PETER MAKI 1948—2018
THE MAN WITH THE WHITE BUCKET
Rex Burress
I met Peter Maki down by the riverside in the fall of 1996. He was actively a part of a community clean-up around Oroville, CA's Old Bathhouse, the city's aquatic park recreational site back in 1935 when the stone structure was built.
City Administrator Ron Myers was even in on that '96 clean-up around the unique stone building. The structure is quite ornate with 'spider-web grouting' fitted in between the blocks of volcanic greenstone gleaned from the talus along the nearby railroad tracks. After being closed and abandoned because of floods in 1937, nothing was left except the walls, and the wooded, five-acre plot had become an undesirable human hangout, hence the cleanup to encourage legitimate use of Oroville's first park. Back as far as 1856, people had been coming to use the Ferry on Old Ferry Road before there were bridges, and the artifact remnants, as well as the gold presence, constitute a rich history.
I was talking to Peter after the cleanup, and he wondered what could be done to preserve and use the former shower and restroom swimmer facility. I was freshly retired from working 32 years as a refuge naturalist at Oakland, CA's Rotary Nature Center, and the thought occurred, “What a neat Nature Center this would make.” I mentioned it to Peter, and he jumped at the idea, and immediately began making plans toward that vision. His position on the Oroville Planning Commission made such a project all the more realistic.
The flood of January 1997 brought the river to the doorsteps but it didn't quench Peter's enthusiasm to build a nature center program. Affable, knowledgeable, and outgoing, he fleeced the region for resources and followers, and soon assembled a dozen or so volunteers, including his 'right-hand electrical man,' Loren Gill, folks sympathetic with enhancing nature and building an attractive park and native plant refuge,
About a year later, the old bathhouse had a roof, doors, lights, secure windows—and shelves of natural history artifacts and interpretive exhibits in the museum section, AND, an eager squadron of volunteers, contributors, technicians, docents, and City approval, united in feeling a part of “A Nature Center for Oroville!” Under Peter's umbrella of “Friends of the Nature Center,” the vision flourished. There's a certain special quality in conducting such leadership, made all the more effective by the energetic skill and enthusiasm of the leader!
Peter's white bucket is symbolic of his way of life. One memorable thing stands out—Peter carrying his white plastic bucket on the grounds picking up litter. Neatness was ingrained in his work, and strewn litter annoyed him no end. He would do his part, wherever he went, in respecting our environment and keeping it clean. Peter presided over the regular Center meetings that were held in orderly fashion, as well as with an admonition to “have fun in presenting nature.” The mission motto was “Toward bringing people and nature together.”
What contributes to energetic enthusiasm in accomplishing a goal in life? Of the natural history causes, growing up in a wildlife environment has helped some develop conservation interests. Peter Maki was born in Owen, Wisconsin on a farm, living scarcely a hundred miles from where John Muir lived on a Wisconsin farm as a boy. I'm sure both were influenced by the wild kingdom, as I was on a Trenton, Missouri farm, and as Aldo Leopold was, also on a Wisconsin farm.
Like John Muir, who was founder and first president of the Sierra Club, Peter Maki was founder and first president of the Feather River Nature Center. Both were followed by capable nature advocates, including present Nature Center president Becky Smith, who ironically was 'across the street' neighbor of the Maki's when they lived in Oroville!
Peter had an adventurous life, going from Wisconsin to the Peace Corp in South America twice after college in WI before coming to Oroville to a job with USDA in 1987. He retired to Huston, Missouri for about 10 years before a final move to Mancos, Colorado.
Whatever the reason, I was very glad Peter Maki and family came to Oroville, and that Peter spearheaded the revitalization of the old bathhouse into the Feather River Nature Center. It was just down the hill from where I live above the river and I was glad to be a part of it.
A cluster of dear nature friends were gathered by Peter and enriched my Oroville nature life. The skill, work, donations, dedication of the many contributing Friends of the Nature Center, led by leader Maki, has resulted in a valuable addition to the City of Oroville's historical heritage and museum excellence.
“Lives of great men, all remind us,/ We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us,/ Footprints on the sands of time.”
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow