News
From Diane Barth, a Park Advocacy Day participant and Sonoma County resident:
"It was a wonderful cross-section of people coming together with a united concern. Our community, which has disagreed on so many issues over the years, is in total agreement that this fight must be won.
The Legislators reminded us that they are being forced to make very difficult budget decisions to bring balance to a budget, which is in deficit by billions of dollars. These are challenging times, we were told over and over again. We were told to “look at the big picture,” come up with solutions, organize grass-roots advocacy, connect with other parks on the closure list, hold local rally’s, and continue to fight and write letters – to newspapers, legislators, budget committee representatives...
The Legislators do look at dollars. How much will the closing of Armstrong Redwoods hurt our local economy? How many people come here to see an old grove of coastal redwoods? How much will be the potential damage to this forest and our beloved park if it is left in “caretaker” mode? How much will we lose from the quality of our life if we are not allowed to find our solace and recreation in this sacred area of ancient giants.
A trip to Sacramento reminds us all that we must get involved to protect the things we love. We have a responsibility to future generations to maintain important legacies."
Read more Park Advocacy Day stories at the Save Our State Parks website.
Immediately after he guided the container ship Cosco Busan into one of the support towers of the Bay Bridge, Capt. John Cota, the ship's pilot, apologized to the skipper of the big ship.
"Sorry, captain," Cota is quoted in a transcript of the doomed voyage last fall. He was speaking to Capt. Mao Cai Sun, master of the 901-foot long Cosco Busan. "I misunderstood the chart," Cota said. "I thought that was the center."
Read the full story here.
Montara Mountain for Sale
SF Gate
Rising nearly 2,000 feet out of the sea near Moss Beach is the mesmerizing Montara Mountain, a landmark in the midst of a sweeping panorama of coastal wildland.
The rugged mountain is part of the 4,262-acre Rancho Corral de Tierra, the largest undeveloped tract of land remaining on the San Mateo County coast. It is a landscape teeming with greenery and wildlife so unique and valuable that eager National Park Service officials are planning for it to become the southern entrance to the 74,000-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Problem is, there is no money available to buy it from the Peninsula Open Space Trust, which spent years working on a deal to acquire the land for the express purpose of selling it to the Park Service for half price. The inability to purchase land for national parks despite willing sellers is a problem around the country, according to a report released Tuesday by
the National Parks Conservation Association.
Read the full story here.
The 7th International Ecocity Conference will be convening an international community of inspired change-makers; courageous individuals who are addressing problems of the world's environment with thoughtful long-range solutions that are truly sustainable, ecologically healthy and socially just. With themes of people, nature, sustainable development, economies & technologies, and incentives & support structures, key innovaters will intend to put these issues on the economic and environmental agenda for 2008 and beyond.
Peter Brastow, director of Nature in the City, will be speaking at the conference on Saturday, April 26. Don't miss out on a fascinating discussion between Peter, Kemba Shakur (Urban Releaf), and Josiah Cain (Rana Creek landscape architects) with Isabel Wade (SFNPC) as moderator.
Go to the Ecocity World Summit page for more information, schedules, or to register.
Check out The Daily Kernel, a new blog dedicated to the cleanup, remediation and restoration of the Presidio. There are videos, posts and comment sections all available to aid you in learning more about what is being done to save the Presidio's natural resources.
In January 2007, a group of activist gardeners in San Francisco's Richmond District grew tired of walking past a weed-filled lot. The nearly 1,300-square-foot parcel at the corner of Fulton and Stanyan streets had not been used for years.
So Justin Valone, who lives across the street from the lot, helped spearhead an act of guerrilla gardening. Within weeks, 30 volunteers had transformed the lot, planting potatoes, fava beans and other crops. For a couple of months, all seemed good. But in the early spring, the out-of-town landlord, who also owns the adjoining building, learned of the garden - in part tipped off by an unusually hefty utility bill for the water being used for crop irrigation. She asked Citywide Property Management, the company managing the parcel, to take out the garden.
Read more the full story here.
Health Problems Linked to Moth Spraying
SF Gate
"I didn't think much of it [the spraying]. We thought it wouldn't be harmful," said Air Force Maj. Timothy Wilcox, who's enrolled in the U.S. Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey.
The very next day, the Wilcoxes' 11-month-old son, Jack, started wheezing. It got so bad, his eyes rolled back in his head, the boy's father said. The baby spent his first birthday in the hospital on oxygen and medication...
Now the baby takes two physician-ordered drug treatments a day as a precaution against an asthma attack.
The Wilcoxes are one of hundreds of families in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties that reported health problems last year after the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture ordered an aerial spray of pesticides containing synthetic insect pheromones and other ingredients in a campaign to eradicate the light brown apple moth.
Read the full story here.
Resurveying California's Wildlife
In the early 1900's, researchers from UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology traveled around California and created detailed records of the wildlife they found. A century later, scientists are revisiting the same sites - including Yosemite National Park - to see if the fauna has changed. They've found that global warming is already having an impact.
Watch Resurveying California's Wildlife 100 Years Later Tonight, April 15th at 7:30pm on KQED 9 or online at www.kqed.org/quest.
Madagascar's Road Map to Saving Species
SF Chronicle
An international team of biologists has just completed an acre-by-acre inventory of life on one of Earth's largest and most diverse islands, and their work could well serve as a model for protecting all the world's biodiversity "hot spots" where forests and landscapes are threatened.
The unique inventory on the island nation of Madagascar comes after more than a decade of arduous field research and computer innovation, resulting in the creation of a kind of road map of the island's plants and animals that the government there will now use in efforts to vastly expand its limited network of nature preserves.
Read more about the road map here. Could this be the beginning to something new for the United States, the rest of the world - or San Francisco?
Volunteer Opportunities
Wednesday April 16
Presidio Park Stewards @ North Baker Beach
CNPS @ Glen Canyon
Presidio Nursery
Thursday April 17
Crissy Field Landscape
Lands End Stewards
Friday April 18
Presidio Plant Patrol @ Lobos Creek Valley
Saturday April 19
Pier 94
Friends of Glen Canyon
Friends of Shields/ Orizaba Rocky Outcrop
Friends of Brooks Park
Presidio Park Stewards@ Battery East
Fort Funston
Lands End Stewards
Presidio Nursery
Sunday April 20
Bernal Hilltop Native Grassland
San Bruno Mountain
McLaren Park Restoration @ Earth Day
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
From the Tulomne to Pacifica
City Council Chambers
2212 Beach Blvd Pacifica, CA 94044
Tuesday, April 15
7:00pm
Embedded within San Francisco's program to retrofit our ailing Hetch Hetchy water system is a plan to divert up to 25 million more gallons of water per day from the Tuolumne River. The Tuolumne, with its headwaters in Yosemite National Park, is a federally-protected Wild and Scenic River and a California jewel. With the looming consequences of global warming, an evergrowing demand for water, and the need to sustain the health of our rivers, delta and ocean ecosystems, the conflict over water has taken center stage.
Find out more here.
Ridge to Bridge
Saturday, April 26
Hike and Bike the Bay Area Ridge Trail and raise money for California State Parks and the trail at the same time! Meet at the Golden Gate Bridge, bus north, and hike/bike back down. Segments last between 13 and 30 miles. Ask your friends to support each mile you tread!
$40 registration fee includes bus transportation, map, water, snacks and lunch.
Go to the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council's website for more information or to register.
Nature in the City: New York
New York has found their own nature in the city - and it's in the form of a blog. A great resource introducing urbanites to the nature that surrounds them, this blog discusses everything from fantastical local state parks to the "wild man" who can be seen around the city leading tasting tours of local parks, foraging for food.
Check it out here.
