News
GGNRA Endangered Species BIG YEAR
Rare Plant Hike at Edgewood County Park
10 a.m.
Join Edgewood County Park Docents and the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of CNPS for an ecologically rich walk through the grasslands of the mid San Francisco peninsula. See the White-Rayed Pentachaeta, possibly the Marin Dwarf Flax, and hopefully the Bay Checkerspot Butterfly. They will discuss other rare plants, whose habitats are so fragile, you can't even visit them.
Getting There: Take 280 to Edgewood exit.
Salmon Season May Come to a Halt
SF Gate
So few salmon are living in the ocean and rivers along the Pacific Coast that salmon fishing in California and Oregon will have to be shut down completely this year unless an emergency exception is granted, Pacific Fishery Management Council representatives said Tuesday.
It would mark the first time ever that the federal agency created 22 years ago to manage the Pacific Coast fishery canceled the coast's traditional salmon fishing season from April to mid-November.
To read the full article, click here.
In an article in the SF Chronicle Monday, scientists try to explain the dismal salmon run.
Along with the fishing ban, Marin County has issued a 2- year builing moratorium for residents and businesses along Lagunitas Creek. Read all about it here.
Children and Nature Movement Finds Allies in Advocates for Free Play
Children & Nature Network
The American Academy of Pediatrics published a report last year stating that unstructured play is essential for healthy development. Since then, a number of mainstream news outlets, including the New York Times, the Toronto Star, and National Public Radio, have drawn attention to the importance of creative play in children’s lives...
While connecting with nature is not explicitly prescribed by every advocate for free play, it remains a component of all major communications on the subject, from the PBS documentary Where Do the Children Play? to the Free Play Network’s efforts to promote better play opportunities. Indeed, supporters of the children and nature movement and the free play movement are finding common cause and a shared vision of what makes for healthy childhood development.Read the full article here.
Canada and Mexico Adopt Stricter Regulations Against Light Brown Apple Moth
CDFA News Release
March 11, 2008 - Revised and expanded regulations put into place in both Canada and Mexico will make it substantially more difficult for growers in counties infested by the light brown apple moth—an invasive species—to certify their crops as “free from” the moth, which is a requirement for exports to be accepted in those countries. These heightened restrictions on California growers are indicative of the serious measures taken by trading partners to keep the most significant invasive pests out.
Read the full press release here. Go to the CDFA website to get full information about the Light Brown Apple Moth and updates about eradication efforts.
Mayor Gavin Newsom Urges Governor Schwarzenegger to Study Health Consequences Before Spraying for LBAM
On Thursday, March 20, Mayor Gavin Newsom urged Governor Schwarzenegger to study health consequences before proceeding with aerial spraying to eradicate the light brown apple moth in California. In a letter to the Governor, Newsom asked for further review of the planned spraying before the State moves forward and urged the Governor to support proposed state legislation that will help determine the health risks and a safe control plan for eradication of the light brown apple moth.
Home invaders: Pretty Plants Turn Ugly Fast
SF Gate
They look pretty and often smell good, but some common landscape plants are nothing more than invaders in disguise.
Plants like Scotch broom and some of its cousins, along with some ice plants, pampas grass and others, muscle out native plants, which attract a variety of insects and animals.
Because they create a monoculture and disrupt biodiversity, invasive plants cause other ecological problems that can lead to floods, fires and crop losses. Many don't have natural predators to control them.
Read the full article here.
LEJ Makes Video to Save Candlestick Point
With California's state budget in a huge deficit, Governor Schwarzenegger is planning the closure of 48 state parks. Candlestick Point is one of the parks slated for closure. Established as the countries first urban state park, the closure of Candlestick point would mean the elimination of a vital recreation area for thousands of Hunters Point residence. Home to 365
federally designated toxic sites, the residence of Hunters Point can't afford the loss of this precious green space.
To help get the word out, Literacy for Environmental Justice made this short video for MTV. After you're hooked, please print out and sign the petition to help save Candlestick!
MTA's News TEP Skips Natural Areas
Plans were unveiled in February for a major MUNI overhaul, the first in over a generation, resulting in the creation of the Transit Effectiveness Project - a project to increase the overall reliability of the City’s MUNI transit system.
This will hopefully be a great improvement over the current MUNI service we all know and love, but in order to implement these new systems, certain stops and bus lines have been slated for removal. Unfortunately, this includes both the #28 and #29 going to the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza, a major hub and a great resource for the Presidio, one of the City's jewels of ecological beauty. There will be only 2 buses to serve the Presidio: the 28-L (with limited stops and no service to the GG Bridge) and a shortened #43 route, only touching base with the Letterman complex. PresidiGo shuttles will now be used as the main mode of travel once inside the Presidio gates, but they run limited hours.
Although it is understandable that MUNI needs to take cuts, it is inexcusable to take the accessibility away from one of our greatest natural resources. We ask that you please attend a Citizen Advisory Committee Meeting to voice your grievance over the proposed cuts, and demand that there remain at least one full line of service through the Presidio and to the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza. These meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month from 5 - 7 pm at One South VanNess, Room 3074.
Currently, this appears to be the only natural area that is severely affected by the service cuts. Please read the TEP, and take a look at the projected plans for your neighborhood and surrounding parks. If you find that something will be inaccessible, please contact us and tell us where it is, and mention it at the Advisory Meetings.
Volunteer Opportunities
Wednesday March 26
Presidio Park Stewards at Baker Beach
Presidio Nursery
CNPS at Lake Merced - Bufano Statue
Thursday March 27
Crissy Field Landscape
Lands End Stewards
Friday March 28
Presidio Plant Patrol at West Crissy Bluffs
Saturday March 29
Presidio Park Stewards at Inspiration Point
Fort Funston Nursery
Lands End Stewards
Presidio Nursery
For more information, contact info, and directions to natural areas go to the Community Calendar on the Nature in the City website.
More Eco News and Events
ACT locally, ADVOCATE globally
The Biodiesel Stars
In the March 17th episode of the Green Rapper, a Nature in the City steering committee member, Laura Castellini, and her beau Hakan Guvan, show that they have truly converted to a carbon neutral form of transportation. With a nominal startup fee and zero mechanical modifications to their VW Golf TDI and Chevy Diesel Van, they use BioDiesel from KF3 BioDiesel Production to fuel their rides.
Watch the video!
Biofuels: The Dark Side
TIME
Although a great step in the right direction, biofuels are far from perfect or environmentally sustainable.
As oil prices have soared in recent years, Indonesian companies have been converting vast tracts of forests and peat bogs into palm-oil plantations to feed a rapidly expanding biodiesel industry; between 1995 and 2005, the amount of Indonesian land being used to grow oil palms increased by some 8.6 million acres (3.5 million hectares), more than doubling total plantation area, according to a recent report on the industry by Credit Suisse.
Read the full article here.
Palm oil plantations are not the only issue biofuels are facing. Other unsolved problems include heavy fertilizer use, habitat loss and desruction, and whether or not the fuels are as clean burning as we were lead to believe.
The best way to get around this issue for the time being? Investigate your product, know where it comes from, and ride your bike, walk, or find any other fuel-free method of transportation as often as you can!
Photo of the Week: Iceplant, Where it Belongs
Photo of iceplant, or Sour Fig, in it's native habitat - Cape Town, South Africa.
Photo courtesy of Benjamin Stone-Francisco
A Green City Contest
The Guardian
Ken Livingstone and the Green party unveiled an election pact today urging their supporters to join forces in an attempt to defeat the Tory candidate, Boris Johnson, in the race to become London's next mayor, guardian.co.uk can reveal.
The Green party leader, Siân Berry, asked those who planned to vote for her on May 1 to pick Livingstone as their number-two choice. At the same press conference the mayor urged his voters to put the Green party candidate second.
For the complete story click here.
Real Green Beer
The Sierra Club has found five breweries that have worked efficiency, renewables, recycling, and organic ingredients into their recipes in such a way that each pint actually costs less -- in carbon emissions, that is... and appear to be making a worthy effort, so they wrote about them in their Green Life blog.
JUNK MAIL: From Debris to Design
Astonishing and resourcefully constructed biodegradable sculptures made of mailbox castoffs will provide a powerful call to action to the shocking fact 100 million trees are expired for junk mail in the United States every year.
Show opens on Thursday, February 14th
79 Gallery
79 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
For more information visit the Bay Area Junk Mail Reducation Campaign.
