How to Help Your Local Park : Volunteer efforts fill in huge budget gaps

Ernie LaMere may not know it, but he’s part of something much bigger than himself.

For the past five years, the 83-year-old has single-handedly dug, hoed and watered to transform a weed-choked publicly owned service road into “Ernie’s Walk,” a lush neighborhood park along the banks of the Los Angeles River in Sherman Oaks.

Where people once dumped garbage and weeds poked up amid old refrigerators and rusty auto parts, children now play and adults stroll. LaMere has made the quarter-mile walk into a true urban oasis where lilies, geraniums and wisteria bloom, large pepper trees shade park benches and murals and whimsical handmade creatures entertain visitors.

Ernie LaMere is an extraordinary individual. But he is just one of tens of thousands whose volunteer efforts have helped fill in the increasingly big gaps in state, county and city budgets. Among the better-known programs, perhaps, are those that encourage businesses and other organizations to adopt a school or a stretch of freeway.

As funds for state and local parks are pitted against arguably more vital services like law enforcement and education, volunteers like LaMere become not just a luxury but indispensable to the very existence of many park facilities and programs.

The California Department of Parks and Recreation relies on a network of 10,000 volunteers whose services the state values at $10 million annually. Operation of Los Angeles County’s 107 parks and 18 golf courses depend on a cadre of more than 15,000 volunteers, some of whom have donated their time and energy for more than 20 years. Like the state park volunteers, these folks act as nature guides, help maintain trails and even perform some law enforcement duties. Activities at the 450 L.A. city parks simply could not exist without volunteers who coach Little League, teach music classes, supplement equipment budgets and tend flower beds.

But with the prospect of deep budget cuts and even the threatened closure of some parks, more help is needed. Local park directors are hoping more Ernie LaMeres soon come knocking on their office doors.