Golden Gate JOAD Installing New Target Bales at Golden Gate Park Archery Range

Golden Gate JOAD is installing new target archery bales in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Archery Range. The city no longer replaces the archery target bales due to budget cuts. Golden Gate JOAD has been paying for and replacing the archery range bales for the last three years in conjunction with City College of San Francisco and a small number of individual private donors.

In the past, Golden Gate Park gardening staff replaced the target bales 4 times a year. Moisture from rain, fog and morning dew combined with heavy usage wears the bales out quickly.

A target bale in desperate need of replacement at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Archery Range. The City no longer replaces the bales due to budget cuts. Golden Gate JOAD, along with San Francisco Community College and private donors, scrapes together the thousands of dollars and labor needed to replace the target bales.

The Golden Gate Park Archery Rang is only viable so long as it has usable target bales. An archery range without target bales is just an empty field. Golden Gate JOAD has sourced and purchased heavy-duty, treated bales designed for outdoor archery use. The bales weigh around 200 pounds and cost about $320 each with shipping and materials for installation. The mounts all have to be re-furbished when the bales are replaced, adding up to 2-3 hours to install and secure each bale.

Golden Gate JOAD Head Coach David Chan multi-tasks as he accepts delivery of 1,200 pounds of target bales at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Archery Range.

 

Golden Gate Park regulars and Golden Gate JOAD’s David Chan lift a heavy target bale into place at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Archery Range.

The Golden Gate JOAD typically uses two park bales for two hours a week. During our weekly archery session we supplement the park bales with up to six portable bales of our own. But we work to replace all of the park bales as they wear out, which they do constantly.

Over the years Golden Gate JOAD has spent thousands of dollars replacing all of the worn bales at the range. It is the single largest line item for our program budget and part of giving back to the archery community. Our program charges for instruction, but the coaches are volunteers and the funds are used primarily to pay for club equipment and to replace bales for everyone who uses the Golden Gate Park archery range.

We can’t do this alone. We replace as many bales as we can, but even that still isn’t enough to replace them so that every bale is maintained in fully usable condition. This latest set of bales were originally funded entirely by Golden Gate JOAD and CCSF. Please consider donating to the bale fund so that we can continue to keep the Golden Gate Park Archery range operating at its full potential.

We’d like to thank the donors who made this bale replacement possible.  Please thank them when you see them on the archery range.

Benefactors (Gift of $400 or more)

Golden Gate JOAD 

Diane Nagura of City College of San Francisco

Angels (Gift of $301-$399)

Cupid’s Gate Archery

Patrons (Gift of $201-$300)

Supporters (Gift of $101-$199)

Friends (Gift of $50-$100)

Updated 8/15/12–Including appending donor information.

1 Comment

  1. dchan on August 14, 2012 at 11:08 am

    That grassy covered bale that is falling over is only 2 months old! Arrows from a 25lb recurve were passing through that bale from 18M within 3 weeks! That was a donated bale from an anonymous donor and rather than waste the donation, we put it up on the stand to save the real expensive ones. We were hoping for about 3 months of use. in actual good use, we probably got 1.