A long over-due project is finally getting done with this addition. Good job by the Nature Center!
An excerpt.
Parkway pointers
New signs explain history, geology, flora and fauna along the American River
By Edgar Sanchez - Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:00 am PDT Thursday, September 28, 2006
Users of the American River Parkway are learning new details about their beautiful surroundings.
Thirteen signs with information about the history, geology, flora and fauna have been installed in recent months along a 23-mile stretch of the trail, from near Discovery Park to Hazel Avenue.
One of the latest signs went up about two weeks ago, in front of a newly created habitat for a protected beetle species, on the east side of Discovery Park, near South Natomas.
"The idea is to educate people as they use the bike trail -- to make it fun to stop in certain locations and learn along the way," Steve Flannery, park ranger supervisor for the Sacramento County Department of Regional Parks, said last week.
Sign design and text were developed by staff members of the Effie Yeaw Nature Center, in Ancil Hoffman Park. The signs -- described as "interpretative" by Effie Yeaw officials -- contain photos donated by nature center staff members and area residents.
"An interpretative sign points out things that people might see, hear or smell at a site and, hopefully, bring that alive," Marilee Flannery, director of the Effie Yeaw center, told The Bee in March before the first signs were posted.
Flannery, the wife of park ranger supervisor Steve Flannery, said interpretive signs can be thought- provoking.
"(They) will ask questions that will make you think in a way that encourages you to know more or to analyze," she said.
People who take the time to read the new signs are finding it rewarding.
