Rockville Hills Park ranger vacancy

The advisory committee chair said the park is Fairfield's crown jewel losing its luster — no ranger for three years, 115 manzanita trees dead from unmonitored grazing, and rising dirt bikes, erosion, and trash. He asked for immediate ranger hiring and a standing twice-yearly update to the council.

An advisory committee member said the city promised six months ago to post ranger applications but nothing has happened; he personally watched five couples enter without paying and estimates half the park's revenue is being lost.

A park user of nearly 50 years detailed the timeline of broken promises on the ranger hire, the suspended volunteer program, dead manzanitas, rising fees with fewer payers, and an unsanctioned youth mountain bike race on a social trail.

A three-decade hiker and former trail crew volunteer described rescuing a dying bobcat cub and a goose tangled in fishing line with no ranger to call, and warned the goats are returning in two weeks while wildflowers are blooming.

Called the park Fairfield's most precious resource and said the 115 dead manzanitas — some over a century old — were entirely preventable; urged the council to hire a full-time ranger before more irreversible damage.

A founding advisory committee member offered the committee itself as a stopgap solution — asking the city to expand the RCAC's role coordinating volunteers until a ranger is hired.