Posted: Thursday, October 31, 2013 9:27 am
As they dined, the 180 guests at the Arrowhead Ridge autumn dinner party and auction watched scenes from "A Land for All Seasons: Images of the San Bernardino Forest," the new DVD issued by the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust and produced by John Hummel and Rebecca Smith. The images were captured by 35 mountain photographers.
Peter Jorris, the Land Trust's executive director, told the ballroom full of people at the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa that ever since he was a child, "I have been enchanted by the San Bernardino National Forest.
"Arrowhead Ridge is one of the last spots of natural forest in Lake Arrowhead," Jorris said. "We are here to celebrate an opportunity to restore the site and create a wildland nature park for the public."
PHOTO BY SCOTT SECCOMBE
He called upon landscape architect Scott Peterson to take the guests through a series of slides showing the major restoration projects that are planned. They include grading work to fill ditches, recontour the slopes and level disturbed areas; a redesign of the entry way; the addition of a viewing deck; planting trees and revegetating certain areas; and adding natural seating areas where school children can come and listen to nature talks.
Stone carver Marcel Machler and stone mason Mike Rose will also be creating a donor wall, overlaying an existing retaining wall with engraved flagstones.
When one guest asked who the Land Trust is, Jorris stepped forward with an answer. The San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust was created in 1996, he said, "to purchase undeveloped properties that would fit into the national forest to preserve them rather than have them go into development. We give the landowners the option to sell the land for conservation."
And then, as slides of the items were displayed on two large screens, auctioneer extraordinaire John Wood coaxed ever-higher prices from the guests for the 34 live auction items.
Wood, of course, delivered his signature line: "The more you pay for it, the more you're going to like it."
The big ticket item was one of those flagstones on the donor wall. During the auction, Wood sold three of them for $2,000 each. At the end of the evening, Jorris said, four more people asked to purchase them at the same price and another seven have been ordered since the fund-raiser.
“Preliminary work on the wall is being started this week,” said Jorris, “followed by the first 15 plaques going up in the center. It will be a one-of-a-kind enduring monument to the heroes, families, merchants and charities of Lake Arrowhead.”
The preliminary amount raised in the live auction was $18,185 plus the money from the silent auction, the sale of the centerpieces and the DVDs, and the 50/50 raffle. Jorris estimates the event, which was organized by Land Trust director Polly Sauer, raised nearly $27,000 for Arrowhead Ridge.
For more information on the Land Trust and on Arrowhead Ridge, visit www.sbmlt.net.