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Calling all Stewards and Stewardesses for the Barton Springs Tree Planting Takeoff!

Planting a Tree
Help us plant trees at Barton Springs Pool

Email Jonathan Beall (service@friendsofbartonspringspool.org) FBSP Service Chair, and we’ll make sure you were there when it all started…

The second decade of the 21st century will be getting off to a great start for the planet, the pool and people who love Barton Springs as the City of Austin plans to put in plenty of new trees to spruce up the springs beginning in January.  With funding from the  city and APF, Austin PARD is currently acquiring 80 trees averaging 45 gallons or larger to kick off the first wave of tree planting.  Those are some big young trees!  The Forestry department will need lots of help to make sure these trees find their new home comfortable enough to settle into for the next century or so.  So, we are looking for you who want to steward the trees, new and old (everybody needs TLC).  FBSP is looking for volunteers to spend one (or one half or one quarter) Saturday in January to put down the roots for several generations
of poolside pleasure!

-Jonathan Beall, FBSP Service Chair

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Volunteer Opportunity 10/15

Come and help the Service Committee clean Barton Springs Pool next week. Details below:

Thursday, October 15th, 2009 10am – 6pm

Shifts will be in 2-hr segments: 10a-12p, 12p-2p, 2p-4p, 4p-6p

Please contact Annie Walker to sign up or fill the form out below: service@friendsofbartonspringspool.org

Please click here for the info on pool cleaning.

Name
Email
How would you like to volunteer
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Update from the Advocacy Committee

The attention on the pool is bringing new members into FBSP. Several new members have joined into the FBSP Advocacy Committee. Committee members have been attending and speaking out in support of pool improvements and implementing the Master Plan projects. The Committee is also staying in contact with key staff of the City be abreast of emerging issues. Through all this participation, the Friends are building a stronger technical understanding of the difficult decisions the City faces. Among these tough issues are how to deal with the deterioration of the Barton Springs Pool bypass tunnel and how to maintain and restore the trees and canopy over the pool.

Since May, the Advocacy Committee has voiced the Friend’s mission at monthly meetings of the Parks & Recreation Board / Environmental Board Joint Committee that oversees the BSP Master Plan implementation. We requested the City work closely with our organization and others to end the neglect of the trees and to take positive actions. We announced a Tree Stewards Program the FBSP formulated with other volunteers from several organizations including TreeFolks and Austin Parks Foundation (APF). At the Joint Committee meetings and in meetings with our elected officials and City staff, we continue to press for implementation of all the Master Plan projects. All these efforts are slowly paying off. For example, through the combination of volunteer effort and donated funds, grants received by APF, and City funding, improved tree maintenance and new tree plantings will occur at BSP.
Continue reading “Update from the Advocacy Committee”

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4th Annual Council Cleans the Pool Day on August 13th

Read the full Press Release here.

On Thursday, August 13th at 9 am, Austin City Council members and other elected officials will join volunteers from the Friends of Barton Springs Pool and city staff to clean algae and silt from Barton Springs Pool next Thursday morning.  The two-hour session will kick off at 9 am with a short tour and press conference, with the officials and volunteers then stepping down into the cold spring waters to scrub the shallow end bottom.

Officials who have confirmed their attendance include: Councilmembers Sheryl Cole, Laura Morrison, and Chris Riley; State Rep. Donna Howard; and County Commissioner Karen Huber.

It will be the fourth annual Council Cleans the Pool Day put on by Friends of Barton Springs Pool (FBSP).  The group formed in 2006, another drought year, to respond to the algae blooms that clogged the pool that year.  Since then FBSP volunteers have worked side-by-side with pool lifeguards to help keep the pool clean.  Inviting council members to the pool to see conditions first hand quickly became an annual tradition.

“We learn by doing,” commented Robin Cravey, FBSP president.  “Actually getting in the Pool and working with our hands to clean it has given us a growing understanding of this dynamic ecosystem.  I think this event provides the council with valuable insight.”

The day will begin with a short tour of pool cleaning facilities and a look at problems with the bypass tunnel.  Then elected officials and members of the FBSP Board will hold a brief press conference.  The press conference is often an opportunity for officials to comment on the progress of the Barton Springs Pool Master Plan, which envisions an array of improvements to the pool, grounds, and facilities. Continue reading “4th Annual Council Cleans the Pool Day on August 13th”

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Volunteers needed this Saturday

A call for volunteers from our fundraising chairman Clarke Hammond:

Big Tent Rising this Saturday at the pool entrance at 9 A.M.

We collected $542 in donations and membership dues last Saturday! Folks are starting to expect us at the pool and are bringing their cash and checks to help our cause. I appreciate everyone who has been helping out and it has paid off. Let’s keep our Miracle Healing Spring Waters mission open for the rest of the Summer! We need volunteers  to come and knock out their 4 hour volunteering obligation this year while being immensely entertained, making new friends every minute, and helping improve the pool and environs!

To volunteer for this event, send an email to fundraising@friendsofbartonspringspool.org.