. A self-proclaimed “committee of one,” the Danville man is more than a foe of dangerous vines.
Smith aims to restore the Montair Nature Trail, a 2.7-acre park that formerly housed picnic grounds, a 400-seat amphitheater, a weather station and astronomy site and an outdoor classroom. Built in 1963 by the Danville Union School District, PTA and other community organizations, Danville’s first park didn’t last long.
“By 1966-67 the Age of Aquarius was upon us, and soon the park became party-central for the entire area. Large bonfires and loud parties were frequent on weekends, and Danville was without a police force to preserve and protect,” Smith wrote, adding that the town was unincorporated at the time and depended on a Sheriff’s station in Alamo.
During this time, the amphitheater, picnic tables and fences were destroyed to feed bonfires. Eventually, the park’s lighting fixtures were taken away, and both water and electricity were disconnected.
When Smith happened upon the park a few years ago, he found a single walnut tree, large oaks, a litter-filled stream bed, the remains of the trails and a small plaque marked “Maevis Wood Amphitheater –1966.”
“Once the park disappeared, the school district sort of lost interest in it. Someone offered to buy the land in the late ’70s or early ’80s but local residents strongly objected to having it sold off,” Smith continued. “The school board said they wouldn’t sell it off and would have it become a nature area … but they never followed up with it.”
The Montair Nature Trail is still owned by San Ramon Valley Unified School district, which was unavailable for comment, but Smith has taken cleanup efforts into his own hands. A geologist and neighbor of the park, Smith said he would like to see children learn and explore in the area.
“The intention is to remake a trail, we don’t want to rebuild the picnic area or amphitheater. I want to make a simple walking trail that is a pleasant place to walk,” he said. “The only thing there now are kids that go down there with bikes doing jumps, other kids doing exploration. But there’s so much poison oak that it’s become a problem.”
To that end, Smith helped organize volunteers from the Kiwanis Club of the San Ramon Valley to clear trails, remove brush and downed trees, pick up trash, and remove iron spikes that were previously used as anchors for tree stump seats.
“It is our goal to actually become instrumental in creating an environment and putting the healthiness, so to speak, back in the park,” said Kiwanis board member Marge Jensen. “We’ve already been out there a couple of times cleaning trash, moving branches, making it a safe place to be.”
A local Boy Scout will also remove tree stumps from the nearby creek and form an outdoor seating area for his Eagle Scout project.
Smith would like to restore the outdoor classroom component of the Montair Trail to include seating and a geological exhibit on California rock types such as granites, columnar basalts and serpentine. The rocks, which must be large enough to prevent vandalism, will cost approximately $1,000 each and Smith hopes to raise money from local service organizations.
Deborah Christman, a fifth-grade teacher at Montair Elementary and a landscape architect, drew a rough design of the trail for Smith. The design includes small benches and a sign near a large oak tree, which is roughly the size of Danville’s Old Oak on Diablo Road.
“This particular bit of ground, the restored Montair Nature Trail, is intended to be a simple, quiet, shady path to wander; a convenient retreat from frenzy — a place to pause. This pleasant place is surely at the very bottom of the park-building hierarchy, so it will rise only with the efforts of all of us,” Smith said.
For more information, contact Smith at ross.montairnaturetrail@msn.com or mail queries to:
Montair Nature Trail
P.O. Box 404
Danville, CA 94526
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Original entry sign to the Montair Nature Trail. Photo courtesy of Ross Smith. -
The Montair Nature Trail once had lighted picnic grounds. Photo courtesy of Ross Smith. -
Ross Smith stands in front of an oak tree at the Montair Nature Trail. The tree, he said, is roughly the size of Danville’s Old Oak on Diablo Road. -
Members of Kiwanis of the San Ramon Valley work to clean up the Montair Nature Trail. Photo courtesy of Ross Smith. -
Students sit at the Montair Nature Trail amphitheater in 1963. The seating has since been torn down. Photo courtesy of Ross Smith. -
A sketch of the trail, which borders Montair Elementary School. -
The trail as it exists today. Photo courtesy of Ross Smith. -
Remains from the original park include this previously buried plaque. Photo courtesy of Ross Smith.
Three cheers for Ross Smith!!! I am impressed with your tenacity and inspired by your take charge “can do” attitude. I look forward to walking this trail some day. Thank you Ross. Kathie Hixon (former Montair resident)
Leave it to Ross to come up a plan that benefits everyone in Danville. There are two types of people in the world, Givers and Takers. Ross is a giver. If we had more givers our community service organizations would be overflowing. Sadly this is not the case. Thank you Ross Smith for bringing into consciousness the need to be more involved in the beautiful community in which we live.
Ross Smith, you have restored my faith, that there are still people who really care about the community and doing the right thing. I would love to see you run for the town council and replace the current cronies of developers, who have lost touch with what really benefits our great community. Think about it Ross, I have a feeling you have hit a nerve, and there are many people of every possible political party that would support you. Anyone else feel similar to me?
This a great story I have lived in Danville for 38 years and I know the area well and did not know that this park existed until now. This would be a great project for the the boy scouts to help restore.
Jessica, Thanks for the great article publicizing Ross’ and Kiwanis’ efforts to restore Montair Nature Trail and the park’s history and current status. Great idea to include his pics in a slide show.
Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you, Mr. Smith! and to Danville Express and Kiwanis.
I live in Danville, this would be a wonderful location for high density, low income housing. Plus with our goal to educate children, SRVUSD could sell this property off and make a sizeable profit to be used for enhanced education. There are plenty of parks around for geology and oak tree exhibits. The other benefit is that it is so close to town and to the elementary school, that this would reduce the carbon footprint.
If the town council is listening or SRVUSD, please consider devlopeing this property.
Nice job trolling there JT.
Even though you are joking let’s not give our fine council members and so called “planners” any ideas.
Thank you, Ross! What a wonderful idea to restore this piece of parkland history. People like you are what makes this area so wonderful.
As suggested above, please do consider the run for Town Council. Storer and Stepper are up for re-election in November 2014. It is high time to replace them with people like you.
Bravo to you, Mr. Ross! Thank you so much for all your hard work!