1. Brisbane wants to "swap" water from Oakdale Irrigation District for development
2. San Jose City Outings fundraiser October 7
3. Drawing birds with Jack Laws/The Golden Spider by Dan Liberthson
4. Feedback: More on RecPark bond
5. State refuses to act on invasive bullfrogs
6. Camp Curiosity, urban campout Sept 21
7. Insect Discovery Lab at several Bay Area spots in Sept-Oct
8. Green Connections Open House October 3
9. Information on Prop 37 requiring labeling of all GM foods
10. Silicon Valley Watershed Summit Sept 22
11. Knowland Park update
12. Seasonal wildlife migrations of the Bay Area Sept 20
13. Song of Prudence, Walt Whitman
14. Glen Canyon Park renovation - tree removals
15. Washingtoon: Congressman Forehead brings them to their feet, cheering
16. John Kerry tries, but fails
1. Brisbane to start agreement(s) to "swap" water from the Oakdale Irrigation District to serve large development on the Brisbane Baylands proposed by Universal Paragon. Language here projects "excess water" in the New San Pedro Reservoir, water banking, and a gross overpayment required of future citizens of Brisbane.
Please come to a Brisbane City Council Meeting Monday, September 17th, starting 7:30pm.
Or forward comments to the city clerk Sheri Spediacci <sheris@ci.brisbane.ca.us>
It is VIII. New Business item "A" http://www.brisbaneca.org/city-council/2012-09-17 (it is a 541K document.)
There is also an item about the same corporation's underpayment of fees to the city on the agenda X. Mayor Council Matters, item B
Information from the Modesto Bee
http://www.modbee.com/2012/08/15/2331693/oakdale-irrigation-district-considers.html?story_link=email_msg
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2.
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." Oscar Wilde
"Do not ask what the world needs. Instead, ask what makes you come alive. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive."--Thurmond Whitman
San Jose Inner City Outings
7th BBQ & Auction Fundraiser
Please join us for our FUNraising BBQ and support a worthy cause!
Sunday, October 7th, 2012
Steven’s Creek County Park, Cupertino
Sycamore Group Picnic Site
Hike: 2:00PM (optional)
BBQ & Silent Auction: 4:00PM
To purchase ticket, please visit http://sjicobbq.eventbrite.com/
BBQ Dinner: $15 (adults) + optional donation & $8 (kids)
(hiking is free)
Join us for a fun group hike with ICO volunteers and youth, followed by a gourmet BBQ dinner prepared by our professional chef (and ICO volunteer), Scott Stevenson. Come prepared to bid on wonderful items at our Silent Auction.
Proceeds from dinner ticket sales and silent auction help fund and support the mission of SJICO. SJICO runs approximately 25 outdoor trips a year for underpriviledged urban youth in the South Bay and Peninsula.
Questions? Need more details? Want to know more about ICO?
Contact us at bbq2012info@sanjoseico.org or
visit our website http://ico.sierraclub.org/sanjose/
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3. Works of two local artists
Drawing birds with Jack Laws | Golden Gate Audubon Society
http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/blog-posts/drawing-birds-with-jack-laws/
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Jake, would you do me a favor and mention my new book, "The Golden Spider," in your blog? It's a fantasy/Sci Fi novel primarily intended for kids 9-12 years old, but also a good read for older kids and adults who like that genre. It's available in paperback on Amazon.com ($7.99) and as a Kindle download ($3.99). Folks can find more description at Amazon by searching on my name on Amazon or checking out my website (liberthson.com). Thank you!
Dan Liberthson
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4. Feedback
Dan Liberthson:
Jake, thank you for including my poems. There is a bit of confusion in the layout, though--the title of the first poem, which is "September 11, 2002" got omitted somehow and the title of the next poem got merged with the first poem. You might want to point that out in your next blog. But it won't detract too much from your readers appreciating the poems, I think. D
Linda Shaffer:
More feedback on the bond.
To Calvin Welch:
RPD does have a reserve for maintenance! By law, a small percentage of every dollar in the Open Space Fund is placed in the Open Space Contingency Reserve. Among the approved uses for the dollars in that Reserve is deferred maintenance -- that was the major reason the reserve was created. There's money in the Reserve as we speak. Citing lack of a maintenance reserve doesn't fly as an argument to oppose the 2012 Bond.
A good question is why those Reserve dollars are not used more often for maintenance. The bodies to which that question should be posed are the Park and Rec Commission, and, of course, RPD. If you don't get satisfactory answers, raise the issue with your district PROSAC representative.
Thank you, Linda, for this reminder. The more I look at arguments from bond opponents the more skeptical I am that they've given much thought to their stance. How in the world they can consider a bond defeat will improve government responsiveness is beyond me.
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5. Kerry Kriger, SaveTheFrogs
Yesterday SAVE THE FROGS! Advisory Committee Member Chris Berry and I delivered 1,189 petition signatures to the California Department of Fish & Game (DFG) offices in Sacramento. The petition calls on Governor Jerry Brown to ban the importation, sale and purchase of American Bullfrogs. Several million live bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) are legally imported into the state each year, primarily for frog legs, but also for pets and other non-essential purposes. The bullfrogs are widely regarded as one of the world's worst invasive species, as they are voracious predators of native wildlife and have extremely high rates of chytrid fungal infection. The continued importation of bullfrogs into the state (and elsewhere around the world) is a perpetual threat to native wildlife that could easily be removed with decisive political action.
Unfortunately, even though the DFG officials we met with agreed the bullfrogs are problematic, they made it very clear that they have no intent to stop issuing importation permits, due in part to their unwillingness to face criticism from those who benefit financially from the bullfrog trade. That means nothing will get done until and unless we step up our efforts! The next step is getting other environmental groups on boards and meeting with Assemblymen and State Senators to educate them about the issue and get laws in place similar to the ones we got enacted in the City and County of Santa Cruz last February. This will not be easy, as all the state legislators I have ever spoken to about frogs default to "I'd love to help, but right now the economy is my top priority".
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6. Join us at Camp Curiosity, an urban campout collaboration by The Studio for Urban Projects, Alite Designs, The Curiosity Shoppe & The Mission Greenbelt Project.
Where? 855 Valencia
When? Friday, September 21st (all day)
The theme is urban campout with campfire social time, maybe a luncheon cookout, teepee lending library, and special appearances by the bleeding thumb whittling club & San Francisco Children's Day School 8th graders, and who knows what else?!
There will be beautiful Alite chairs for campers set among a wildlife habitat garden with plants, that attract San Francisco pollinators and songbirds, from Bay Natives Nursery. And a special treat, CCA's Nature in the City students are bringing custom-made bee hotels, cavity-nesting bird houses to attract people and as many wild things as possible.
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7. Catch the Insect Discovery Lab at fun SF Bay Area events near you!
San Francisco:
Ocean Avenue Arts and Culture Festival
Saturday, September 15th, 2012
11am - 4pm
at 1649 Ocean Avenue, corner of Faxon and Ocean Avenue, Ingleside District
Come interact with live insects from around the world and also enjoy an array of fun arts and crafts activities. There will be food, raffles and a children's area with face painting, carnival games and bounce houses! For more information please contact: http://artsconn@comcast.net and visit http://www.omi-cpp.org
Wildlife Conservation Expo
Saturday, October 13th, 2012
10am - 6pm
at UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center. 1675 Owens Street
San Francisco
Join The Insect Discovery Lab at the Wildlife Conservation Expo! Learn and experience the diversity of wildlife through twenty of the world's most committed wildlife conservationists as they share their stories of saving the world's most endangered animals. Hear first-hand their experiences of pioneering conservation science and working with communities in the remotest places on Earth. This is a great opportunity to visit our Insect Discovery Lab among the 30+ environmental exhibits that will guide you through an adventure of finding your own wild inspiration!
Cole Hardware Family Event
Saturday, October 20th, 2012
10am - 12pm
at 956 Cole Street, San Francisco
The Insect Discovery Lab and Cole Hardware team up to protect wildlife and bring awareness of worldwide conservation. Come see and enjoy our one-of-a-kind insects and receive a coupon for 10% off your purchase. If you shop between the hours of 10am and noon on Saturday, Oct. 20th, you will be helping SaveNature.Org preserve critical habitat of endangered animals and plants. With your support, Cole Hardware will donate 10% of total sales to our Adopt an Acre program, where funds raised go directly to the purchase and protection of critical ecosystems.
East Bay:
Dow Walk for Water
Sunday, September 30th, 2012
12pm - 4pm
at the Dow Wetlands Preserve, Antioch
Join SaveNature.Org in a 6km walk to raise awareness for the need for safe drinking water.
The Insect Discovery Lab, along with other environmental organizations will help educate our communities on the current water issues we face today. Enjoy live animals, boat rides and lots of kids activities to support conservation/preservation efforts and the Wetlands habitat. First 500 receive free drawstring backpack. For more information visit http://www.dow.com/pittsburg/events/index.htm.
To protect wildlife in wild places please donate to: http://savenature.org/content/donate/ Your donations and support have a direct impact on our programs and the preservation of nature.
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8.
Green Connections: Upcoming Open House
Date: Wednesday October 3, 2012
Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Meeting Location: LGBT Center, Rainbow Room 1800 Market Street
Info: Starting with the February kick-off event – the Green Connections team has led over 20 outreach events. We’ve collected input about the route you take to parks and your vision for a green connection. Using these ideas we’ve developed a draft map and a design toolkit. Drop by the open house to see these products, learn more about the project to date and provide feedback.
About Green Connection - Green Connections is a two-year project looking at ways to improve access to parks, open space and the waterfront, by re-envisioning City streets and paths as ‘green connectors’. This project builds on current efforts to create sustainable corridors that enhance mobility, green neighborhood streets, and improve pedestrian and bicycle access to community amenities and recreational opportunities.
Get involved! Visit the project web site below for project information, events and meetings. Also, sign up for the Green Connections mailing list to keep receiving future e-mail announcements and follow us on facebook.
http://greenconnections.sfplanning.org
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9.
PROPOSITION 37 will be on the ballot in November requiring the labeling of all Genetically Modified foods sold in California. If you need more information please visit:-
www.labelgmos.org
www.carighttoknow.org
www.gmwatch.org
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10. Silicon Valley Watershed Summit!
Saturday, September 22, 8:30am-2:00pm
Foothill College Cafeteria, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills
Details: http://www.acterra.org/watershedsummit
Registration: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/256652
The Silicon Valley Watershed Summit is a gathering of activists and elected officials, agency staff and non-profit leaders, and the newly-interested, to learn about and take steps to improve our local watersheds in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. This event will focus on “Big Picture” issues that challenge the health of our watersheds, and teach skills that YOU can implement in your watershed and community. Participants will be able to congregate around specific topics and watersheds, and initiate "friends of" groups and public-private partnerships that will continue working together to promote, protect and restore our watersheds. Special speakers are Brock Dolman, Director of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s Water Institute, and Lester Snow, former California Secretary of Natural Resources and current Director of the California Water Foundation. To receive updates, please send an email to pdrekmeier@earthlink.net.
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11. Dear Knowland Park Supporters,
WOW! The outpouring of encouragement and support this last week has been AMAZING. If you’re following us on Twitter @KnowlandPark, you know we were at the Solano Stroll last Sunday, where literally thousands of people came by the CNPS booth and we talked to SO many people about why Measure A1 is NOT a good idea. People love their parks, and when they saw the gorgeous photos of Knowland Park that we displayed, they “got it” right away. Thanks so much to the volunteers who worked the booth—and got energized and inspired by the positive responses to our message!
We hope you also saw the nice piece in the Alamedan about the Measure:
http://thealamedan.org/news/alameda-elections-12-measure-would-raise-taxes-oakland-zoo
We thought it was quite fair and the reporter had obviously done some homework. For example, he reported something even we didn’t know:
“The ordinance that put the tax on the ballot says the zoo’s existing revenue is inadequate to cover the cost of humane care and veterinary treatment for its animals and maintenance of its services and facilities. The zoological society took in $19.3 million in revenues in 2010, its most recent tax return shows, with about $6.1 million left over after that year’s expenses; a year earlier, it ran a $291,258 deficit.”
While organizations do fluctuate in their expenditures, this wouldn’t seem to indicate a zoo that is on its last legs financially, pointing to one of the big contradictions: Why are are zoo execs saying they don’t even have money to care for the facilities they have now, when they had a $6 million surplus in 2010 and are planning a major expansion development?
But it also points to the larger question of whether the zoo is really top priority for public tax dollars right now. More and more people are starting to ask why the zoo ought to get a special tax just for itself (and the huge building with bay view offices it wants to put on unspoiled parkland) when there are a whole lot of other things that might be more important—schools, health services, and programs to train or re-train unemployed individuals for other kinds of work being among them.
Well, it’s been some weeks since we’ve hit you up for money—and that’s because we have been working hard to learn the rules for a campaign and get a campaign committee going. We have submitted our application for a campaign to the state and will let you know shortly the logistics of making contributions.
Please be as generous as you can and stretch a bit when we do put out the call. We have less than 55 days now until the election, and less than that until vote by mail ballots go out—so we need to put funds together very quickly to pay for things like lawn signs, banners, buttons, flyers, and voter lists for phone banking.
You’ve never let us down yet. Six years have passed since we started this fight, and every time we think we can’t go on, you always come through. This is probably the best opportunity we have EVER had to really send a clear message to zoo executives that the public majority actually doesn’t support the idea of building on precious parkland and wildlife habitat. So please watch for our call and get ready!
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12.
San Francisco Natural History Series
Bay Area Life Cycles
Guest Speaker: Becky Jaffe
7:30pm, Thursday, September 20th, 2012
FREE at the Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, San Francisco, CA
Photographer and naturalist Becky Jaffe will discuss the Bay Area’s seasonal wildlife migrations and offer tips on the best local observation sites. She will illustrate her talk with photographs that unite a biologist’s curiosity with an artist’s sensibility.
You can find some more of her wonderful photography on Flickr. She currently has a show (through Sep 1) at the Bone Room in Berkeley, and will be presenting a show on insect photography at the Berkeley Camera Club on Sept 25th.
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FUTURE TALKS
http://sfnhs.com/upcoming-speakers/
10/18 The UNnatural History of San Francisco Bay - Ariel Rubissow Okamoto
11/15 Forgotten Landscapes: California 500 years ago - Laura Cunningham
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LAST MONTH'S LECTURE NOTES: (Aug 16)
http://sfnhs.com/2012/08/24/the-ethics-of-foraging/
Wild Foods Foraging, the Good, the Bad, and The Ugly
Jonah Raskin
When he was a boy, Jonah Raskin’s father used to take them out down the beach at low tide, and below the water line looking for clams. They’d occasionally fall into arguments with their neighbors, but his father — a lawyer — knew his business, the property line stops at the waterline. He also brought home perhaps another important lesson — don’t take home more than you need.
Jonah Raskin now lives on an old farm in Sonoma, and gleans from old orchard trees, a neighbor farmer lets him pick what he needs from his fields, and goes out know and again for mushrooms.
Mushroom pickers delight in sharing recipes for their finds, but are notoriously secretive about their locations. Locations are jealously guarded secrets because people fear coming back to their spot and finding nothing left.
Leaving something behind is a big part of a foragers ethic — not just leaving it for others, but leaving something to continue growing. Jonah Raskin once recalled pulling a friend up off the ground to get the friend to stop, so consumed he was by the idea of getting it all (the impulse perhaps that underlies the success of places like CostCo!).
And this is the dilemma that underlies foraging, or at least the continued expansion of foraging — if significant numbers of people did it, we could strip the land bare. Jonah started the talk talking about the definitions of foraging — and one image is that of armies having foragers marching across the land taking everything and anything they could lay their hands on.
We talked about mushrooms of course, but also hunting, and fishing, berry picking, snail eating, looking for roots, stalking asparagus (read Euell Gibbons), and things like nettles and miner’s lettuce.
As an activity to bring food from the wild to ones table, there is a lot to recommend foraging. It tastes better. It gets us outdoors. It connects people to the outdoors in ways unlike any other activity. Jonah has met more than a few Native Americans gathering, and has come to more of an understanding the reverence for which they hold those things they take and eat. None of it we can take for granted. From early on, humans have sadly proved to have great capacity to reduce
what nature has to offer.
(JS: "...what nature has to offer..." And to not consider that there are other species in the world. They are already under stress from habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, species extinction, climate warming, and a host of other human-induced changes. Jonah Raskin (I don't know the man) I'm sure is a decent and gentle man, but we Homo sapiens never have considered the needs of other species when those needs come in conflict with ours. This is just one more.)
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13.
Song of Prudence
by Walt Whitman
Now I breathe the word of the prudence that walks abreast with time,
space, reality,
That answers the pride which refuses every lesson but its own.
What is prudence is indivisible,
Declines to separate one part of life from every part,
Divides not the righteous from the unrighteous or the living from the dead,
Matches every thought or act by its correlative,
Knows no possible forgiveness or deputed atonement,
Knows that the young man who composedly peril'd his life and lost it
has done exceedingly well for himself without doubt,
That he who never peril'd his life, but retains it to old age in
riches and ease, has probably achiev'd nothing for himself worth mentioning,
Knows that only that person has really learn'd who has learn'd to
prefer results,
Who favors body and soul the same,
Who perceives the indirect assuredly following the direct,
Who in his spirit in any emergency whatever neither hurries nor
avoids death.
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14. Update on Glen Canyon Park Renovation, Notices of Tree Removals and New Tree Planting Information
As part of the upcoming Park Renovation Project, recently a number of trees around the lower portion of Glen Canyon Park were posted with notices that the tree will be removed as part of the renovation.
As a reminder, this project, which came out of a two-year community planning process and design workshops, will include a new larger children’s play area (almost double in size of the existing one), new tennis courts, improved park pathways and ADA access, an improved Elk Street entry and drop off zone, a new accessible restroom (which can be open when the Rec Center is closed), new landscaping –including 163 new trees, and new heating in the Rec Center.
As part of the Glen Canyon Park renovation (and all park renovation projects) an independent arborist assessed the health of the trees in the park and found many to be in poor and/or hazardous condition. The trees will be re-planted following forestry management practices, including new irrigation allowing us to grow new trees and sustain this part of the urban forest.
A small number of the removals are due to the park design. However the vast majority will address public safety and tree health. 163 new trees are being replanted – well over double the number of trees that are being removed.
Some of the new tree species being planted include: Madrone, Coast Live Oak, Dogwood, Evergreen Elm, Islais Cherry, and Cottonwood. Trees will not be removed during bird nesting or breeding season.
Trees will not be removed until after the start of construction, which is currently scheduled to begin in mid-October.
If you have any questions on this or would like additional information, please contact Karen Mauney-Brodek, at 575-5601.
Thank you for your time and attention to this project.
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15.
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16. POLITICIANS
“Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition…to the early use of military by the U.S. against Iraq. I share your concerns. On January 11, I voted in favor of a resolution that would have insisted that economic sanctions be given more time to work and against a resolution giving the president the immediate authority to go to war.”
Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), January 22, 1991, in a letter to a constituent
“Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the actions of President Bush in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From the outset of the invasion, I have strongly and unequivocally supported President Bush’s response to the crises and the policy goals he has established with our military deployment in the Persian Gulf.
Senator John Kerry, January 31, 1991, in a letter to the same constituent
Q: Would you have gone to war against Saddam Hussein if he refused to disarm?
A: Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), then campaigning for the presidency: You bet we might have.
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