Longtime Midpen volunteer Hal Tennant celebrated his 91st birthday the "Midpen way.” Staff and Tennant’s family worked together to hold a volunteer event removing invasive French broom and thistle species from an ongoing restoration site at Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
Tennant has been a volunteer at Midpen for nine years, using his skills as a former civil engineer to support Midpen projects. Over his 1,000 hours of service, he has removed invasive plants, planted native plants, repaired fences, demolished fences and even painted a goat shed.
Out of all the projects he has worked on, restoration planting at the summit of Mount Umunhum was Tennant’s favorite.
“For most of our projects, we’re restoring nature to what it was one hundred years ago,” he said. “On Mt. Um, we restored it to what it was one thousand years ago.”
Tennant has spent most of his life outdoors. He was raised in an agricultural community and used to work on a farm with his father. After college, Tennant joined the Army Corps of Engineers, where he built roads and bridges. He even built plans for troops assisting the Little Rock Nine, who were the first African American students to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“My career was built around the design and construction of civil works,” he continued. “My main projects were about keeping water clean and usable. In some cases, we had to treat water to return it to safe conditions.”
When he retired, his wife suggested he take up volunteering outdoors to occupy his time.
“Midpen has been perfect for keeping me involved in nature,” Tennant said. “I’ve learned about plants and made some new friends. I just love it out there.”
During Tennant’s recent birthday celebration with friends, family and volunteers at Midpen’s Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve, the group feasted on cake and shared their love and reverence for Tennant and his commitment to outdoor restoration.
“He blows my socks off,” one of the volunteers said.
Midpen has year-round hands-on volunteer projects in the preserves that the public can participate in. New projects are posted the first Wednesday of every month and no previous experience is required – staff will provide all required equipment and training.