About Fort Ross Interpretive Association

About FRIA

PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Fort Ross Interpretive Association (FRIA) has been a State Park Cooperating Association since 1976. A museum bookstore and the Fort Ross Visitor Center are kept open 365 days a year by staff and volunteers. A smaller bookstore in the Salt Point Visitor Center is staffed by volunteers on weekends during the summer months. FRIA continues to organize and add to the Fort Ross library and archives. This library contains 30 albums of archivally preserved historic photographs and almost 3,000 titles in the reference and circulating library. Exhibits and displays are produced for the park. In 2005 ten new wayside panels which highlight the extent of the Russian settlement, and twenty new interpretive panels for the Visitor Center, were prepared for the park. FRIA publishes books and brochures about Fort Ross as well as a bi-monthly historical newsletter distributed to over 400 paying members. A cooperative project with the Native Kashaya community, UC Berkeley, and State Parks is the development of a cultural trail in the park. FRIA has restored and furnished the historic Call Ranch House, now open with volunteer guides. Interior restoration and furnishing of the Rotchev House, the oldest surviving wood structure in California, is now underway with the goal of opening it as a house museum by 2010. A nine-member Board of Directors meets at Fort Ross on the second Saturday of February, April, June, August, October, and December.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Fort Ross Interpretive Association, Incorporated, is to promote for the benefit of the public the interpretive and educational activities of the Russian River Sector of California State Parks at Fort Ross State Historic Park and Salt Point State Park.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

To enhance and conserve the cultural and natural historic, interpretive and educational resources of Fort Ross and Salt Point State Parks.
To sponsor, publish, distribute, and sell appropriate items which increase visitor understanding and appreciation of this area.
To acquire materials and equipment to assist in the educational and interpretive programs at Fort Ross and Salt Point State Parks.
To develop and maintain a library.
To preserve and archive historical material associated with Fort Ross and Salt Point State Parks, and to provide and maintain adequate and secure storage facilities.
To sponsor, support, and assist scientific research and investigations relating to Fort Ross and Salt Point State Parks, and presentation of these studies to the public.
To promote interpretation that reflects current research.
To plan, organize, and implement fund raising programs to support interpretive and educational activities at Fort Ross and Salt Point.

Join the Association Online

Membership Application pdf

Newsletters:
Winter 2005
Spring 2006
Summer 2006
Fall 2006
Winter 2006
Spring 2007
Summer 2007
Fall 2007