Franklin Mountains State Park Update

by: Adrianna Weickhardt
Park Interpreter/Ranger/Volunteer Coordinator

This year has already been exciting and busy filled with many improvements and new staff members to the park.  As many of you know, the park recently acquired over 600 acres which just makes the Franklin Mountains SP more impressive and more special as the “largest urban wilderness in the continental United States”.  We’ve also recently hired two new employees and are glad to welcome Richie Sanchez and Jonathon Murphy to the team!  Richie is our new maintenance specialist with a contagious enthusiasm for mountain biking, and boundless good energy; he’ll be helping the park interpreter with upcoming programs throughout the year, too, so we’re lucky to have such a versatile team player.  Jonathon is our new park police officer who brings a wealth of knowledge from his background in the sciences and adds to the positive atmosphere with his smile and great personality.  He’ll be starting academy later this year, and in the mean time is learning the ropes during ride-a-longs with park police officer Fernie Rincon and hitting the trails on his own to learn about his new park!
May is National Bike Month and FMSP is involved on the local level by adding in 4 new bike rides to the schedule of events at the park, as well as partnering with the El Paso Bike Month planning committee to spread the word throughout our great city about biking in all of its wonderful forms.  Make sure to check out www.elpasobikemonth.com for all of the great bike activities scheduled throughout the city.
Texas Parks and Wildlife recently won the top Texas Social Media Award.  Here’s an excerpt from the article:  “Nimble and targeted, the agency operates more than 100 social media sites, attracting more than 100,000 Facebook and Twitter followers. Its crisply produced videos — including a popular series on game preparation and cooking — have been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube.
“Social media enables us to interact with a broad audience, including people not traditionally engaged with the outdoors,” says agency video and Web producer Whitney Bishop. “This is especially important as Texas becomes a more urban state and people depend increasingly on technology to communicate with each other.”  -- to read more about our department’s great accomplishments, you can find it in the Austin American Statesman, article title “Texas Parks and Wildlife wins top Texas Social Media Award”.  And remember, on days that you can’t make it out to your Franklin Mountains State Park, you can always keep up with us on our facebook page which we update regularly and is chock full of amazing photography  from some of our great volunteers.
Start looking forward to later summer programs to include paragliding workshops, guitar lessons in the park, and morning yoga for beginners. 
We hope to see you out in the park soon!

Franklin Mountains State Park
May Schedule
Sat., May 11:   9:00 a.m. Mother’s Day wknd - Women’s bike ride/clinic – Lazy Cow Trail
Sun., May 12:  8:30 a.m. Mother’s Day wknd - Women’s Only hike - Lower Sunset 
Sat., May 18:   9:00 to 1:00  2nd Annual Kids to Parks Event
Sun., May 19:  6:45 a.m. Peak Fitness Challenge - N. Franklin Peak
Sun., May 19:  9:00 a.m. Seniors hike - Nature Walk trail
Sat., May 25:   8:00 a.m. Guided Bike Ride  - Old Tin Mine Rd/Lazy Cow Trail
Sun., May 26:  8:00 a.m. Guided Bike Ride - Old Tin Mine Rd/Lazy Cow Trail