News
Mt. Sutro Stewards Chosen as NPC Volunteers of the Month!
The Mt. Sutro Stewards and students from Lowell High School have been chosen as the Neighborhood Park Council's June Volunteers of the Month, for their restoration work in the UCSF Mt. Sutro Open Space Reserve.
Read The Full Story
Also, reserve your place now for the Mt. Sutro Guided Tour on June 21st and see the volunteers work first-hand.
Snowy Plover Volunteers Needed
Snowy Plover Outreach Volunteers contact park visitors who enter Snowy Plover habitat. Volunteers will greet park users, offering verbal and printed information about the plovers, other shorebirds and the Golden Gate National Parks. Volunteers will also document actions that may impact snowy plovers and other shorebirds. Through these efforts, volunteers will support the National Park Service mission and stewardship goals. When necessary, Outreach Volunteers alert park rangers to emergency or unusual situations.
If interested in the position a full description is available here, including who to contact.
June 10, 2008- Dan Murphy confirmed 44 burrows with young and at least 66 active burrows last week, making a total of 129 burrows now (with at least 20 new ones since his last visit). There will be a vast number of birds fledging in the next week or two - creating quite a site for spectators.
Even though Bank Swallows aren't federally endangered, they are on the California endangered species list. This is the largest of the 3 remaining colonies on the CA coast, down from about 60 colonies "back in the day."
If you want to see the Bank Swallows, the beach is accessible from the parking lot at Sloat and the Great Highway at low tide. It's a steep slope, and about a 50 yard drop, so be careful.
Or, you could park at Fort Funston and follow the dog walkers to the beach and walk north, if you don't mind a longer walk.
Hunters Point Serpentine Hillside Needs Your Support!
Please take this opportunity to help save this remnant serpentine grassland, overlooking India Basin at Hunters Point, from development. View a brief slide show about the hillside. A written letter carries the most weight.They could be making some decisions on rezoning in the next two to four weeks which would impact the area. So please find time in your busy schedules to write a brief letter, email Margo Bors a copy, and forward this to anyone you know who might write a letter. Every letter counts.
Write a brief letter of support for the hillside to:
John Spranza
PBS &J
1200 2nd Street, Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95814
Biological & geological value - unique serpentine grassland
• 35 species of native plants
• purple needlegrass, Calif. state grass
• home to locally rare yellow mariposa lily
• serpentine - Calif. state rock
Recreational value - place to relax, renew the spirit, enjoy nature & Bay views
• concrete pads on hillside could be playgrounds, picnic areas, etc.
• living classroom in ecology & geology for SF schoolchildren
Development pressure on all sides- open space planning especially important
• Hunters View - top of the hill will have about 3 times the density when rebuilt
• bottom of the hill is under great pressure for private development - must plan for open space.
Communication
• path down the hillside is important pedestrian link between isolated Hunters View housing project and waterfront area.
• should be kept open & communication between HV and other areas encouraged
Saturday, June 21
8 am - 12 pm
Join Michael Chasse and Matt Zlatunich on this multi-species morning. Look for the California Least Tern, join Presidio Park Stewards in restoring marsh habitat for the California Seablite, (Brown Pelicans are likely) and there is potential for an afternoon jaunt to Inspiration Point for lingering Presidio Clarkia. RSVP required: email mbzlat@yahoo.com. Go to the GGNRA Big Year website for more info!
A funding solution has finally emerged for the faltering State Park system! On the heels of the Governor’s reversal of the state parks closure, Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) announced a new proposal for dedicated funding for our state park system. At the end of May, Mr. Laird proposed the State Park Access Pass program, which would raise over $280 million annually for maintaining and improving our state parks. The program would raise funds from a $10 surcharge on annual vehicle fees, paid at time of annual registration. And for paying the fee, Californians would receive free day-use access to state parks. This is quite a bargain – in many cases, Californians are already paying $6-$8 for day use access, for one day’s visit only.
The need for a stable source of funding for state parks is one that has been elusive for decades. The lack of dependable funding has meant that more than $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance projects have built up in the state park system.
Clearly, there are many competing priorities in this year’s state budget. But the State Park Access Pass proposal is one that is commonsense and is sorely needed. A year ago, few people would have ever thought that closing state parks would be seriously considered as a way to save the state a modest amount of funding. Sadly, that door has now been opened, and it’s not an exaggeration to say we could be there again.
Please take a moment and visit the Save Our State Parks campaign website to lend your voice and send a letter to your legislators.
Volunteer Opportunities
Wednesday June 18
Presidio Park Stewards @ North Baker Beach
CNPS @ Mt. Davidson
Presidio Nursery
Thursday June 19
Crissy Field Landscape
Lands End Stewards
Friday June 20
Presidio Plant Patrol @ Battery Crosby
Saturday June 21
Friends of Glen Canyon
Friends of Brooks Park
Presidio Park Stewards @ Crissy Marsh
Fort Funston
Friends of Shields/Rocky Orizaba Outcrop
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.
Join Nature in the City!
Photo courtesy Margo Bors
Become a member today and get a new map!
Go online, email
or call 415-564-4107.
Nature in the City is a project of Earth Island Institute, a501(c) California non profit public benefit corporation.
More Eco News and Events
ACT locally, ADVOCATE globally
Melting Glaciers May Release DDT
American Chemical Society
In an unexpected consequence of climate change, scientists are raising the possibility that glacial melting is releasing large amounts of the banned pesticide DDT, which is contaminating the environment in Antarctica. The study is scheduled for the June 1 issue of ACS' bi-weekly journal Environmental Science & Technology.
In the study, Heidi N. Geisz and colleagues estimate that up to 2.0-8.8 pounds of DDT are released into coastal waters annually along the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet from glacial meltwater. The researchers point out that DDT reaches Antarctica by long-range atmospheric transport in snow, and then gets concentrated in the food chain. DDT has been banned in the northern hemisphere and has been regulated worldwide since the 1970s. Geisz found, however, that DDT levels in the Adelie penguin have been unchanged since the 1970s, despite an 80 percent reduction in global use.
Global warming may explain that contradiction, they say. As the annual winter temperature on the Antarctic Peninsula has increased by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 30 years, glaciers have retreated. The possibility that glacial meltwater has contaminated Antarctic organisms with DDT, the study says, "has compelling consequences" if global warming should continue and intensify.
