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| 8 Days and Counting Until Super Tuesday and Yes on A - Fix Our Parks! The Yes on A campaign needs volunteers! Join the phone bank, a neighborhood rally walk, or grab a window sign and support Prop A, the parks bond that gives $5 million to natural areas! If this email is not displaying properly please click here or copy and paste this URL into your browser. (http://natureinthecity.org/NTCnews1-28(26).html) |
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January 28, 2008 In this issue: News Prop A Needs Volunteers
Volunteer OpportunitesCalifornia State Parks in Peril Help Preserve Still Wild Areas in the City Snowy Plover Volunteers Needed Earth Day - Save the Date Alien Mussels Oil Spill Meeting SFPUC Wants More Nature in the City Calendar Big Year Events More Eco News & Events Local Eco Steward of the Week
Go online, email or call 415-564-4107. Nature in the City is a project of Earth Island Institute, a 501(c) California non profit public benefit corporation. We are now selling the 2008 San
Francisco Green Zebra guide, and receiving $10 of the proceeds!
 Go to Green
Zebra's website, and find the edition you like. Be
sure to enter or mention the code NIC955
when you check out so that
we will be credited $10 for each guide you purchase. Volunteer Opportunities 
Presidio Park Stewards at Coastal Bluffs Presidio Nursery CNPS at Mt. Davidson Thursdsay January 31 Crissy Field Landscape Lands End Stewardship Saturday February 2 Presidio Park Stewards Mt. Sutro Stewards Buena Vista Restoration Friends of Mt. Davidson Fort Funston Nursery Friends of Lake Merced Lands End Stewards Presidio Nursery San Bruno Mountain - Brisbane Acres For more information, contact info, and directions to natural areas go to the Community Calendar on the Nature in the City website. Up Calendar
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| Jan. 28 | Habitat Conservation Plan Workshop Brisbane Community Center 250 Visitacion Avenue 7:30 - 9:30 pm Workshop on the purpose, funding and future of the Habitat Conservation Plan. Great opportunity to get a better understanding of the HCP, primarily from an official government position. |
| Jan. 29 | Oil Spill Meeting 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Cascade Room Mill Valley Community Center 180 El Camino Alto Mill Valley Rec and Parks Department Budget Presentation 6:30 - 8:30
Eugene Friend SOMA Recreation Center 270 6th Street and Folsom
Receive information on the current budget process for the Fiscal Year 2008 - 09. For more information go to the SF Rec and Parks Department website. |
| Jan. 30 |
2007-2008 Fall/Winter Talks Counterpulse 1310 Mission Street 415-626-2060 Free Peter Brastow and Brent Plater discuss the GGNRA Endangered Species Big Year Rec and Parks Department Budget Presentation 6:30 - 8:30 County Fair Building Golden Gate Park 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way Receive information on the current budget process for the Fiscal Year 2008 - 09. For more information go to the SF Rec and Parks Department website. |
| Feb. 1-3 | 12th Annual San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival Mare Island Vallejo, CA Celebrate the migration through the San Francisco Bay Estuary of 1 million shorebirds and hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese, hawks and even butterflies! Call 707-649-9464 or visit the website for more information. |
| Feb. 2 | Centennial Muir Woods Earth Day 8 am - 12:30 pm Fun projects and celebration! Muir Woods Mill Valley, CA Mt. Sutro Stewards 9 am - 1 pm Peter Brastow from Nature in the City will be joining the Mt. Sutro stewards for some Rotary garden weeding and trail restoration. For more information call Orlando at 476-8431 or email Craig to receive all Mt. Sutro announcements. |
| Feb. 17 | Poop Pickup and Sustainable Dog Walk Sponsored by Green Dog Walks 10:30 am - 12 pm Bernal Hill For more information or to download a poster go to the Green Dog Walks website. |
*For
more calendar items, as well as regular volunteer opportunities, go to the
Nature in
the City
Calendar
to view all posted events.
Up
Local Ecological Steward
of the Week
Rachel Kesel,
Green Dog Walks
Rachel Kesel, founder of Green Dog Walks, will be hosting the first Poop Pick Up and Sustainable Dog Walking Demonstration February 17th on Bernal Hill.
As one of the leading non-profits in the effort to make dog walking and restoration advocates co mingle in an eco-friendly and fun way, Rachel is taking some serious steps to keep Bernal Heights a beautiful, biologically diverse native grassland - and making sure dogs and their owners enjoy it.
Click to view the posters for Green Dog Walks.
Up
News
Proposition A Needs Volunteers
- Join the phone bank brigade on Tuesday, January 29 from 6 pm - 8:30 pm. The Yes on A campaign will be calling San Francisco voters to encourage them to vote Yes! Sign up by calling 415-240-4150.
- Come get Yes on A window signs at the Nature in the City office! Call us at 415-564-4107 or email steward@natureinthecity.org if you would like to stop by! You can also find a more convenient sign pickup location or you can print your own at the Fix Our Parks homepage.
- Join a Rally and Precinct Walk! Raise awareness about Prop. A with your friends and neighbors. To find upcoming walks in your neighborhood go to the Fix our Parks Homepage.
On January 10th, Governor Schwarzenegger released the state budget for Fiscal Year 2008-09. Included in the budget is the proposal to close 48 state parks, one of which is Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, one of the few open spaces in Bayview Hunters Point and a critical wetland and wildlife habitat. Candlestick is in the midst of a multi-year remediation and restoration project addressing acute contamination from industrial and military pollution.
Literacy for Environmental Justice's Native Plants Nursery at Candlestick trains youth interns from Bayview Hunters Point to grow native plant stock for the Candlestick restoration project. Closing the park throws the future of the remediation project as a whole into doubt.
Following this proposal, on January 15th, the Governor sent a letter to the Chairman of the Coastal Commission officially endorsing the construction of a private toll road through San Onofre State Beach, in southern California. This toll road would eliminate recreation areas, reduce coastal access, fill wetlands and destroy sensitive habitat areas, home to 11 endangered or threatened species.
Save the date April 7 to come to Sacramento for Park Advocacy Day, where you can tell your representatives in person that California cannot afford to sacrifice a healthy environment.
Up
Help Preserve Wild Areas &
Open Space in the City
The Coastal Conservancy, Association for Bay Area Governments (ABAG), Bay Area Open Space Council, and Greenbelt Alliance are conducting a process to determine Priority Conservation Areas nominated as a part of ABAG'S FOCUS project, which seeks to identify near-term priorities for acquisition for a variety of purposes, including those needed to preserve greenbelt, biological diversity, natural resources, and to provide for recreation throughout the Bay Area.
ABAG
P.O. Box 2050
Snowy Plover Volunteers Needed
Snowy Plover outreach volunteers will conduct outreach with visitors who enter Plover habitat at Ocean Beach and Crissy Field in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Volunteers will greet park users, offering verbal and printed information about the plovers, including how visitors can protect these birds.
Duties involve:
- Roving Plover habitat a minimum of three times per month.
- Providing information and materials to park visitors
- Report significant wildlife disturbances to Park Rangers
- Recognize shorebirds of Ocean Beach
Knowledge/Skills Desired
- Enjoy interacting with people while being friendly courteous
- Able to work independantly and constructively with those who disagree with park policy
- General knowledge of wildlife and park natural and cultural resources
- Comfortable walking 1 -2 hours
- Ability to be calm and courteous during occassional hectic and emergency situations, with CPR and First Aid training (training can be provided)
Begins March 1, 2008 - ongoing
Contact: George Durgerian (415) 335-8258
Up
Earth Day 2008
Nature in the City has decided on a date for the 2nd Annual McLaren Park Earth Day! Mark your calendars for Sunday, April 20 to come and enjoy McLaren Park and all the festivities!
If you are interested in volunteering call (415) 564-4107 or email steward@natureinthecity.org.
Up
Alien Mussels
According to the SF Gate: "The appearance in Northern California of an alien mussel, which multiplies so fast it chokes out natives species, clogs pipes and causes havoc, prompted the East Bay Municipal Utility District Thursday to ban some recreational boating in its reservoirs.
The restrictions, which will begin in February, are the first in what is expected to be a widespread campaign to stop the tiny monster cousins known as the quagga and zebra mussels from ravaging Northern California reservoirs as they have the Great Lakes.
The East Bay Municipal
Utility District asks boaters to avoid all lakes outside of California
and most waterways in Santa Clara and San Benito counties and the
Tehachapi Mountains.
To prevent quagga or zebra mussel infestation,
boaters should:
-Inspect all exposed surfaces on boats, trailers and their vehicles.
-Wash the hull thoroughly after each use.
-Remove plant and animal material and thoroughly drain and dry live-wells and the outboard unit.
-Dispose of all bait.
-Wait five days between launches into different freshwater bodies of water.
Anyone who spots the mussels is asked to call the Department of Fish and Game at (866) 440-9530. For more information, go to the agency's Web site. "
For the full article click here.
Up
Oil Spill Meeting
San Francisco Chronicle
"Trustees representing six government agencies will be hosting [one more] public meeting Tuesday, January 29 in Mill Valley to gather ideas about restoring natural resources and compensating for the environmental havoc wrought after the Nov. 7 spill, which dumped 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the bay.
Specifically, trustees want to hear what ecological harm the spill caused to humans and wildlife, and ideas for restoration. Examples include improved habitat for the clapper rail bird, new eelgrass to help herring spawn, and rebuilt fishing piers.
Since the day of the spill, the officials have been compiling information on its impact on birds, mammals, fish, habitats and people. At the meeting, they'll update the public on their findings and discuss restoration possibilities.
Eventually, the trustees will add restoration costs to the list of damage for which the shipping company will be liable."
To read the full article go to the San Francisco Chronicle.
7 pm
3921 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto
More Eco
News and Events
ACT locally, ADVOCATE globally
Rich Countries Owe Poor Huge Environmental Debt
(Guardian)
The environmental damage caused to developing nations by the world's richest countries amounts to more than the entire third world debt of $1.8 trillion, according to the first systematic global analysis of the ecological damage imposed by rich countries.
Read the full article here.
CBD Files to List Pacific Fisher as Endangered
(Center for Biological Diversity)
On January 23, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a scientific petition with the California Fish and Game Commission to protect the Pacific Fisher as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act (ESA). Related
to otters, weasles and wolverines, the Pacific fisher is a small forest
carnivore dependent on old-growth forests and large trees for survival.
In California, fisher populations have declined by more than 50
percent, and currently only two isloated populations remain in the
state. Logging and road construction are key threats to the fisher, and
protection under the California ESA could bring logging restrictions to
private lands.
Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle
Up
Big Year
Events
For the Full List of upcoming Big Year events, go to the Big Year Calendar.
Up
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