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The San Francisco Bay needs your help. A
major oil spill is threatening wildlife in the bay! Click here for information on what you can do to help and where to report distressed wildlife. |
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   Nature in the City needs your help this autumn to restore the ecology of the San Francisco bioregion! We invite you to join Nature in the City. Your financial commitment goes toward membership as well as our critical work to build unity and community for the conservation of Franciscan nature and biodiversity. *Believe it or not, this informative newsletter takes
substantial staff time to produce each week. We need your help to
implement this service and our many other important programs for
conserving nature in the city. If you’ve
already
renewed your membership, thank you.*
Nature in the City has some wonderful success stories from 2007:  Earth Day at McLaren Park The Map 2nd Edition Mt. Sutro winners of the 2007 Beautification Award Natural Areas Plan to environmental review Park Bond gave $5 Million to natural areas Talk Series has become a community institution Twin Peaks received $50,000 for habitat restoration Website consistently receives 1000 hits per day 
In addition, we need your help to pursue our exciting new programs and broader initiatives: Green Hairstreak Eco-Community Corridor We just started the initial planning for an exciting new project to restore the ecological corridor of the locally rare Green Hairstreak Butterfly, a charismatic critter that only flies on the west side of the city in remnant dunes. The project is exciting for its integrated goals and approach. We propose to both restore and to connect 4 hilltop dune areas from Grandview Park to Hawk Hill. While we are primarily concerned about the fate of the butterfly, the project will benefit also the mosaic of native plants and animals within this habitat. Yerba Buena Island We continue to work with the island community, the Department of the Environment and the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) to restore native habitat at Clipper Cove and other sites on Yerba Buena Island. We need more resources to effectively build a community stewardship program and to support TIDA and the City in managing the island for biodiversity. Stewardship Program Our long-term goal of fostering a sustainable community stewardship group for every natural area in the city is ambitious. It is critical, however, for the ecological viability of our natural areas, for which management and government is severely underfunded. We need enough funding to be able to hire a dedicated community stewardship program manager. Advocacy Program We have received some seed money from the San Francisco Foundation to construct our advocacy program by building community and unity around the Natural Areas Plan. We need much more help if we are to create the formidable nature advocacy organization this city needs. More (Treehugger)
Preparing Your Garden For the Winter (Garden for the Environment) 
Saturday, November 10 When Autumn nights grow longer, it’s time to start preparing your garden for winter. Come to this workshop to learn how winterizing your garden will conserve water and ensure less work and vitality for the spring. Topics will include mulching, cover cropping, pest control practices, weeding tips, and a crop selection appropriate for the Bay Area Winter months! Pre registration required. Please call (415)731-5627 to register. $5 donation recommended. Sewer System Master Plan Meetings The PUC will be unveiling the Draft Sewer System Master Plan
for public review and comment at a series of public meetings November
13th, 14th, & 15th. This series of presentations brings us
one step closer to a PUC vote sending the plan out for environmental
review then ultimate approval. Nov 13 - 5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Southeast Community Facility
Alex L. Pitcher, Jr. Community Room 1800 Oakdale Avenue Nov 14 - 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. SFPUC Headquarter Offices 1145 Market Street 1st Floor Conference Room Nov 15 - 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Sunset Recreation Center 28th Avenue and Lawton Street |
November 9,
2007 In
this issue:
*With a few changes and updates from Nov 7* News Volunteer Opportunities Calendar More Eco News Become a member today and get a new map! Go online, email or call 415-564-4107 to join us. Nature in the City is a project of Earth Island Institute, a 501(c) California non profit public benefit corporation News Presidio Trust Changes Course Responding to public feedback to the proposed new museum development for housing Don Fisher's art collection, the Presidio Trust has terminated the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the museum, and has initiated a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to the 2002 Presidio Trust Management Plan. This they did in response to criticism that they should analyze the impacts of the museum in the context of the entire Main Post District, which will be the subject of the SEIS. Within the Main Post District, there are some significant natural resources issues, including the course of Tennessee Creek flowing into the restored Thompson Gulch, through which the creek then flows to Crissy Marsh, as well as the ecological restoration opportunities associated with the Doyle Drive Construction Project. Top Natural Areas Program Alert San Francisco Park Patrol has begun moving into the Natural Areas Program lot near the corner of Frederick and Stanyan. We were a big supporter of the recent increase in Park Patrol to protect people, wildlife and other resources in the City's parks. We are concerned, however, about how the Recreation and Park Department will reconcile the needs of these two very important functions for the City's parks. The Stanyan location is clearly eminently centrally located, and this benefits the Natural Areas Program and would benefit the Park Patrol. Considering how much space in Golden Gate Park is used for parking private cars, a mutually-beneficial solution must exist in the vicinity. If you are concerned, as we are, about the fate of the location and functioning of the Natural Areas Program, please contact the Recreation and Park General Manager and/or the Recreation and Park Commission and/or the Mayor: Yomi Agunbiade, RPD General Manager, yomi.agunbiade@sfgov.org McLaren Lodge, Golden Gate Park 501 Stanyan Street San Francisco CA 94117 Phone: 415-831-2701 Larry Martin, President, Recreation and Park Commission recpark.commission@sfgov.org FAX: 415-221-8034 McLaren Lodge, Golden Gate Park 501 Stanyan Street San Francisco CA 94117 Telephone: 415-831-2750 Gavin Newsom, Mayor, gavin.newsom@sfgov.org City Hall 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 200 San Francisco CA 94102 Phone: 415-554-6141 Fax: 415-554-6160 Top California Academy of Sciences goes Green Check out the recent article about the unprecedented "green roof" atop the emerging California Academy of Sciences. The plant selection and design were done by Rana Creek, who implemented the restored Crissy Airfield planting. The dozen or so native plant species will provide much needed habitat for birds and butterflies in an otherwise totally non-native area of the Park (though the oak woodlands are nearby). By the way, we heard through the grapevine that the beloved herpetological exhibit - the one around the alligators that housed all kinds of lizards, snakes and amphibians - will not exist at the new Academy. Top Living New Deal San Francisco's Columbia Foundation has given the California Historical Society $100,000 for the Living New Deal Project. The grant is partly contingent on raising further funding to carry out the Project's ambitious goal to create a statewide collaborative effort to recover, database, map, and interpret the New Deal's physical impact on the State of California, and to serve as a model for what other states and cities can do. Gray Brechin, who wrote Imperial San Francisco, is working with the National New Deal Preservation Association to commemorate next year the 75th anniversary of FDR's inauguration and the subsequent launch of Roosevelt's New Deal. Top  Presidio Park Stewards Volunteer Opportunities
Friday November 9 North Bay Shorebird Survey Presidio Plant Patrol Saturday November 10 Central Bay Shorebird Survey Save the Quail Restore-A-Thon 26th Street Sidewalk Planting Heron's Head Marsh Fort Funston Nursery Oak Woodlands Restoration Friend's of McLaren Park Colma Creek Restoration Friend's of Edgehill Mountain Land's End Stewards Presidio Nursery For more information, contact info, and directions to natural areas and restoration sites, go to the Community Calendar on the Nature in the City website. Top Calendar Of Events
*For more calendar items, as well as regular volunteer opportunites, go to the Nature in the City Calendar to view all posted events. Top |
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Key Successes of Nature in the City in 2007
 Earth
DayOn April 22nd, we hosted McLaren Park Earth Day, the city’s first ever Earth Day event centered around stewardship of local nature and biodiversity. The Map With our partners, we published the 2nd Edition of the Nature in the City Map of San Francisco’s Natural Heritage.  Mt. Sutro The Mt. Sutro Stewards, with whom we work to restore habitat on UCSF’s Mt. Sutro, received San Francisco Beautiful’s annual Beautification Award. Natural Areas Plan We advocated strongly and won a unanimous vote at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission for the Significant Natural Resource Areas Management Plan. Neighborhood Parks Bond Working with our environmental colleagues, we secured $5 million dollars for nature trail restoration in the City's natural areas. The Neighborhood Parks Bond will go on the ballot in February, 2008.  TalksOur Nature in the City Series at Counterpulse has become an integral venue among the local environmental intellectual scene, being regularly advertised in the papers and uploaded online via a series of podcasts. Twin Peaks We secured $50,000 from the State of California for the San Francisco Weed Management Area to restore Twin Peaks and habitat for the federally endangered Mission Blue butterfly. In addition, we worked with REI and the Recreation and Parks Natural Areas Program to implement a series of walks and talks as well as to publish a brand new brochure for Twin Peaks. Website Since the beginning of 2007, we have received an average of 1000 hits/day on our website, www.natureinthecity.org, which we are in the process of redesigning, again, in order to optimize this community ecological educational tool. Back |
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Popeye is back in action and he's on
for "the mos' arful battle". His old foe Bluto has returned in the
dastardly form of 