YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Save the date! Our 2024 Guardians of Nature Benefit is October 4thwith this year's Honoree, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.
► Learn about how the Ridgway's Rails are at risk from sea level rise.
► Join our Forest Management Educational Hike on May 4th.
► Ask the Saratoga Retirement Community's Planning Commission to preserve the cork oak tree.
► Take a hike! See the comprehensive list of activities available with your chapter through mid-May.
Save the Date: 2024 Guardians of Nature Benefit
We are excited to announce that the 2024 Guardians of Nature Honoree is Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.
This year the Guardians of Nature Benefit will be Friday, October 4th, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Make sure to reserve this evening to acknowledge Congresswoman Eshoo's decades of dedication to environmental protection and stewardship, while enjoying the company of fellow Sierrans and friends dedicated to preserving our precious environment.
Stay tuned for more event updates. The sponsorship opportunities will be available soon; pledge yours here.
Save the date, mark your calendars, and join us as we celebrate Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, a true Guardian of Nature!
Mountain View: Show That Nature in Parks is Important to You!
Sierra Club supporters in Mountain View: take the opportunity to show your city that nature in parks is important to you!
The City of Mountain View is updating its Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan and has created a community-wide survey to help shape policy for the next 10-15 years. We encourage our members in Mountain View to take this survey (deadline of April 30th).
Questions 15, 19, and 23 give us the opportunity to tell Mountain View that nature is important to us!
Our Plastic Pollution Prevention Team Chair, Susan Hinton, is speaking at an Earth Day presentation hosted by Saratoga High School Environmental Action Club.
We're hosting a presentation on Regenerative Agriculture: Sequestering Carbon and Other Benefits.
Our Plastic Pollution Prevention Team will be tabling at the Environmental Literacy Summit.
Plus, our comment letters encouraging the use of natural grass instead of artificial turf.
Ridgway's Rails at Risk
This is the third of an awareness through artwork series, by our 16 year-old volunteer Aiden Chen, that we introduced in January.
The Ridgway’s rail depends significantly on marsh habitats for survival. With the flooding of these marshes from sea level rise, the rails are pushed out from safety and face increased vulnerability to predators, which are the direct leading cause of mortality for the Ridgway’s rail. To conserve and save these birds, Sierra Club's Bay Alive and 30x30 campaigns promote the use of nature based solutions to protect the San Francisco Bay wetlands, associated habitats, and human communities from sea level rise. The 30x30 campaign works to conserve 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030. Learn more.
Redwood City Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment
"The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter’s Bay Alive Campaign welcomes this opportunity to provide comments on the Redwood City Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment (Report). We do so on behalf of tens of thousands of local Sierra Club supporters who share our commitment to protect the health of our communities, our wildlife and our Earth by promoting living shorelines, healthy waters, and just, equitable solutions to sea level rise in the San Francisco Bay Area."
"We hope you consider the following comments for inclusion in the Draft CAP. 1) Include measures to increase tree canopy and expand biodiversity; 2) Add to C-L.4.2 language prioritizing nature-based adaptation solutions; 3) Estimate resources needed for timely completion of measures; 4) Identify a specific VMT % reduction goal for measure T-L.1; 5) Add to E-W.2 a measure including permit and rebate clarification; 6) Consider including these recommended resources."
South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Sunnyvale Project Feasibility Study
"Further studies would be needed to develop appropriate strategies based on a closer study of the shoreline conditions by a science-based organization such as San Francisco Estuary Institute. Natural infrastructure typically offers 'no-regret” or “low-regret' options due to their incremental implementation and monitoring requirements, potentially yielding lower upfront costs and greater flexibility over time. Moreover, they provide invaluable ecosystem services that safeguard important wildlife habitats and create new and restored habitats, while simultaneously reducing our communities’ vulnerability and enhancing resilience."
Priority Conservation Area Refresh Draft Final Report
"The comments expressed within this letter reflect a narrowed focus on the San Francisco Bay and shoreline, and arise from an awareness that the combined impacts of our pattern of building to the edges of the Bay, decreasing sediment supplies to the Bay, continued development along our shorelines, and rising sea levels, will result in significant adverse impacts to the health of the Bay ecosystem and the resilience of our shoreline communities if we fail to take appropriate action now. [...] We continue to urge that the nomination process be extended beyond cities, counties and open space districts. Local community based organization (CBO’s) and environmental groups are oftentimes more attuned to the issues, needs and desires of the community than local agencies. Local environmental groups are usually the source of information regarding important local biological resources that should be conserved, or lands that could provide migration space for habitats and resilience for the community."
Sea Level Rise Webinar Series
How can local cities and residents use nature-basedadaptations to sea level rise? Watch recordings of our webinar series with SF Bay experts and please share with your local elected officials.
Forest Management Educational Hike
Join our Outings Section and Forest Protection Committee for a unique joint hike in Wunderlich County Park, Woodside, on Saturday, May 4th, 2024 at 9:00 am. Co-led by our docents David Cowman, Forest Ecologist, and Kellyx Nelson, Director of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District. Meet at the Hwy 35 upper gate (23) next to El Corte Madera Parking Lot. Learn about forest health and fire resiliency along this SC 1A hike along the Skyline Trail. Learn more and register.
Saratoga Acorn Woodpeckers at Risk
The Saratoga Retirement Community’s expansion plans, currently in process, would cut many trees. Among the trees slated to be cut is a majestic cork oak (tree 136) that provides a granary and a home to a colony of acorn woodpeckers. The removal of the tree will make room for grading, a pathway, and a swale. The Planning Commission will discuss the project on May 8th. Please ask the Planning Commission to preserve the cork oak tree, and to find alternatives (such as removing a few parking spots) for the swale and the pathway. Learn more.
COMMENT LETTERS
Proposed General Plan Amendment Regarding Biotech East of 101
"For public safety reasons, we strongly recommend the City revise the existing Planning Code, in order to avoid serious potential hazards to the community, and ban high containment labs, such as BSL3 & BSL4 labs, anywhere in the City. This potential new hazard, from novel viruses such as was encountered with Covid19, should also be listed in the Safety Element of the General Plan to ensure that high-containment labs are not created in the City."
"The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter and Green Foothills have been following issues with Reid-Hillview for the past few years and we have repeatedly expressed support for the efforts to transition the 180-acre airport property into a sustainable community asset. [...] we hope you envision this site for what it can, and should provide: clean air and a thriving community where urban nature and tree canopy increase in an area that is sorely lacking in both."
"The Sierra Club is opposed to freeway expansions such as adding a new lane, for an Express Lane, on Interstate 101 from I-380 to the San Francisco border. High occupancy vehicle (HOV) and high occupancy vehicle/toll (HOT) lanes should come from converting existing highway lanes rather than constructing new lanes."
Your Action Needed! Let’s Ceate Positive Change Together
By now, you should have received our spring invitation to lend your support in protecting our regional environment. If you've already responded, we extend our heartfelt thanks. If not, please take a moment to reply to our appeal, especially since only with your help can we continue safeguarding our air, water, land, and the well-being of all creatures that rely on them. Learn more about where your gift, regardless of its size, will help us make a tangible impact. Thank you for being an integral part of our mission.
Military Outdoors
POLE Walking for Exercise and Mobility
Friday, May 10th, 9:00 am - noon
Finley Center, Santa Rosa
Sierra Club Military Outdoors special program provides free training for Veterans and their family members. When PoleWalking, you feel invigorated, taller and more confident! Learn skills and techniques to help improve balance, endurance, spine function, walking gait, and posture. Easy-to-learn techniques can help people navigate everyday obstacles and strengthen muscles that support your joints. Top quality poles and special balance tips provided. Learn which poles fit you best and will help you achieve your goals, in this easy pace and gentle practice. Learn more and register.
Featuring Tony Lindsay, world renowned singer of Santana Sunday, May 12th, 1:45 pm
Ainsley House Garden, Campbell
Join our Singleaires section for a Mother's Day of music. Garden gates open at 1:30 pm, meet no later than 1:45 pm inside the garden. Music begins at 2:00 pm. $35/person. Learn more and register.
After 25 years as the lead vocalist for Santana, Tony Lindsay has garnered 11 Grammy awards, traveled on numerous world tours, and recorded on seven Santana CDs.
Forest Protection Forum
Jackson Demonstration State Forest: History and management within the broader context of the redwood region and climate change impacts to forest resources Monday, May 20th, 4:00 pm
FeaturingDr. JP O’Brien, Research Affiliate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division.
Since being purchased by California from Caspar Lumber Company in 1947, JDSF has been, and still is, managed by the state primarily for timber production. This talk will focus on the history of the state's management and the legacy that has left. Learn more, register and see our newly updated Forest Protection Committee web page.
In the Community
BioBlitz (April 28th and May 11th), ID Party (April 30th), "Explore the Future San Jose" bike ride (May 5th), and cleanup (May 5th and 14th) from our friends at Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful.
Join our friends at Midpeninsula Regional Open Space for their Restoration Open House on May 1st.
Our friends at Santa Clara Valley Audubon are offering the public an opportunity to view the Egret Rookery of Shorebird Way in Mountain View, on the Google campus. Binoculars, scopes and docents will be at Shorebird Way (next to 1201 Charleston Road, Mountain View) 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on the following Wednesdays: May 1st, 15th and 29th. Visitors will have the opportunity to see a vibrant rookery where dozens of Great egrets, Snowy egrets, Black-crowned night herons and Great blue herons nest together.
Big Win: San Benito Landfill Expansion Project
I’m proud to say I worked with the local Hollister advocacy group Don’t Dump on San Benito to halt a major expansion of the John Smith Road Landfill. The project proposed to expand the landfill from 95 to 483 acres, to increase the allowed height from 920 to 949 feet, and to increase the daily tonnage limit from 1,000 to 2,300 tons per day. 90% of the waste would be imported from outside of San Benito County. Read more!
By: Katja Irvin
One of the best ways to safeguard a thriving and just future is by ensuring that your Loma Prieta Chapter remains a champion for the environment of Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Benito Counties. Naming us as a beneficiary in your bequest will provide meaningful and enduring resources that will allow continued local and powerful environmental activism.
Please contact our Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman for the specific language for your estate planning and/or read more here. For additional information about planning a bequest please contact Julia Curtis, (800) 932-4270.
Your connection: Do you love our fabulous local wildlife? Would you like to truly make a difference in protecting local nature? You can!
Join a dedicated, experienced and successful group of volunteers on the Loma Prieta Chapter's Wildlife Committee, which works to protect hundreds of local species.
Photographers, see the great images in our Chapter Annual Summaries and help protect local nature with your images! Share with us your high-resolution photos of local nature, with or without people, to inspire local residents to support Loma Prieta Chapter work. Please contact Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman.
Historic Dates
April 21st, 1838, John Muir's B'day
The Loma Prieta Chapter was founded in 1933; what other famous births happened that year?
April 26, Carol Burnett, actress, singer and comedian
April 30, Willie Nelson, singer-songwriter
2024.04.06 Tule Elk spotted during Loma Prieta wildflower hike in Máyyan 'Ooyákma - Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve.
The mountains, rivers, earth, grasses, trees, and forests are always emanating a subtle, precious light, day and night, always emanating a subtle precious sound, demonstrating and expounding to all people the unsurpassed ultimate truth. - Yuan-sou
