Partner Profile: Friends of Westwood Hills
Friends of Westwood Hills Park, formed in August 2018, is a volunteer-driven initiative to enhance and maintain Westwood Hills Park. Volunteer workdays supplement the efforts of the City of Napa Parks and Recreation Services Department and promote community involvement. The Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District (NRPOSD), along with the Napa Resource Conservation District, have facilitated efforts for 16+ volunteer workdays as partners in the program. Additional partners include Connolly Ranch, Carolyn Parr Nature Center, the local fire department, and the Latinx community.
Community workday opportunities include work on trail maintenance, establishment of a pollinator garden, and management/treatment of invasive
French broom (
Genista monspessulana) to reduce the risk of fire and to promote the growth of native species. Volunteer days at Westwood Hills Park have typically been held on the third and fourth Saturdays, December through April, for a period of 2-3 hours, preceded by a safety talk and refreshments.
In the 2018-2019 season, Friends of Westwood Hills Park successfully removed about 10% of the French broom in the park, with the help of 236 volunteers. They have since evolved from removing and transporting the entire broom plant from the park to a cut-and-scatter method. The new method eliminates the resource-intensive city employee labor, trucks, and diesel emissions for increasing efficiency and reducing climate impacts. The remaining treated broom plants will contribute to soil building.
Friends of Westwood is looking for skilled volunteers for tracking indicators of ecosystem health, contributing social media and graphic arts skills, and sharing natural history knowledge. As a unique urban/wildland park in the Napa municipal park system, Westwood Hills Park stands out as a place to walk, run, enjoy the incredible summit view, and simply enjoy the outdoors.
