Glendale recruiting people to help with parklands

Glendale officials will soon recruit volunteers to replace naturalists the city laid off last year for budget reasons.

The volunteers will provide public education and help patrol more than 5,000 acres of city parklands to report damage or unsafe conditions.

“This will not be your average volunteer program,” because it will require training and strong skills, Community Services and Parks Director Jess Duran told the Glendale City Council.

The program will be modeled on similar ones in the Santa Monica Mountains and Oakland’s East Bay Regional Park.

Citing an $18-million budget shortfall, the city eliminated its naturalist program in June 2011, laying off two full-time employees and one part-time worker.

About two dozen volunteers will be sought for hiking and mountain biking units in a new trail safety patrol, city officials said.

The trail patrol is to cover the Verdugo Mountains, San Rafael Hills and Deukmejian Wilderness Park, said Marc Stirdivant, senior administrative analyst in the Community Services and Parks department.

Dozens of people use the city’s more than 30 miles of fire roads and 71/2 miles of single-track trails on a daily basis, according to a city report.

The city plans to find volunteers through referrals and environmental and recreational groups, including the Sierra Club and the Los Angeles-based Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Assn.

Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and do not have to live in Glendale, Stirdivant said.

Each will work about four hours a month, he said.

Volunteers must go through a background check and city-designed training program that will include courses in first aid, park rules, park history, plants and animals, dealing with difficult people and working with public safety officials, Glendale representatives said.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Mayor Frank Quintero said. “I can’t wait for it to move forward.”

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brittany.levine@latimes.com